The world has lost a legend. Yesterday, broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite died at age 92.

Long before cable television, CNN, and the internet, the world tuned in to CBS News every evening to hear the venerable Cronkite tell us what was going on in the world, and he gave us the news of some of the most important moments in American history, from the Apollo 11 moon landing, to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first time I ever heard about the Vietnam War was from Walter Cronkite. I remember asking my parents where Vietnam was and if I would have to go there and fight. My mother assured me that the war would be over long before I was old enough to have to go, but my father, a World War II veteran, just looked worried and didn’t say anything. In the next few years I watched my older cousins go off to fight in Vietnam, and then my turn came. By then Walter Cronkite had already told America that we were mired in a stalemate in Vietnam, and public opinion had turned against the war. If “Uncle Walter” said so, we knew it was true. Because as he told us every night, “And that’s the way it is.”

Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite. The evening news has not been the same since you left.

On another note, we can’t figure out what happened, but a lot of people that were not due to renew their subscriptions yet received renewal notices with the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. The gremlins were apparently creating havoc with our mailing list and they sure have caused a lot of confusion.

You can check your renewal date by reading the top line of the address block on your envelope. It will have a two digit number, as well as possibly some initials. That two digit number is the issue your subscription expires with. For example, the current issue is Number 61, so if that two digit number on your address block is 66, you still have five issues left on your subscription.

If you received an unexpected renewal notice and your address block still shows you are current, please disregard the notice you received and please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.

We received confirmation yesterday afternoon that we will be able to get a last minute vendor booth at the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally in Bowling Green, Ohio next week. So we’ll leave Elkhart Campground Sunday morning and make the 150 mile drive to Bowling Green State University, where the rally is being held, and get our booth set up and ready to do business.

That means today will be busy as Terry does the laundry, I print booklets to sell at the rally, and we do all of the last minute chores needed before we take off. FMCA rallies have never been very successful events for us in terms of sales, but we hope to be able to make a few sales and introduce some folks to the Gypsy Journal. Wish us luck!

Thought For The Day – I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.

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Everything I have read and heard would lead you to believe that the RV industry is in awful shape. But it sure does not seem like the RV salespeople around the Mesa, Arizona area are going hungry, based upon their attitudes.

We were out kicking tires yesterday, checking out the used diesel pusher market. At one dealership, we walked into and out of one rig twice and poked our heads into a couple more. The only salesman we saw would not venture from his place under a shaded awning to talk to us, so I guess he had already sold his quota for the week.

We saw a 1998 Newmar Mountain Aire on another lot as we drove by, so pulled in for a closer look. The motorhome looked like it had been rode hard and put away wet. When we got close enough to see it, we knew we were not interested without even going in, just from the outside condition. Then the salesman told me that it was a steal at $69,995 firm, and we’d better put down a deposit fast, because the market is hot and RVs are flying off the lot. By then my BS tolerance level had been exceeded, so I climbed back in my van while he was in mid-sentence.

At a third place, Robert Crist RVs, we went into the office to ask about a diesel pusher, but the only two salesmen I saw were in an office swapping lies. They gave us a glance, and went back to their conversation without acknowledging us, so we left.

It put me in mind of back when we bought our first motorhome. We left our home in Show Low, Arizona one Friday afternoon and drove 180 miles to the big city to go RV shopping. At the first dealership, the salesman took one look at us in our jeans and sweatshirts and basically told us to go away. The next morning we bought a Class A motorhome from a nearby dealership, and back in my office Monday morning, I faxed a copy of the purchase agreement to the manager of the first place, and called to tell him why we bought from his competitor instead of his company. No doubt that salesman was hustling electric ranges or shoes the next day.

We did see one nice 2001 Holiday Rambler Endeavor on a small lot, and though the salesman was brand new and admitted he knew next to nothing about RVs, at least he was friendly and tried.

We’re not going to buy anything this week or next, but it’s always interesting to see what’s being offered, and also to see how different brands hold up after a few years on the road.

My friend Arline Chandler sent me a link to an interesting article on workamping on the CNN website. Check it out at http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-229587?ref=email for a look at how one working RV couple does it.

Arline is a former Life on Wheels instructor, and the author of Road Work II: The RVers Ultimate Income Resource Guide. She has a new book out titled Truly Zula, about her aunt, Zula Turney, who recently turned 90, and of her life, from growing up in rural Arkansas in the 1920s to teaching in a one room schoolhouse and the trials and tribulations of her times. You can read more about Arline’s new book at http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=80050&cat=1.

Thought For The Day - I could be unstoppable if I could just get started.

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