When we woke up Friday morning it was raining hard and the wind was blowing. Obviously, we were not going to do any traveling in that kind of weather, so we rolled over and snuggled back down under the covers.

The storm hung on all day long. Sometimes the rain pounded down hard, and other times it was just a steady drizzle, but whatever it as doing, it was not conducive to being outside or traveling.

I spent the day getting a lot of things done online, including loading up Carlyle Lehman’s new Focal Wood website. Carlyle is the Amish craftsman who built the custom workstations, bookcase, and dinette table for our Winnebago motorhome.

I stopped out to see Carlyle at his place in Nappanee a few days ago, and he said that ever since I told our readers about him in the blog, and then Ron and Brenda Speidel mentioned him in their Don’t Replace, Refurbish seminar at our Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally last month, he has been swamped with work. When I was at his place this week, he had three motorhomes there getting things installed. That’s great, because Carlyle does excellent work and I would recommend him to anybody wanting custom RV furniture.

Besides working on Carlyle’s website, I re-entered all of the telephone numbers into my Blackberry Storm that I had lost when I updated its software the other day. Note to self – back up the darned Blackberry!

It was a lazy day, and sometime in the afternoon I decided that a nap was in order. I stretched out on the couch, and had just fallen into a very good dream when the phone rang. It was Greg White, asking if we were up for dinner. We’re always up for dinner, so we piled into their truck and headed for the local Ryan’s Buffet.

It was the first time I had been outside all day, and the entire campground was one huge puddle! In fact, all of Elkhart was one huge puddle! Greg and Jan had braved the weather to drive their pickup down to Decatur, Indiana to tour the American Coach factory, and they said the wind had been strong all the way down and all the way back. We were glad we had decided to stay put and wait for the storm to move on.

Today the rain is supposed to be over, but the wind may hang on. We would really like to get on the road, and we probably will unless it’s just too windy. But just as I said in yesterday’s blog, there is no place we have to be anytime soon, so we have the luxury of staying or going, whichever seems best.

Thought For The Day – Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience.

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We picked up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal Wednesday, and Miss Terry has been busy stuffing envelopes to get everything ready to go in the mail.

We’re excited because this is our 10^th Anniversary Issue. Where did the time go? And we’re just getting started, there is still so much we want to see and do. We won’t be hanging up the keys anytime soon.

One thing we do hope to do soon, though, is to replace our bus with a different rig. The bus has been a great home on wheels for us for eight years, but we’re to the point where we’d like something a bit newer, and with a slide or two. As our granddaughters get older, it’s getting pretty cramped in here when they come to visit us.

The bus would make a great coach for someone who doesn’t put on the miles we do every year, or who spends most of their time east of the Rocky Mountains. In fairly flat country it runs fine, but out here in the mountains, it slows way down on some of the steep grades. If you’re interested in a nice older bus, check out the ad link for it under this Bus For Sale link.

We’ve looked at several replacement coaches, and we have a couple of options we’re considering. One coach we have not actually seen yet is an American Dream diesel pusher. I really don’t like anything to do with Fleetwood products, but my pal Mac McCoy from Fire and Life Safety has an American Tradition, and he tells me that the American Coach line is a completely different animal than other Fleetwood models. Who else out here has an American Coach? I’d like to hear your feedback.

Whatever coach we eventually end up with, we know that we’ll have to do some customizing to accommodate operating our business on the road. One place we’ll be checking out is a company in Decatur, Indiana called From Trees to These, which makes custom cabinetry and desk units for RVs. Mac McCoy has had them do some upgrades to his coach, and I’m really impressed with the quality of their work.

Something that comes up frequently when talking to wannabe fulltimers is what to do with everything they can’t take with them. Someone on the Escapees forum was commenting that he can’t get nearly what he paid for some of this stuff, and is wondering how best to sell it.

When we were selling our stuff off years ago to go fulltime, we took the position that yes, we paid $400 for something, and all we can get for it is $150. But we had the fun of using it, and that counts for something. Whatever else we lost was the price of buying our freedom to hit the road.

I talked to Walter Cannon from the Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF), and he says things are coming together very well for their new  RV Lifestyle, Education, & Safety Clinic, which is scheduled for September 13-16 in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. If you regret never making it to a Life on Wheels conference, make your plans now to be in Harrisburg for this new educational opportunity

Thought For The Day – Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.

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