Before we were even dressed yesterday morning, somebody was knocking on our door, and it seemed like the line of people stopping by never ended until well after dark. It was not a good day to get much accomplished.

I spent over an hour on the telephone with Jim Guld from Geeks on Tour as we tried to figure out why my laptop computer will not communicate with my Cradlepoint wireless router. I can pick up the WiFi signal for the campground, as well as from another RVer parked near us, but not my own. Try as he might, even the resourceful Jim could not resolve the problem, and he finally had to admit defeat and suggested that I call the techs at the 3G Store and see if they could help. I never got to them, because more people were coming by to say hello, to see our new desks, and to see the Winnebago.

After I got off the phone with Jim, I called Dell to tell them that my desktop computer had died, and while I was talking to their tech folks, a half dozen or more people came knocking on the door. Miss Terry was out running some errands, so I tried to juggle two conversations at once with each new visitor.

Most quickly realized that I was busy and excused themselves, but one couple just parked themselves on the couch and started talking, even though I had to ask them to wait several times as I tried to follow tech support’s instructions to revive the computer. At one point, the husband said “It looks like we caught you at a bad time,” and I agreed and said that there probably could not have been a worse time. But they never took the hint, and continued to ask me questions about the new motorhome even as I continued talking to Dell’s tech support. Arrgh!

We really do enjoy visiting with our readers, but sometimes I wish we were just a little more anonymous. Or that folks were a little more courteous when they drop in and see that we’re in over our heads.

The good news is that Dell was very responsive to my call, and because I signed up for their small business extended warranty when I bought the desktop computer, they are sending out a repairman today or tomorrow, whenever the needed parts arrive. If he can’t get me up and running, they will either repair or replace the computer within five business days. That’s pretty good service.

Today is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our country. I hope each of you will take a moment or two to remember those who were lost, and to remember how we all felt on that day. We may have buried the victims of the attacks, but let’s not bury the memories, or our determination to punish those responsible.

Bad Nick has some thoughts about 9/11 that may not be politically correct, but then again, when is he ever politically correct? Read his thoughts at They Were Not Heroes. 

Thought For The Day – My train of thought jumped the tracks.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

I wish I knew more about computers and the Internet. Even though I make my living working on these darned machines, I probably only know about 25% of what they are actually capable of doing.

Some people make it look so easy. Last week at our Gypsy Gathering rally, Tom and Barbara Westerfield were in charge of the technical side of things, making sure everything worked like it should. I was having problems getting my Dell laptop computer to communicate with my Epson LCD projector. Barbara pushed a button or two, and in seconds she had everything up and working. Left to my own devices, I’d probably still be standing there scratching my head.

It’s the same with the Internet. I have three websites – www.gypsyjournal.net, www.motorcycletravelonline.com, and www.publishing4profit.com, so you would think that I’d know something about building and tweaking websites. Using a program called FrontPage, I can build a simple website and do the basics of uploading data to the sites.

But when I need anything more complicated than that, I call on my pal Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour. Chris and her hubby Jim are fulltime RVers who give computer seminars at RV parks and rallies across the country, as well as offering tutorial CDs and other computer education tools for RVers. Chris designed the new look of my blog, and right now she is busy putting together a new website project for me. She can take the most complicated task and make child’s play out of it.

I’ve read a lot of books and websites about search engine optimization (SEO), which is basically getting more visitors to our websites, but I really don’t think I have learned enough to do us much good. More visitors is a good thing. More visitors mean more readers who can learn about the things I write about, and hopefully that will help make their RVing, motorcycling, and self-publishing activities easier and more fun.

Of course, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope that at least a few of those visitors would order a subscription, buy a couple of our books, or click on some of the Google ad links on our websites to check out the offerings. There are several websites like Digg, Technorati, and StumbleUpon where readers can recommend their favorite websites and blogs to others. Again, I really don’t understand exactly how they work, but I know that they do. Last week somebody put a reference to this blog on StumbleUpon and we got 780 visitors from that one link! We normally average about 1,000 unique visitors a day to the blog, so that was a nice bonus.

I think every RVer should consider having a blog. Very few blogs ever make any money, so don’t think having one will buy you a new rig anytime soon. But blogs are a great way to share your travels with your friends and family, to network with other RVers, and to create a record of your travels.

Today’s blogging software makes it easy, and there are many free options out there for creating a blog, including WordPress, TypePad, and Blogger. The Geeks on Tour, whom I mentioned above, present an excellent seminar on blogging for RVers, and have a lot of information online to get you started.

To see a great collection of RVing blogs, and to have your blog listed for free, check out The RVing Blog Directory.

And if you do create a blog, and learn all of the secrets to navigating your way through the blogosphere, maybe someday we can sit down together, and you can explain it all to me!

Thought For The Day - All those who have achieved great things have been dreamers.