Yesterday I took a break from working on the new issue so we could go to the post office and mail out some orders, and drive into Gloucester Courthouse to touch base with the newspaper that is supposed to print the new issue of the Gypsy Journal later this week. As it turns out, both were wasted trips.

I had forgotten that yesterday was Columbus Day, and the post office was closed. Oops. Then we drove another 8 miles to the newspaper office, only to discover that the fellow we needed to talk to had taken the day off to go fishing. I guess I should have called ahead. 

But the trip wasn’t a total waste. A few days ago, our friend Linda Spindle told us about the Ware Neck Produce Market in Gloucester Courthouse, which also carries excellent fresh seafood. Since we were there, we stopped and Miss Terry picked up some fresh picked crab meat and some scallops. Can you guess what we had for dinner? Delicious! I enjoy dining out, but I have to say that nobody cooks scallops like Miss Terry does. Then again, no matter what’s on the menu, her culinary skills are pretty darned hard to beat. I keep nagging her to do a cookbook and/or a cooking blog, but so far she’s not convinced.

I was talking to Tiffany Ingram at Passport America in Long Beach, Mississippi yesterday, and she told me that they just created a new free app for Droid phones. I downloaded it, and it’s really nifty. It shows all of their affiliate campgrounds, along with contact information, rates, and directions. That’s going to come in really handy. They also have a free app for iPhones.

Speaking of apps, a while back my iPad went on the fritz and had to be replaced. Unfortunately, in the process I lost my apps for Escapees RV parks and a really good one called State Lines, that I used a lot. I can’t seem to find them in my backup files, so if you are the producer of either app and are reading this, help! I really miss your applications.

Even with the time we lost yesterday running around, I’m still on schedule with the paper and things are looking good. I just wish we could have actually talked to the newspaper’s production foreman face to face. Any time we use a new printer, there can be unexpected surprises.

We use different newspapers around the country to do our printing, and I really wish we could find one shop to do it every issue, but then shipping it to us wherever we are becomes an issue, since in addition to the papers for our subscribers, we print several thousand extra each time around to distribute at RV parks, RV rallies, and to give to our readers to pass out in their travels.

That’s one of the things that has held us back in taking a trip to Alaska. When we make that trip, we want to do it right, and spend at least three months. We don’t want to go all the way up there, and then have to rush back to the Lower 48 to get an issue printed, and getting the job done up there is prohibitively expensive. I’m working on a couple of possible solutions to that problem, since going to Alaska has been a dream for both of us since before we bought our first RV.

Thought For The Day – Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

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Well, I didn’t make my goal of getting the new issue of the Gypsy Journal finished yesterday, but I’m close enough that I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unless that light is from an oncoming train, we’re still in good shape. Today I’ll put the finishing touches on the new issue, Miss Terry will proof it again, and tomorrow we’ll take it to our printer in Michigan.

With the paper about done, it’s time to start finishing things up for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, which starts in just two weeks. Greg and Jan are out soliciting door prizes from local merchants today, and will be most of the week. I need to get the artwork to the screen printer for our rally t-shirts, and finish tweaking the seminar schedule.

One new seminar being presented by Whit Reeder, a district manager for a Verizon Wireless provider, will cover smart phone such as the Droids, Blackberrys, and Palms.  Whit says the seminar will introduce folks to a lot of free applications to make life a little smoother, and will save most people up to an hour a day.

We took a short break yesterday to chat with Terry and Dale Pace, who stopped in to say hello. Terry just got out of the hospital, and it’s good to see him up and about.

Later on, we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Greg and Jan, and Al Hesselbart from the RV Hall of Fame Museum. They make an excellent steak at Texas Roadhouse, but why do they always have to have the darned music so loud? For me, when I go to dinner with people, the opportunity to talk is a big part of the experience. At Texas Roadhouse, you have to shout to be heard most the time.

Back at Elkhart Campground, our friends Susie Orr, Marlene Hinman, and Carol Hill stopped in to say hello. With that many pretty ladies in our motorhome, and Miss Terry too, I was about to overdose on cute!

I got an e-mail in response to yesterday’s blog, in which I said I raised eyebrows when I referred to Greg White as my “wife” at a local gun show, telling me that I was insensitive to gay people. No, I am just terribly politically incorrect, and I have a sense of humor.

I can’t say that “some of my best friends” are gay, but I do have several gay friends that I really care about, and I think we know each other well enough that they would have let me know if I had offended them. I won’t go into an entire Bad Nick thing here, but lighten up people. Not everything in life has to be drama. If you can’t laugh once in a while, you’re in big trouble.

But Bad Nick knows that some things are not laughing matters, as you’ll read in his new Bad Nick Blog post Ground Zero Mosque. Check it out and leave a comment.

Okay, back to work. I have a paper to finish!

Thought For The Day – When you can’t control the wind, adjust your sails.

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