Today is the first day of our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, but by the end of the day yesterday, we already had 104 RVs on the fairgrounds! This included our advance staff, the parking crew, quite a few vendors, the Escapes class reunion group, the attendees at the Geeks on Tour Computer Boot Camp, and the folks who paid for early bird arrival. And today we have even more rigs scheduled to arrive!

Mike Loscher is a veteran member of our hardworking parking crew, and the first person people talk to when they arrive. Mike determines if they need to take on fresh water or dump their holding tanks, if they need handicapped parking, and then sends them on to the designated parkers.

Mike is retired military, then retired from a second career in nursing. I think he does this to prepare for a third gig as a Wal-Mart greeter!

Once everybody was parked, they headed over to the Registration Building, where Terry and the dedicated ladies who help her got them signed in, gave them goodie bags, sold them tickets for our pizza party and rally T-shirts, and answered lots of questions.

This is our first year to have our vendors inside, and they are in the same building where we hold registration and serve morning coffee and donuts.

We have a nice variety of vendors, selling everything from RV cleaning supplies to automatic rooftop satellite television dishes, and anything else you could want. Russ and Debbie Davis are back for a second year, selling magnetic jewelry and Eniva health supplements. Since we saw them last, they have purchased a truck conversion, and I can’t wait to get over and check it out!

Red and Beth, from Too Crazy Ladies, are outside vendors, and by mid-day they were already doing a brisk business, as people lined up to order name badges and other custom engraved items. They have vended at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rallies, but this will be their first Eastern rally with us.

Meanwhile, back in the driveway, we had a long line of RVs pulling in, and the parking crew worked long hours getting everybody in and parked in record time. Everybody I talked to was very happy with how smoothly they got in and parked in their designated sites. Well known RV authors and speakers Joe and Vicki Kieva have decided to retire from presenting seminars at RV rallies and shows, but they honored us by making our rally their last event. They arrived with their beautiful and lovable young Golden Retriever, Molly, whom I instantly fell in love with. What a magnificent animal!

We were first introduced to Joe and Vicki through their columns and books, and then we got to know what a nice couple they are in person when we all taught at Life on Wheels. Be sure to check out their RV Notebook blog.

Chris and Jim Guld from Geeks on Tour were busy presenting their Computer Boot Camp, and from the look on the faces of Henry and Kathy Gartner, they were both learning and having fun at the same time. That’s what the Geeks are all about!

On the other side of the fairgrounds, Rick Lang from Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) was weighing motorhomes and fifth wheel trailers, and from the happy smiles on this couple’s faces, Rick must have given them a good report on their motorhome.

While all this was happening, Dick Snider was spiffing up the veggie powered Country Coach he is displaying for sale. That’s right, veggie powered! The coach runs on biodiesel and waste cooking oil! If you want to travel for just pennies day, stop by and see Dick’s motorhome here at the rally, or check it out online here.

Terry and I could not make these rallies happen without all of the hard work from so many volunteers, from the folks who collect door prizes, to those who help with parking and registration, door prize runners at our evening drawings, those who help serve at the pizza party and clean up afterwards, our seminar room hosts, and all of the many other chores that need doing. We appreciate every one of them more than we can ever say!

Thought For The Day – The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier.

We spent much of yesterday running around Celina getting things set up for our Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally. There are always a few dozen last minute things to be handled that we can’t do until we get to town.

I checked in at the fairgrounds office and touched base with the manager to see if there were any changes from last year that we didn’t know about. Except for adding over 30 new electric hookups with 30 and 50 amp service, and finishing the inside of the Junior Fair Building, where our vendors will be housed, there were no surprises.

It is so much nicer to work with these folks in Ohio, compared to the jerks at the fairgrounds in Casa Grande, Arizona, where we held our Western Gypsy Gathering rallies the last three years. There we had to fight for everything, even if it was in our contract and set up months ahead of time, and everybody had a bad attitude. Here, they bend over backwards to accommodate us, and could not be friendlier. 

With that chore done, we stopped at the post office to tell them we were back in town, and to expect an influx of General Delivery mail in the next week or so. Most fulltime RVers use a mail forwarding service to handle their mail, and when they land someplace, they usually have it sent to the local post office General Delivery address.

Then we called on the local Domino’s Pizza to give them a heads up that we’ll be ordering about 75 pizzas next week for our pizza party. Small franchises need time to get the dough and other supplies ordered well ahead of time so they don’t run short when a special event creates a huge order like ours. It always amazes me that Domino’s, both here and in Casa Grande, are able to get everything delivered on time and piping hot.

Our next stop was the Wal-Mart bakery, where we pre-ordered dozens of boxes of donuts for morning coffee and donuts at the rally. Folks always line up for their morning dose of caffeine and sugar!

Back at the fairgrounds, Ron Speidel and I gave the parking situation a look, and with the addition of the new electric sites, we can handle everybody coming in for the rally easily.  

Last year after folks heard so many good reports on the Geeks on Tour Computer Boot Camp, they had so many people asking for a repeat that Jim and Chris Guld stayed around after the rally and held a second one. They are not able to do that this year, so if you want to learn more about your computer and how to get the most out of it, sign up now. They still have room left to accommodate you.

There is one final thing I have to cover about the rally. While Terry and I are animal lovers, we also have to place some restrictions on animals at our rallies. While you are welcome to bring your pets, they must be on a leash at all times, and must be accompanied by an owner when outside of your RV. Except for service dogs, no animals can be in the vendor area, or in any fairgrounds building.

Yesterday I made a lady mad because she insisted that her dog was a beloved family member, and she took it with her everywhere. She said if her dog was not welcome at the seminars and evening entertainment, she was not coming. I told her that I was sorry, but it’s non-negotiable.

I wish we did not have to take this hard line, but our insurance company is adamant on the dog policy, and I can understand why, based on some of the things we have seen at rallies in the past.

Thought For The Day – If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

Sometime early Monday morning the sky above us broke open and rain began to pour down on northern Indiana in torrential amounts. One news report said that four inches of rain fell before 6 a.m. and then it was averaging an inch an hour for the rest of the morning. The roads here in Elkhart Campground looked like small lakes, and the ground is just saturated. And we’re supposed to get more rain all week long! Would somebody please turn off the water!

At some point early yesterday afternoon, when we had a short break in the deluge we waded next door to Ron and Brenda Speidel’s motorhome and I suggested to Ron that maybe we should all take our kayaks out and get some paddling in, right here in the campground!

Dennis and Carol Hill, from the RV Driving School, were supposed to leave yesterday for an RV park in Howe, Indiana, but they took one look at the weather and decided to sit tight for another day. And yet, as nasty as it was, yesterday morning we watched a bunch of RVs pulling out and hitting the road, and later in the day, during another nasty storm, more RVs were pulling in.

Why in the world would anyone choose to travel in terrible weather like this? It just doesn’t make sense when you’re safe and sound in a comfortable campground already. We have wheels under our homes so we can pick up and go when we want to, but we also have brains in our heads that should tell us “not today” sometimes.

I had been rushing to get the new issue of the Gypsy Journal ready to take to the printer today, and falling further behind with every knock at the door, when our printer called yesterday and said they had some production problems that put them behind schedule, and could we wait to bring it in until Wednesday afternoon? Whew, a break I very much needed! I told them no problem at all, happy to oblige.

A couple of notes on our upcoming RV rallies in Ohio and Arizona – if you are planning to attend the Geeks on Tour pre-rally computer boot camp before the Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally, you will need to pay the Mercer County Fairgrounds directly for your camping during the boot camp. Also, even though you have arrived early and are already parked, you will probably have to move on Sunday when the registered Earlybirds start arriving. The fairgrounds only has a few full hookup RV sites, and we need to reserve them for handicapped rally attendees. This was a problem for a couple of folks last year, and they got their feelings hurt because they believed it was first come, first serve.

At the Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma next March, we will not be able to accommodate Earlybird arrivals. The fairgrounds has another RV rally going on that will end the day ours starts, and they don’t have room for us to arrive before our scheduled starting date.

Gee, it’s raining again! Go figure.

Thought For The Day – People never lie so much as after fishing, during a war, or before an election.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally