Yesterday was another one of those marathon driving days that RVers are not supposed to do, but that we find ourselves doing quite often. We do this sometimes when we have to get from Point A to Point B, and don’t have time to stop and play along the way. It’s not our preferred mode of travel, but what can I say? I enjoy driving my motorhome.  If it’s a good day, and the Winnebago is running smooth, and we’re having a good time, why stop until we’re tired?

We left the Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails campground at Gloucester, Virginia a little after 9 a.m., headed west on State Route 33, crossed the York River, and got onto Interstate 64 about 25 miles outside of Richmond. Once on I-64, we pointed the nose of the coach west and just let her roll.

We had never been in this part of Virginia before, and as we climbed up into the mountains, we started to see some nice fall colors. Maybe not as dramatic as we’ve seen in northern Michigan, but pretty none the less.

We passed several very nice little farms along the way.

Looks like somebody needs a new roof on their barn.

Now that’s a steep bridge! I wonder what percent that is at? I sure wouldn’t want to come down it on an icy day!

And what’s a road trip without road construction?

Just before we crossed into West Virginia, we had five miles of 5%  downhill grade. We crossed the state line at 2 p.m., and Miss Terry got some pictures of the rocky hillsides alongside the highway.

West Virginia is pretty, but it’s not a place to do a lot of rubbernecking if you’re the driver. I don’t think there’s one mile of straight highway in the entire state. It’s either uphill or downhill, and you’re always winding around the side of a mountain. 

At one point, near the New River Gorge,  we had four miles of 7% downhill grade before we climbed back up the other side.

Interstate 64 joined the West Virginia Turnpike and followed it north to Charleston. Most of the way was winding roadway with a lot of potholes to keep us awake. Traffic in Charleston was light, and before we knew it we had passed the gold domed state capitol building and I-64 had turned back west again.

A little over an hour later, we crossed into Kentucky and pulled into the Flying J at Catlettsburg, a little after 5 p.m. We fueled up, and then pulled into one of their designated RV parking spaces.

We had not eaten all day and were famished, so we headed for the truck stop’s restaurant. Usually I’ll just order a burger at Flying J, but the buffet had a very good looking selection, so we both chose that instead. I’m not sure if it was because we were so hungry or what, but our dinner was outstanding. Much better than what we’ve come to expect for a truck stop buffet.

It was a long day, and I was ready to stop driving, so we spent the night at the Flying J, with 435 miles behind us. Yes, I know that’s a lot of miles for retired RVers. But we’re not retired, we’re still working folks who just happen to live the fulltime RV lifestyle as we run our business. We could had stopped sooner and had more miles to drive today, but as it is, we’re less than 120 miles from Kentucky Horse Park. So we can get in early today, get settled in, and then relax the rest of the day.

Thought For The Day – A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

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Yesterday was our last full day in Virginia, and like much of our time here, it started out gray and chilly. We drove into Gloucester Courthouse and picked up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal from the printer and got it loaded into the van. They did a pretty good job, and we’ll use them again when we’re back in this area.

Since it was my birthday, I decided we needed a treat. So we had lunch at Anna’s Pizza, a few blocks from the newspaper office. It was an above average pizza, and the price was very reasonable. Another one to put on our list of places we’d go back to again.

By the time we picked up the new issue, finished lunch, and drove back to the Thousand Trails campground, it was about 3 p.m., and the rain had stopped.

It has been almost two years since we’ve done any geocaching, and I really can’t tell you why we have gotten away from it, since we always enjoyed it so much. Yesterday I was looking at the Geocaching.com website, and noticed that there was a cache hidden right at the entrance of the Thousand Trails campground, so we decided to go find it.

It was an easy find, in fact it was mostly uncovered. The lid had not been secured properly, so there was water inside. I didn’t take any of the goodies inside the cache, I just signed the log book, poured out the water, and hid it for the next cacher to find.

Terry and I agree that we need to to get back into geocaching. It’s the perfect RV hobby, as I wrote in a story about geocaching for RVers. I’m too lazy to go for a walk, but if you tell me there’s a Tupperware container hidden in the woods someplace and stick a GPS in my hand, I’ll walk ten miles to find it.

After we found the geocache, we drove to Urbanna to drop off a bundle of sample papers at Bethpage Camping Resort. But along the way, we stopped to take a picture of this old abandoned house. There are places like this on the back roads, all over this area.

Bethpage is a huge place, and it was packed. They have hundreds of sites that will handle any size RV, and a fleet of rental golf carts that would put Hertz or Avis to shame. It’s not our kind of place, we prefer quieter surroundings, but I’m sure families love it.

Urbanna was settled in the late 1600s, so there is a lot of history there. At one time it as a major tobacco shipping port, but today tourism seems to be the big activity.

Driving back to the Thousand Trails, we stopped to take more pictures from the more recent past.

We have enjoyed our stay in this part of Virginia, even though the combination of bad weather and getting the new issue ready to print have not allowed us to do as much exploring as we would have liked to. We’ll definitely return some day.

Today we’re headed west toward Lexington, Kentucky. It’s about 560 miles from here to Kentucky Horse Park, so we’ll make it a two day trip. I’m not sure where we’ll spend the night, but there’s always something along the way. It may be an Elks or Moose lodge, an RV friendly WalMart or truck stop, or wherever we find ourselves when we’re tired of traveling for the day.

Bad Nick had a few things to say before we hit the road, so he posted a new Bad Nick Blog titled Bubba For President! Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Without geography, you’re nowhere.

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When we’re not busy traveling in our RV or writing about the RV lifestyle, I enjoy surfing the web and reading the many blogs and websites about RVing that are out there. Even after eleven years on the road, I manage to learn something new every day from what other RVers are writing about. 

Today I thought that I’d share some of the interesting blog posts and websites I have come across in the last few days of web surfing. Some are interesting for their great photography, others for information I didn’t know, and a lot of them are just plain fun!

On the RV.Net blog, Mark Post had a revealing look at statistics gathered from RV Poll Results. According to Mark, 42% of RVers responding said that they have spent a night in a Wal-Mart parking lot; 60% connect to the internet every day, 94% use rest stops when traveling in their RV, and 70% have stayed in a friend or relative’s driveway. Check Mark’s blog post for more interesting numbers. I’d be interested to know how your responses to the poll compare.

Also on the RV.Net blog, my pal Jaimie Hall Bruzenak has an interesting post about how  RVers who volunteer at public parks and campgrounds are perceived by at least one Arizona newspaper. Jaimie and her writing partner, Alice Zyetz, have an excellent new e-book out titled Retire to an RV: The Roadmap to Affordable Retirement Living. You can learn more about their new book and much more about RVing at their RV Lifestyle Experts website.

Blogs help us keep up with our RVing friends, so even though we may be hundreds, even thousands of miles apart, we get to share in their adventures. Our pals Tom and Barb Westerfield combine RV traveling with their other passion, geocaching, and in their Caching On The Road blog I read that they are visiting my old stomping grounds in coastal Washington state. I got my start in the newspaper business up there a lifetime ago, and it’s fun to see their pictures of the region now.

Another couple of good friends who are exploring my old neighborhood are Greg and Jan White, who are in Westport, Washington, just a few miles from where I lived back in the day. Their Our RV Adventures blog makes me homesick.

Yet another blog that brought back fond memories is Levonne Gaddy and John Huntley’s California Odyssey. They’re workamping at Morro Strand State Beach in Morro Bay, California. Miss Terry and I honeymooned in Morro Bay, and we hope to get back there one of these days for another visit.

I mentioned parking overnight at Wal-Mart earlier. Another place where we have found free overnight parking is at casinos. The Casino Camper website has a tremendous amount of information on casino camping coast to coast. Mac McClellan and his wife Chris do a great job of keeping the information up to date and useful to their readers.

One of the greatest resources for finding RV blogs and websites is the excellent Hitch Itch website. Here you will find hundreds of links to RV blogs and RV websites that can provide you with a lifetime of interesting reading and valauble information about RV travel and fulltime RVing.

Thought For The Day – You can’t stay young forever, but you can be immature the rest of your life.

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I’m sorry yesterday’s blog was so short, but I was just too punch drunk from two days of parking RVs and putting out fires to function. I’m just as tired tonight, but at least we got back to our motorhome a little earlier (9 p.m.) and I can think straight.

Besides being an expert instructor, my friend Dennis Hill from the RV Driving School really knows how to handle a camera, and he has been busy taking photos here at the rally, and was gracious enough to allow me to use some of them in the blog, so you call can see all the fun you’re missing if you’re not here.

You all know about Good Nick and Bad Nick, but here is a picture of Tired Nick taken Monday night, after operating on adrenalin, nervous energy, and only about six hours sleep in two days. Miss Terry was just as exhausted, but she’s never too tired to laugh. How did a guy who looks like me ever get such a beautiful, intelligent  lady to even give him a second glance? It’s one of the great mysteries of life. 

Here is a shot of the crowd gathering for our official welcoming Monday night, which kicks off the rally. For most of my life, I have had such stage fright that the idea of getting up in front of even a dozen people and speaking terrified me and made me physically ill, but now I’m perfectly comfortable on stage talking to crowds like this, numbering in the hundreds.

After Terry and I welcomed everybody, Sharon and Don Del Rosario came up on stage so Sharon could tell everybody about the small afghans, called lapghans, that she crochets for a wonderful organization called Soldiers’ Angels, that passes them on to wounded veterans. Sharon urged all of the knitters and crocheters in the crowd to consider making a few projects for our troops.

Then a fine young man from the Yuma Marine Air Station, Lance Corporal Benson, spoke to the crowd about the mission of the air station and its role in training combat pilots for overseas deployment.

It did this old veterans’ heart proud to see everybody on their feet, applauding and giving Lance Corporal Benson such respect for all he and the rest of our men and women in the military do for us. I know I wasn’t the only vet there with a lump in his throat, and a tear in his eye.

Once all of the welcoming and introduction duties were handled, I was only too happy to relinquish the stage to David Bradley, who put on a wonderful 90 minute concert that had the entire crowd clapping and singing along to the music.

Yesterday was packed with seminars, and the feedback we are getting on them is very positive. I was told that the geocaching seminar had over 60 people in the audience, and I know we have some new converts to the hobby!

I did a seminar on Gypsy Journal FAQs to answer some of the questions that people always have about the paper and why we do things the way we do, and then sat in on Joe Kieva’s excellent Personal Security Tips For RVers seminar. If you couldn’t make it to the rally, you can order their book by the same title, in either paperback or online as an e-book.

I don’t worry about security here at the rally, because I have Art Fennell to keep an eye on things. With this big guy covering my back, I can sleep tight tonight. Of course, having 5,000 U.S. Marines right across the street helps too!

Our vendors all seemed to be doing good business as people shopped for everything from satellite TV systems to tire pressure monitors, jewelry, and RV insurance. If you need it, it’s probably for sale in our vendor area.

I’ll be doing two new seminars today, Cemetery Stories, and Blogging For RVers. I also hope to find time to sit in on a few seminars myself. Joe and Vicki Kieva are doing a seminar on RVing Alaska, and Judy Bayless is doing her popular The RVing Genealogist, and I hope to take in both.

Before I close, I want to mention again how much I appreciate all of our volunteers, who do so much to help make these rallies a success. And, a very special thank you goes out to Miss Terry, who shoulders so much of the burden in everything we do. While I get to be up on stage goofing off and telling my little stories, she’s the one behind the scenes who makes sure the donuts get ordered every morning, the coffee gets made, the day pass visitors are handled, and a 1,001 other details that I can’t even begin to list. Without her, there wouldn’t be a Gypsy Gathering rally, or a Gypsy Journal at all. They say that behind every great man is a great woman, and I’ll tell you what, behind this very mediocre man is one hell of a lady! I love you, baby.

Thought For The Day – Don’t let your fears stand in the way of your dreams

There is an unwritten rule that every RVer knows about, which states that no RV park can be built anywhere in America unless it is within spitting distance of a railroad track. There is nothing like dropping off to sleep after a long day on the road, only to be blasted awake by the Midnight Flyer blaring its horn as it rattles past you. They blow the horn so you don’t think it’s an earthquake when the train bounces you out of bed in the wee hours of the morning!

I know some veteran RVers who can’t go to sleep in primitive campgrounds way out in the boondocks unless they play a tape recording of freight trains to drown out the annoying sound of crickets and birds chirping!

Here at the Yuma Fairgrounds, which is right across the road from the Marine Corps Air Station, airplanes fly by overhead all day long. Menacing looking jet fighters, huge KC-135 tankers, that refuel aircraft in flight, and olive drab helicopters. Folks here at the fairgrounds learn to just ignore the noise, much like RVers ignore trains passing by. Sometimes we have to pause in our conversations, but it’s no big deal. Like I said in a blog last week, that’s the sound of freedom! 

This being a military town, we see a lot of Marines in the local stores and restaurants. Anybody who knows me knows that I have the utmost respect for the men and women in our military, and I don’t hesitate to tell them how much I appreciate the job they do for all of us. Whether they are flying those aircraft, working on the flight line to keep them fueled up and ready to go, or sitting at a desk in an administrative job, they are all part of what keeps us secure, and we all owe them our respect and gratitude.

The noise hasn’t bothered our pals Tom and Barbara Westerfield, who are here as part of our advance staff. They are too busy to even notice. Besides helping us with technical duties, printing name tags, planning the parking, and a hundred other tasks, they have put together an excellent seminar on geocaching that I know will be a hit. They will be assisted by some other experienced cachers, Sue Pace, and “Cool Judy” Rinehimer, and between all of those guys and girls, there is an awful lot of geocaching experience. They are even going to place several caches around the fairgrounds for class attendees to find.

No matter how busy we get, there’s always time for dinner with friends. Last night Tom and Barbara, Greg and Jan White, and Terry and I had dinner at Famous Dave’s Barbecue. Here is a picture Barbara took of our group. Tom is in the front right, Jan is in the left front, then Greg, myself, and Miss Terry. Barbara was behind the camera, so you can’t see her smiling dace. Some people say that Greg and I look a lot alike, but I don’t see the resemblance. I’m much prettier!

Now, if you think that all of this dining out is an extravagance, how wrong you are! Part of our job as the advance staff is to find all of the best places to eat, so we know where to send our rally attendees. So while it may look like we’re playing, we’re actually hard at work! At least that’s what I’m telling my accountant!

Miss Terry spent some time yesterday mapping out our indoor vendor area. As of right now we have 51 indoor vendor spaces, and five outdoor vendors! Seeing the map really hit home to me that our rallies are becoming big time events!

Thought For The Day – Some people travel only to look – others to see.

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