Does anybody still believe in global warming? Except for Al Gore, did anybody ever believe in global warming? We had planned to spend a couple of months this winter in Florida, before our schedule got all messed up, but looking at the weather reports for the Sunshine State, I’m glad we didn’t. While it’s been unbelievably cold in Florida, it’s warm here in Arizona.

It was 74 degrees yesterday, which I was sure to rub in when I talked to my cousin Berni Frees, back in Muskegon, Michigan yesterday. Hey, why be warm and toasty, if you can’t flaunt it to your friends and relatives who are freezing their hinnies off someplace cold?

Yesterday we were as stiff and sore as we had expected to be, after spending Monday washing the outside of our motorhome. Terry’s sister Lisa stopped over to visit the other day, and Terry said that if we had known how much all the things we did as kids was going to come back to haunt us when we got older and were paying for it with aches and pains, maybe we’d have done things differently. I said that looking back on my misspent youth, where I did dumb things like jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, riding motorcycles, even driving (and crashing) a race car one time, and a lot of other foolishness, I’d do every darned one of them again! It was sure fun at the time!

But alas, we’re older now, even if no wiser, and we do pay the price, so yesterday we took it easy. I spent a lot of time playing around on the Ancestry.com website, discovering that I come from a long line of misfits and ne’er-do-wells.

I’ve been fascinated with genealogy for a long time, and earlier this year Judy Bayless put on an excellent seminar called The RVing Genealogist at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally. I was too busy with rally duties to attend the seminar, but a few days after the rally, Judy gave me a crash course on the topic and introduced me to the Ancestry.com website.

It amazes me how much information you can find online. I was able to pull up my grandfather’s draft card from World War I, along with census records from 1900 through 1930. It kind of gives you a tingle to see the original form, in the census taker’s handwriting, that they filled out while standing on my grandfathers’ front porch or sitting at my newlywed parents’ kitchen table.

While I was goofing off on the computer, Miss Terry was working on paperwork for the upcoming rally, and filling some orders that came in online. We took a break while she cut my hair and trimmed my beard, because the park here has a leash law, and I’m not sure my rabies vaccination is up to date. Then we went to the post office to mail out the orders, and afterward we stopped at Terry’s parents’ house to visit for a while.

Then it was back to the motorhome, where we were forced to leave the screen door open because it was so nice and warm. Ahhh, life in the desert is good this year!

Whiles I was goofing off, Bad Nick was busy yesterday, writing a new Bad Nick Blog post titled Way To Go, Sheriff Joe! Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

There are a lot of reasons I think Al Gore needs a mouth transplant, and his theory of global warming is just one of them. Spend a day or two here in northern Indiana this time of year, and I bet you’ll agree that global warming is an urban legend. Damn, it’s cold!

Our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage has a heat pump, which is new to us. The idea is that down to a certain temperature, we can run the heat pump instead of the gas furnace, and save propane.

At this point, I’m not all that impressed with this option. The heat pump is okay during the day, but it is part of the basement air conditioning system, which is mounted under the motorhome, about where our bed is inside. At night it is very loud, and I’m a light sleeper, so when it’s cold enough to need heat at night, I’ll opt for the gas furnace. I’d rather buy some propane than be cold, or have my sleep interrupted every time the heat pump comes on.

Better yet, I’ll go someplace warm. And you can bet that as soon as we get the new issue of the Gypsy Journal printed and mailed, we’ll be out of here.

Old diesel engines don’t like the cold weather any better than I do. Yesterday Ron Speidel and I tried to help Al Hesselbart, from the RV Hall of Fame Museum, get the diesel engine and diesel generator on his vintage Newell motorhome to start, without any success.

Our MCI bus conversion is parked next to Al’s rig, and I know that with the block heater we had installed last year it will fire right up, but I hope whoever buys the bus has the good sense to head for the sunbelt too. We spent several months living in our first motorhome in northern Michigan during the winter years ago while Miss Terry was being treated for cancer, and we vowed never to do that again. My motto is, if it snows, Nick goes!

Even with all of the filthy talk from the truckers, I still find having a CB radio in an RV to be very handy. Our CB has alerted us to traffic accidents and bad weather ahead, helped us find a way around traffic backups, and the built in weather radio can be a life saver.

Our Winnebago came with a CB antenna pre-installed, and it was pre-wired to hook up a CB radio. So yesterday, after we finally gave up on starting Al’s rig, Ron Speidel installed my Cobra CB radio.

I’ve also been thinking about downloading the free Silverleaf VMSpc software, which allows diesel owners to monitor their engine’s performance and keep up with the maintenance schedule. While the program is a free download, you do need to purchase a cable that plugs into the engine data port under the dash and connects to a laptop computer.

While Ron was prowling around under the dashboard hooking up the CB, he located the data port for me, and marked it so I can plug in the data cable if I decide to go with the Silverleaf. I’d be interested in hearing from any readers who use the Silverleaf, and getting your feedback on it. Some people call it a very handy tool, and others say it’s just another gadget. What do you think?

While I was outside freezing my butt off yesterday, Bad Nick was inside snug and warm,  hard at work postng a new blog titled The Sky Is Still Falling!

Thought For The Day – You are the creator of your own reality show. If you don’t like your part in it, rewrite the script.

It’s September already? Where did summer go? I must have pulled a Rip Van Winkle and slept all the way through July or something! Here in northern Indiana it has been a cool summer most of the time. In fact, it has been down in the mid-40s the last couple of nights. Brrr! I think global warming went the way of the Chevy Vega and stock portfolios that actually earn money.

It is amazing what we keep finding as we move from our bus conversion into our motorhome. Last year I sold my Yamaha V-Star 1100 motorcycle to one of the blog readers, and today I discovered the original paperwork for the bike, as well as the owner’s manual. I’m afraid I‘ve forgotten your name, but if you’re reading this and still have the bike, e-mail me your address and I’ll send them to you.

A lot of folks have come by to admire the Winnebago, and several have asked Miss Terry what is the first modification she plans on making. But Terry tells me she has hung up her tool belt and is finished building things. She says she wants to just sit back and enjoy our new home on wheels, and she sure had earned that right!

People have been asking us if it is hard to move out of the bus, after we put so much work into it, and yes, it is bittersweet. We drove every nail, ran every inch of wire, and put together every foot of plumbing in the bus. It’s kind of like the day your first child leaves the nest, and we know there will be a tear or two shed when whoever buys the bus drives away in it.

She has been a good old girl to us and we have loved her. But our needs have changed and it’s time to move on. We’re hoping the bus finds a new home soon, because right now we are paying for registration and insurance on two rigs, and that gets expensive.

Our friends Howie and Norah Glover arrived at Elkhart Campground yesterday, and we went to a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was fun having the opportunity to visit and share stories of our travels with Howie and Norah, and to hear about theirs. Howie and Norah will be here until they leave for Ohio for our Gypsy Gathering rally the end of the month, and several other people who have signed up for the rally will be here before we all head to Celina. Some of them are going to hold a pre-rally in Celina before our rally starts. Maybe we’ll have a pre-rally here before the pre-rally there!

Thanks to everybody who has e-mailed and left comments on the new Bad Nick Blog. The little munchkin tells me he has a new post about professional victims. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – The best way to get even is to forget.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally