We’re on a road trip.

Yesterday we left the bus in Tucson and drove the van to Gila Bend, where we stopped to visit with Ron Brundage at RV Sat-Link. I have grown tired of fooling around with our tripod TV dish and wanted to see one of the new VuQube portable satellite TV dishes in operation. I’ve been debating the advantages of one of these over a rooftop mounted dome.

As it turns out, Ron did not have a working model in stock, only a dummy display unit. But from what I saw, I’m impressed. The base model VuQube is not automatic, but you aim it from inside your RV with a remote control. From everything I have read, acquiring the satellite is fast and easy.

From Gila Bend, we continued on to Yuma and visited with Kelly Watkins, manager of the Yuma fairgrounds. As most of you know, we are looking for a new location for our Western Gypsy Gathering rally.

Kelly was very accommodating, and let us know that he wants our business, and will do anything within his power to get it. How refreshing after the clowns running the Pinal County Fairgrounds in Casa Grande! I really believe that the new fairgrounds manager in Casa Grande wants to make things work, but I think she’s in way over her head and the situation is too far gone for anybody to salvage.

Okay, the good news with Yuma is that the fairgrounds is much nicer, the buildings are in much better shape, the bathrooms are clean, It’s all grass so nobody would be parked in the mud if it rains, and they do not double book the fairgrounds.

The bad news is that it is in the flight path for the Marine Air Station, which is located right across the road, so we would be dealing with the noise of airplanes coming by overhead. But to me, that’s the sound of freedom. And what the heck, did you ever park in a campground that wasn’t next to a railroad tracks?

Another consideration is that for next year, the only week available to us is March 8-12. I need some input from our snowbird readers who winter in the Southwest. Is that too late in the season for you? When do you start heading for other parts of the world? Please post a comment, or e-mail me at editor@gypsyjournal.net and tell me what you think.

From Yuma, we drove to Imperial, California to check out the fairgrounds there as a rally location. We were not impressed with the fairgrounds, the city of Imperial, or neighboring El Centro. I’m not saying that it’s a complete armpit, but instead of mowing grass, the public works department shaves the place twice a week. We liked it even less than Casa Grande. That’s akin to me saying I like my first ex-wife even less than I like my second ex-wife!

It was starting to get dark by the time we were leaving Imperial, so Miss Terry took the wheel and drove the 120 miles to San Diego. We will be here through the weekend. My daughter and her family will meet us tomorrow and we’ll spend the next couple of days going to the beach and taking our two granddaughters to Sea World. We need to help those two little girls build some memories of time with their gypsy grandparents.

Thought For The Day - Always drink upstream from the herd.