We have enjoyed our time here at the Higginsville, Missouri fairgrounds. Higginsville is a friendly little town, and everybody we have met in the stores, restaurants and post office has been friendly and made it a point to welcome us to their town.

Yesterday evening we had dinner at the local Pizza Hut with Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour, and when we arrived there was a big old black dog lounging in the shade by the doorway. Of course I had to stop and get my puppy fix, and I made it a point to tell Jim and Chris (who live with a poodle, of all things!) “Now, this is a dog!”

Inside, as the waitress was taking our orders, I asked her whose dog it was. We learned that it lived at a nearby farm, but spent most of its days hanging out at the town’s fast food restaurants, where everybody was always feeding it. Now that’s my kind of dog! Any mutt that hangs out at restaurants mooching free food can’t be all bad.

I mentioned that Jim and Chris have a poodle, a lovable enough mutt if you like poodles, and I do have to give Odie credit. Every time I have ever gone to their rig he comes to the door to bark a greeting at me, and every time I tell him “Hey, Odie, shut up, it’s not like you’re a real dog!”

I think Odie has decided to shun me in return. When Jim and Chris pulled into the fairgrounds the other day, I walked up to the driver’s window, and Odie was in the passenger seat looking to see who it was. Once he realized it was me, he did an about face and looked in the other direction!

The other day I went over to talk to Jim and Chris, and Odie just stayed in his chair and ignored me. But as soon as Miss Terry walked over, he came right to the door to see her. Hey, Odie, I’ve gotten the cold shoulder a lot of times in my life, it’s not gonna work!

Today we’ll leave Higginsville and go over to Sedalia to get parked and set up for Escapade. Along the way, I hope to find a truck wash to get the bus cleaned up. It is covered in oil and road grime and really needs a bath. Usually I can con my pal Smokey Ridgely from Dri Wash N Guard into cleaning my stuff at rallies to demonstrate how good his product is, but the lazy dog is workamping over near Hannibal, Missouri and won’t make it to Escapade. That’s pretty darned selfish if you ask me! What kind of friend is that? I’m seriously thinking about sending him the bill for getting the bus washed!

Thought For The Day – Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

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Several blog readers have written to ask what the status is on the Winnebago motorhome we looked at earlier this week. Thank you for your interest, but unfortunately, it’s not going to happen at this time. Our private financing fell through, so we’re back to square one. We’re very disappointed, but I guess it’s just not our time yet.

Yesterday we drove down to Sedalia to check things out before going into Escapade on Saturday morning. There are already a bunch of Escapees there who arrived early for pre-rally events or to work on the rally staff. We saw several people we know, including Dee Holt, our longtime friends Ron and Jerrie Lea Hopf, and Art and Caroline Fennell.

Sedalia seems like a nice town, with a population of about 20,000 people. We noted several of our favorite restaurants, so we know we’ll have plenty of places to get together for dinner with all of our RVing friends while we’re in town.

Here’s a heads up for anyone coming into Sedalia from Interstate 70 via U.S. Highway 65. Just as you come into town there is construction on a bridge and the road is down to just one ten foot wide lane, with traffic alternating in crossing. It’s only a short distance, but be aware that there may be delays with all of the RVs coming into town.

Back at the Higginsville Fairgrounds, my buddy Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour spent some time helping me with some internet issues. I am always amazed at how much this attorney-turned-geek knows about computers and the internet. She makes tasks that mystify me seem easy.

Later on Chris’ husband Jim threw some chicken and sausage on the grill, Miss Terry whipped up some goodies, and we had a nice little cookout. We enjoyed sitting at one of the picnic tables next to the walking path here at the fairgrounds, having our meal and visiting.

We’ve had an interesting experience not once, but twice lately. People who have picked up a copy of the Gypsy Journal somewhere or read the blog have noticed the names of old friends they have lost contact with mentioned, and contacted me to see if it was the same person. Both times it was, and I have forwarded on their messages and e-mail reunions have taken place. How cool is that?

Thought For The Day – Good fellows are a dime a dozen, but a true leader is priceless.

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Yesterday started out as a frustrating day.

In Sunday’s blog I wrote that when we bought fuel at the Paso Junction Sinclair truck stop in Pratt, Kansas they triple charged my debit card for over $472 in false charges. I called my bank and they reversed the charges, but Monday night they were back and the money was out of my account. After repeated calls to the bank and the truck stop, which acknowledges that the problem is on their end, now they tell me it could be up to 35 days before it is resolved!

I wanted to get an early start on the road yesterday morning, but instead had to run around finding a place to send out faxes of my receipts and the false charges on my account to both the truck stop’s manager and to my bank.

$21 in fax charges later, we finally got out of town only to get held up in a massive traffic jam caused by an accident just before the junction of Interstate 470 and Interstate 70. Why are drivers so dumb?  We were sitting still as emergency vehicles tried to squeeze past to get to the accident scene, and the cars would not move over to let them pass. Finally we got past the accident scene and got onto Interstate 70 for the short drive to the fairgrounds in Higginsville. We were greeted by George and Starr Sharrer, who have been parked here for a week in their fifth wheel. Soon afterward, Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour pulled in.

This is typical of the many fairgrounds around the country that RVers can take advantage of for low cost parking. For $10 a night we are getting 30 amp electric, water, and a dump station. What a deal! Here is a picture of the Geek’s motorhome at the fairgrounds, and another of our bus. If you have not checked out the many low cost camping opportunities in this country, order our Special 7 in 1 CD, which includes over 1,000 free campgrounds, fairgrounds with RV parking, casinos that welcome RVers with free camping, public RV dump stations, RV Good Guys, and more. It will save you a bundle.

Once Jim and Chris were parked, it was time to eat. We had dinner at Zybisco’s Bar and Grill, where it was Taco Tuesday, with three for $1.50. Terry said they were great. I had a huge one pound double bacon cheeseburger that even I could not finish! Terry pointed out the weight to me on the menu, but I was busy talking and didn’t hear her. Big mistake! It was yummy, but way too much for one guy to eat alone.

Of course, I had to save room for dessert. We walked a couple of blocks down Higginsville’s Main Street to Sweetz, where owner Jeni Bayens fixed us up with ice cream and other goodies. Before seeing the error of her ways, Jeni was a nutritionist. Now she’s hustling ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries. Personally, I think it was a great career choice.

Jeni’s 10 year old son Casey was a cool kid that I enjoyed visiting with. I didn’t know I could have loaner kids all over the country like I do loaner dogs. Why didn’t anybody ever tell me that? I could have saved a ton of money on child support!

Casey may look shy with his eyes downcast, but he’s just keeping his eye on the showcase full of goodies like chocolates covered strawberries, chocolates covered licorice, and even chocolates covered jalapenos (jalapenos?) to make sure I didn’t sneak one out!

Thought For The Day – Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

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The Affinity rally ended yesterday, and while we had a good time visiting with old friends and meeting some new ones, it was a break even event for us financially.

While we’d have loved to come away with buckets full of cash, going in we said that if we could cover our costs and introduce some new readers to the Gypsy Journal, we’d be happy with that, and we accomplished that goal.

So what’s with people and their dogs?

Though we choose not to own a pet while we travel, I love dogs. I love big floppy eared mixed breed mutts. I love AKC dogs with pedigrees that make my own family tree look pretty shabby by comparison. My preference is big dogs, but I’m quite content with the medium size breeds too.

My good friend Ann Pruitt has an adorable medium size service dog named Curlie Sue whom I have a special relationship with. My pal Mike Howard in Kingman, Arizona lives next door to a massive mutt named Skeeter who is taller than me when he stands on his hind legs. They’re both on my Favorite Dog list.

In a pinch I’ll even cozy up to a small dog, unless it’s a yappy little mutt with a big mouth and a bad attitude.

I don’t like French poodles, probably because the only things French I like are toast, fries, and kisses, though not necessarily in that order. Don’t tell Chris and Jim Guld from Geeks on Tour, but I even sneaked a surreptitious scratch behind the ears of their yappy little poodle Odie once when nobody was looking. When you need a dog fix bad enough, I guess any old mutt will do.

My favorite dogs are German shepherds, and I’ll walk a block out of my way to meet and pet every one I see. I don’t trust pit bulls, most of whom deserve their bad reputation, no matter what their fans will tell you. In my many years in the newspaper business, I never covered a story about a collie mauling a kid, but I did have to report on too many sad stories involving pit bull attacks.

So, overall, I’m a dyed in the wool dog lover.

What I don’t like are irresponsible dog owners, and people who think the rules do not apply to their dogs. People who allow their dogs to bark endlessly, or who go off and leave their noisy dogs back in the RV to annoy everybody in the campground in their absence.

I get really ticked off by people at public events where dogs are specifically prohibited, but who insist on bringing their canine companions in anyway. We saw dozens of people doing this at the Affinity rally in Albuquerque. One person after another came wandering through the vendor area with their dogs. One lady even had two little mutts in a twin baby carriage, forcing shoppers to find a way around her as she blocked the aisles.

Besides being against the rules, some people, like Miss Terry, are allergic to dogs, and some are afraid of them. But these inconsiderate pet owners could care less. After all, it’s all about them.

We welcome dog owners to bring their critters to our Gypsy Gathering rallies, but we make it very clear that their pets are not allowed in the buildings or in the vendor area, as mandated by our insurance company and the fairgrounds who rent us the space, and I don’t hesitate to enforce the rule.

Yet we have had people show up at seminars and in the vendor area with their dogs. A couple of years ago at our rally in Casa Grande, Arizona, we even had a woman carrying her dog in to get donuts in the morning, leaning over the open box of pastries with the dog in her arms!

Invariably when I tell someone they are breaking the rules, I get the same reply “But this is my baby!”

No, it’s not your baby. You may consider it your fur kid, but it’s still an animal. I wasn’t a memorable student in high school, but even I learned that much in biology class! Human babies have two legs, and if that thing has four legs and is your baby, you need to sell that freak to a sideshow!

Thought For The Day – The treasure you find is rarely what you thought you were looking for.

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Yesterday was the first vending day at The Rally, and while vendors in the past have told me they did gangbuster business at earlier events, so far I don’t think anyone here in Albuquerque is setting any sales records.

That may be partly due to the fact that the rally attendees are parked at the Balloon Fiesta Park, and all of the vendors and seminars are here at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. Those two locations are thirteen miles apart, so the attendees have to stand in line to ride buses to the fairgrounds and then stand in line again to ride a bus back to their RV at the end of the day.

A lot of people seem to be very unhappy about that. Throw in the fact that yesterday we had a mixture of rain and snow all day and all evening, and the wait for the buses was over an hour, and it wasn’t a recipe for success. I heard several people say they were not buying anything because they didn’t want to carry it around with them all day long, and then have to hold it while they stood in line for the bus, and then try to figure out how to get it on the bus. I guess if you were buying a book or a pocket tool, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but it you bought something like a lawn chair or a TV dish, you’d really have a transportation problem. I told Terry a guy with a van could make a few bucks just delivering things from the vendors out to the buyers’ RVs at the Balloon Park.

I’m sure glad we’re parked here on the grounds. When the vendor area closed at 5 p.m. yesterday, the line waiting in the cold rain for the bus was over two blocks long! We had considered going to the Neil Sedaka concert last night, until we discovered that it was at the Balloon Park, and was being held in a tent! No way were we going to drive that far in the rain to sit in a tent in this weather! Instead we had dinner with Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour and Al Hesselbart from the RV Hall of Fame Museum, returned to the bus, and spent the evening returning e-mail and listening to music from the iPod, played thorough our Bose SoundDock.

Even though we didn’t do much business yesterday, it was nice to be able to help out Al Hesselbart at the RV Hall of Fame Museum’s booth. Al did his seminar on The History of RVs during the morning, and we knew when he was finished, because we got slammed with people coming by the booth to pick up a museum brochure or for more information.

It was also nice to take a break from the booth and wander around checking out the vendors. I finally had the opportunity to met Alex from the 3G Store, where I purchased our Cradlepoint wireless router, Wilson antenna and Wilson amplifier for our internet connection back when we switched to a Verizon air card from our old HughesNet internet dish. Alex and I have exchanged e-mails for a long time, and he really helped me out when I had some technical problems a while back, so it was nice to put a face with a name. I also got to meet the president of 3G Store, Michael Ginsberg, and we spent quite a bit of time visiting. He showed me some new stuff coming down the technological highway that I think are really going to excite RVers once they hit the market.

Another person I was happy to finally meet was Lance Kropf, from Guaranty RV Super Center in Junction City, Oregon. Quite a few RVers I know have had good purchasing experiences when dealing with Lance and his company, and he’s a good buddy of my pal Mac McCoy, which gives him several extra stars next to his name in my book.

Speaking of Mac McCoy, somebody asked if I wasn’t afraid that Mac would be offended by the way I picked on him in yesterday’s blog. Heck no, Mac has a great sense of humor and loves to have fun, and anybody who is going to hang around me knows that they’re fair game. (Besides, if I don’t put pictures in a blog post, Mac doesn’t look at it anyway. Anything more than a two syllable word gives him a migraine.)

Thought For The Day – How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

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