Okay, I give up. It’s obvious that God doesn’t want me to watch the space shuttle being launched. Yesterday’s liftoff was canceled due to a fuel leak, and now NASA officials say it will be the end of November, at the earliest, before the shuttle will take off. We’ll be gone from the Space Coast long before that. We’d like to see it, but there is a lot more here in Florida that we also want to see.

Yesterday we had a very nice lunch with Peter and Connie Bradish, our hosts here at The Great Outdoors, and then we went back to their beautiful home and spent several hours visiting. Peter and Connie are really into genealogy, and have many years of experience in family history research, and I learned a lot talking with them that will help me in my own research. In fact, back at our motorhome, I logged onto a website Connie told me about, and discovered two sisters of my father, that were born and died in infancy, that I had never known about!

By the time we got done visiting with Peter and Connie, the weather had turned very cool. The day before we were running our Winnebago’s basement air conditioner, and yesterday evening we were sitting around whining about how chilly it was!

In addition to doing some genealogy research yesterday, I also worked on the seminar schedule for our upcoming Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally. Dennis Hill from the RV Driving School will be doing four seminars at the rally, including one for ladies only, called Yes, You Can Drive That RV.

If you’ve been reading my blog or the Gypsy Journal for very long, you know that I believe that both people in an RV need to know how to drive it. One person may do most of the driving, but you both need to at least know how to get the rig off the road and to a safe place, in case of an emergency. In addition to the seminar at the rally, the RV Driving School will also be offering behind the wheel driving lessons in your own RV at the rally, for a separate fee. Anybody who has taken the class will tell you that it is one of the best investments that you can make for your RV safety.

Dennis will also be presenting seminars on Testing Air Brakes, RV Driving Tips & Techniques, and Preparing To Drive To Alaska. I think if I snivel and beg hard enough, he will probably also sit in on our RVing Alaska panel discussion. Gee, I feel kind of bad about making Dennis work so hard when his pretty wife Carol is just sitting around running their vendor booth and being bored. I wonder if I can get her to teach a line dancing class?

Today is our last day in the Titusville area, and we’re going to spend it with Tim and Ann Moran. Tim has been wanting to show me a museum near their house, but hasn’t been up to it all week. If he’s feeling better, we may do that, and if not, we’ll just sit and visit. When you’re with people you love, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, it’s all about just having that precious time together.

Bad Nick has been at it again, posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled Who Makes This Crap Up? Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

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I’m sure glad we moved into the Indoor Vendor area, because it was still raining when we went to bed last night! At least we are parked on the road. Almost everybody else here at Escapade is parked on grass, or what was grass before spinning tires churned it into mud. The local tow trucks are making a fortune pulling people out.

Of course, part of the problem is that people tend to panic when it gets wet. If they would just sit tight until things dry out (and the weatherman promises they will be drier by Friday when the rally ends), everybody would be better off. But people want to move early to avoid getting stuck, and in the process they create a giant mud hole and then everybody gets stuck!

The big majority of the people here are fulltimers, so it’s not like most of them have to rush off someplace. The rally ends on Friday. They could stay here in beautiful Sedalia and enjoy the town for a day or two and leave after the weekend and have no problems getting out.

Sedalia has a lot to offer, and we love the charming old downtown section, which looks like a time capsule from 50 years ago. If it were not for the modern automobiles parked on the streets, it would be easy to imagine that you had been transported back in time to a typical small town America Main Street.

I often mention the many vendors who help make up our extended family of RV gypsies, so I thought for this blog I would include a few pictures to put faces with the names.

This first couple needs no introduction to most RVers. While they are not vendors, they are icons in the fulltime RV world, Kay and Joe Peterson, founders of the Escapees RV Club.

And here is my good buddy Mac McCoy, from Fire and Life Safety, and a familiar name to blog readers. Mac and I go way back, and he’s been a good friend for many years.

This pretty lady is Carol Hill, co-owner of the RV Driving School, along with her husband Dennis. Carol loves dancing, and gives line dancing lessons at many RV events.

Next up is another familiar name to blog readers, my dear friend Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour, talking with Jim Beletti, head honcho of the Heartland Owners RV Club.

John and Lexa Comstock own Big Rig RV Accessories, and sell all kinds of top quality products to keep your RV looking good as new, when Lexa is not busy doing acrobatics and back flips from lawn chairs.

We just met Joe and Susan Briggs from Uniquely RV, vendors for neat portable solar lampposts for your favorite campsite.

Ken and Marilyn Murphy from Coil N Wrap have been vending at RV rallies for a long time and have a loyal following of customers.

Patsy Collins was holding down the SMI Braking Systems booth while husband Reggie was off gallivanting somewhere.

While not vendors, we have known and loved Sami and Earl Aeverman for years. They were so generous as to offer us the use of their lot in Aransas Pass, Texas for the five weeks we were there this past winter.

And last in the photo show, but always first in my heart is my own dear Miss Terry, pictured visiting with another longtime friend, Oz Oszman in our booth.

Thought For The Day – I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.

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