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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As an Army veteran, I have tremendous respect for the men and women who serve our country, and those who have served. They put their lives on hold, and on the line, to do a job few of us can imagine, for very little pay, and all too often, no thanks from their fellow citizens. 

I saw a quote a while back, that sums it up better than I can: “A veteran – whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve – is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The ‘United States of America’ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life.’” (Author unknown).

During my time in uniform, I heard a lot of stories about military people being harassed by protestors when they returned stateside, but I never experienced that, except on one occasion.

I was home on leave and waiting to be assigned to my next duty station, when my dad and uncle took me to their VFW post to show me off. All of the fellows there were friendly and welcoming, except for one jerk, a drunk sitting at the bar. He started running me down and said my little excuse for a war was nothing compared to World War II, and then he threw his beer on me. I was shocked and didn’t know how to react, and several men had to get between him and my dad before blood was shed. It was an ugly scene, and I didn’t set foot inside a VFW post for the next 20 years, though today I am a proud member of that fine organization.

What I did experience on my return home was total indifference. My high school friends, and even many of my family members, didn’t even seem to know that I had been gone, or that young men were fighting and dying on the other side of the world. And except for a couple of guys who wanted to hear blood and guts stories, nobody wanted to hear about it.

Today we seem to have a greater appreciation for our present and past military members, and I think that is a wonderful thing. Whenever I see someone in uniform, I always take the time to thank them for their service, and when I meet a veteran, I always thank them and tell them “Welcome home.” It may be a little thing to some, but I know how much it can mean.

To that end I have launched a new website to honor our present and past military men and women, at www.honoraveteran.com. It is a place where you can recognize and honor the veterans you know. There is no charge to submit the stories of your veteran friends and family members, or your own information. We fund the website totaly from the ad limks on it. Though we have just a few profiles on the website now, I hope we see it grow quickly.

Please check it out, share the stories of the veterans you know and love, and tell your friends about it, if you will. It may be a little thing right now, but it means a lot to me to let my brothers and sisters who served know that they are appreciated.

And if you are a veteran, thank you for your service, and welcome home.

Thought For The Day - Failure is success if we learn from it.

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