When they stopped working for the day on Tuesday, Chris, the tech assigned to our motorhome, told us that he had a couple of hours left on it, but he hoped to have us out by about 9 a.m. the next morning. So once again we rolled out of bed yesterday morning before the chickens, and at 7 sharp he came knocking on the door to pull the coach inside.

Well, we all know that nothing goes according to plan, and 9 came and went, as did 10. Finally, at 11:30 he came out to tell us that he had the new springs installed for our HWH leveling jacks, but there was still a very tiny leak in one spot in the bedroom slide that he was trying to resolve. No problem, we went into town and dropped off some things at the post office, then grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the service facility.

More time came and went, and finally, a little before 1 p.m. Chris came out and took us back into the shop to show us where he was at. There is one spot on the bedroom slide that, when run through the high pressure water test bay that Winnebago uses, allows a drop or two of water to get inside. But if he just touched that spot on the gasket with his finger, it stopped. Since the amount of water pressure they use to test with is much more than any kind of a rainstorm outside of a hurricane, and it comes from several directions at once, I really don’t think it will be a problem, and I told Chris that.

He agreed, but Chris and Mike, the service advisor, wanted to be sure, so they called in their supervisor, who thought that as soon as the stiff new rubber gasket relaxes a bit, it will probably seal completely. They also made a notation on our records, so if it does ever becomes a problem, we’re covered under their parts and service warranty.

Terry and I were dreading the bill, because they worked on our rig for two half days, and two full days, at $100 an hour shop rate, plus parts. In all, we had new slide seals installed on both slide-outs, both slide-outs adjusted, the fiberglass roof inspected and resealed, our air compressor manifold adjusted, the small floor slide over the stepwell in front of the passenger seat fixed, the front door adjusted (it’s amazing how much you can mess up a door when you use it to break a burglar’s wrist!), the springs in all four of our jacks replaced, and several other adjustments to different things. They also tried to determine why our big power awning is so slow, and deduced that the motor is weak, but that part is obsolete, and no replacement motor is available.

To be honest, we expected to have to fork out somewhere between $4,000 and $4,500, based upon our experience with other RV repair shops. So we were delighted to be handed a bill for $3340. And that also included six nights of free camping at Camp Winnebago!

We are very pleased with Winnebago’s factory service. When you consider the fact that we showed up at the tail end of Grand National Rally week with no appointment, and had a long list of things that needed done, while they had all of those rigs in for service during and after rally, we felt that they did an excellent job of getting us in and taken care of.

And yes, it sounds like we have been spending a lot of money on the RV, but as I said before, a lot of that is because the original owner neglected maintenance so badly. If he would have been taking care of things as needed, a lot of this wouldn’t have been necessary. Like the old mechanic used to say, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.” Still, we bought the coach for something like $30,000 less than any comparable one on the market that we saw, and we still feel that we got a very good deal.

We pulled out of Forest City about 1:30 and drove north into Minnesota on Interstate 35, then hooked up with Interstate 90 and took it east into Wisconsin. We jumped around on a couple of doglegs and eventually got onto State Route 21 eastbound to Interstate 39. Once on I-39, we took it north to Wausau, where we dry camped for the night at a Gander Mountain store, having covered 320 miles.

Today we’ll head over to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and follow U.S. 2 along the Lake Michigan shoreline to the Mackinac Bridge. That is one structure that has really scared me in the past, so I’m not sure if I’ll be driving across, or hiding in the bedroom sniveling, while Miss Terry does the driving. Time will tell.

Thought For The Day – Blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape.

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We spent yesterday getting to know two of my favorite artists a little better. One is known for the pictures he paints on canvas, and the other is even more famous for the pictures he paints with words.

We started out in Salinas, at the National Steinbeck Center, where native son John Steinbeck is honored for his work and for the recognition he brought to this region of California.

I have been a Steinbeck fan ever since I read The Red Pony as a youngster, and over the years I thought I had been through all of his works. How wrong I was! Besides such well known classics as Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, and The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck wrote a total of 27 books, as well as short stories, a few screen plays, and numerous magazine articles.

Exhibits throughout the Steinbeck Center illustrate many of the author’s best known books, including a red pony that kids can touch, produce crates much like the Dust Bowl Oakies would have filled with crops, and a Chinese grocery store from Cannery Row.

It is interesting to note that while Salinas celebrates John Steinbeck these days, at one time his depiction of the plight of the Dust Bowl refugees in The Grapes of Wrath outraged the movers and shakers in this farming region. The book was banned in libraries throughout California’s agricultural communities, and  twice the book was publicly burned in his old hometown. Steinbeck wasn’t the only author that was once vilified in his own hometown. Sauk Centre, Minnesota once burned Sinclair Lewis’ book Main Street because they felt the author showed the community in a bad light.

I learn something (usually a lot of things) new every day, and at the National Steinbeck Center, I learned that the author served as a war correspondent during World War II, and was known to shed his identifying armband that showed him to be a noncombatant, and pick up a rifle when things got ugly.

My favorite John Steinbeck book is Travels With Charley, his road journey epic, and National Steinbeck Center has the GMC truck and camper that the author and his canine pal made their trip in. And yes, I know, Charley was, dare I say it, a French poodle! But at least he was a standard size poodle, not one of those yappy little mutts that aggravate me so. Since he was such a great and prolific author, I’m willing to give Steinbeck a pass on this one indiscretion. The truck and camper are behind protective shields, but we were able to get a picture of the outside of the truck and the inside of the camper.

John Steinbeck was born just two blocks from the National Steinbeck Center, so once we finished our tour of the museum, we walked down to check out the handsome Victorian style house, which is now a restaurant.

From Salinas, we drive to Monterey, where we had planned to tour the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But somehow, communications broke down, and the person who was supposed to leave our passes and media packet at the front desk was unavailable, and the receptionist I spoke to obviously didn’t care enough to look into it, so we scrapped that idea.

Yeas ago, we spent one night in Monterey while on our honeymoon, and we quickly left to return to the slower pace of Morro Bay.  Yesterday, traffic was so hectic, and everybody seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere else, that we both found ourselves getting uptight. With the aquarium visit canceled, we decided to get out of Dodge. Or at least, out of Monterey.

But then we spotted this sign for the Thomas Kinkade National Archive, and decided to stop and check it out. Just as John Steinbeck is my favorite author, Thomas Kinkade is my favorite artist. Known as the “Painter of Light” for the way he incorporates colors to illustrate natural sunlight on a country lane, or the light of a fireplace glowing in a cottage’s windows, Kinkade speaks to my soul, and I could just stand and admire his works for hours.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have hours, since the gallery, which is housed in this beautiful 1886 mansion, would be closing soon. But the very nice young man on duty allowed us to take as much time as we wanted to, and we enjoyed seeing a nice selection of Kinkade prints, as well as some of his original works. Due to copyright laws, we could not take any photographs of the works on display, but you can get an idea of how beautiful they are at the artist’s online gallery.

By the time we stopped for dinner and got back to the Thousand Trails campground, the place was a zoo, with weekend campers, kids, and dogs everywhere.

Everybody seemed to be having a good time, though I did have to go across the street and speak to a group who are camping together in two RVs. Having fun is one thing, but when we’re in our motorhome, with the windows closed and the air conditioner on, and we cannot hear our television because of a loud boom box, Bad Nick gets aggravated and needs to get off his leash. One person’s rights end where another person’s rights begin.

Thought For The Day – If at first you don’t succeed, try again. But this time, do it the way your wife told you to in the first place.

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There is a phenomenon that takes place this time of year that has mystified me ever since we became fulltime RVers over ten years ago, and that is getting income taxes filed.

No, I understand the process. What confuses me is why people would leave a place like sunny Arizona and return to cold states in the Midwest just to file their taxes. Don’t they know that they have mailboxes in Arizona too?

Yesterday I talked to two different people who are here in Arizona, one in Yuma and another in Tucson, who both said they really wanted to come to our Gypsy Gathering rally next month, but the timing was wrong because they had to go back to Iowa and Minnesota, respectively, to file their income taxes. We have heard people say this ever since we got on the road, and I just don’t understand it.

I guess if you are a snowbird and all of your records are back home, it might make sense, though not as much sense as taking the records with you when you leave for the winter. But I know fulltimers who still go back to wherever they came from to file their taxes. Why? Even the IRS doesn’t have enough clout to make me go where it is snowing!

Besides tires and house batteries, another thing we need to replace on our Winnebago are the slide toppers, which show their age and have several small tears and holes in them.

When Russ Maxwell from Carefree Awnings was visiting the other day, he took a look at them and agreed that they needed replaced, and said he’d have a fellow named Darrell Vliem from a company called Awning Man stop by and give us an estimate. Darrell came by yesterday and did some measuring, and said he would order two new slide toppers, and have them installed before we have to leave for the rally in Yuma.

Yesterday afternoon, Jim and Nancy Tidball stopped in for a visit and to pick up a copy of our RVers Guide To Fairgrounds Camping. We last saw Jim and Nancy last year when we were in Aransas Pass, Texas and they came by so Jim could test paddle the kayak I had for sale. It was nice to see them again, and we had a good visit before they had to run.

Besides all of her regular chores, and proofing the stories as I write them for the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, Miss Terry has been busy helping her mom get things prepared for her dad’s birthday party this weekend. It will be a small family gathering, just Pete’s daughters, grandkids, and their respective spouses, but a lot of time and effort still goes into getting everything arranged.

One final note before I close this blog post. I was told that Mail Call USA, a mail forwarding service in Cleveland, Tennessee has apparently gone out of business without giving their clients any notice. There is a thread about it on the Escapees forum. That can sure create a lot of problems for RVers who depend on their mail service to get their snail mail to them. 

Thought For The Day – Some marriages are made in heaven, but they all have to be maintained on earth.

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We know many RVers who work in RV parks around the country to offset their traveling costs. Typically, they work a set number of hours per week in exchange for a free RV site, and any hours over those agreed upon for the site are paid at an hourly wage. Some workamping RVers return to the same campground to work every season, while others prefer to move about and see new places.

Workamping in an RV park can be interesting, and can help you save some money in camping fees. However, as I always say in my seminars on working on the road, as well as in my book Work Your Way Across The USA, if your goal is to make the most possible money in a given time period, often you would be better off to rent a site in an RV park on a monthly basis, and got a job at the local Home Depot or a restaurant in town. RV park wages are just not that good in most cases.

But if you want to do something a little bit different, and still earn money, there are many, many opportunities out there to make money and have fun that don’t involve cleaning bathrooms in an RV park, serving French fries in a fast food restaurant, or working in retail stores. Here are ten jobs that RVers we know have done that you may never have thought of.  

1. Beet Harvest – We have known several RVers who have worked the sugar beet harvests in places like North Dakota and Minnesota. Jobs include everything from driving trucks to sorting the beets when they arrive at warehouses. One website on the sugar beet harvest claims that some workers make as much as $7,000 in a month or less.

2. Canoe & Kayak Tour Guide – From the Florida Keys to Michigan’s wild Upper Peninsula, canoe and kayak liveries are busy all season long introducing tourists to the joys to be found on the water. It’s a great job for RVers who want to make some extra money and spend the summer (or winter) paddling. 

3. Working For Amazon – During the Christmas rush, online retailer Amazon.com hires many RVers to work at their fulfillment center in Kansas. The last I heard, the wage was $11 an hour, plus bonuses, with overtime available.

4. Dealing Blackjack – The gaming industry, in places like Las Vegas, Reno, and Laughlin, Nevada, provides many working opportunities for RVers. Jobs range from dealing blackjack to working as a customer greeter in casinos.

5. Driving Tour Bus – From Alaska to the Grand Canyon to Florida, tourist areas provide many employment opportunities for RVers. Driving tour buses, ranging in size from extended length vans to full sized coaches, is a good way to make money while spending time in places where the tourists pay big bucks to visit.

6. Fish Cannery – This is hard, dirty, smelly, physically demanding work, but one fulltime RVer we know spends a full summer in Alaska working long hours at a fish cannery, and he tells us he makes enough in a season to pay for two years of fulltime RV travel.

7. Working The NASCAR Circuit – Every race car driver, from the superstars to the new guy in the pits, have somebody selling souvenirs with their names and car numbers on them. We’ve met a couple of RVers who tow a vending trailer behind their motorhomes and follow the circuit, selling souvenirs to racing fans.

8. Selling Christmas Trees – This is obviously a seasonal job, and is hard physical work, but we have known many RVers who sell Christmas trees on lots across the country, and several have told us that they have made $8,000 or more in less than a month. Many times the same companies who hire RVers to sell Christmas trees hire them to sell fireworks for the Fourth of July, and Halloween pumpkins on the same lots. One couple we know made about $7,000 in two weeks selling fireworks this past summer.

9. Horse Wrangler – I make it a point never to ride anything you can’t put gasoline in, but if you are an equestrian fan and are comfortable in a saddle, you may find work as a horse wrangler, leading trail rides at one of the many dude ranches in the Southwest. The pay isn’t usually top dollar, but tips can be good, and if you love horses, it’s your chance to get paid for playing cowboy (or cowgirl).

10. Gas Line Survey – There is a long, ongoing thread on the Escapees forum, on working as a gas line surveyor, and the RVers we have talked to who have done this work all say that it’s a great way to make good money and get a lot of exercise in the process.

For more ideas on making money as you travel, check out my Working On The Road web page. What are some of the ways you have earned money on the road?

Thought For The Day – My wife does all the driving; I just get to hold the steering wheel.

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Yesterday I planned to chain myself to the computer and get a lot of work finished for the next issue of the Gypsy Journal. But you know the old saying, “if you want to hear God laugh, make plans.”

Early in the day I had a long series of e-mails and phone calls to deal with, and it seems like the minute I had worked my way through all of them, more came in. It was well after noon before I finished with the last of them, and then the flood gates opened and we had a long line of visitors coming by to chat.

I’m afraid I can’t remember everybody’s names, but there was a fellow from a fifth wheel parked down the road from us who wanted to ask some questions about the bus after seeing the For Sale sign in the windshield. Then somebody else came by to say hello and was gone before I got his name.

A few minutes later a nice couple who were at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally, and who I sponsored to join the Elks, came over. I’m embarrassed that I can’t remember their names, but right this moment I’m drawing a total blank. We had a nice visit, I knew who they were while they were here, but for the life of me I can’t remember now. So if you’re reading this, I hope you’ll forgive my early senility.

As they were leaving, Bill Joyce and Diane Melde arrived, Diane sporting an arm sling because she had fallen and dislocated her elbow a few days ago while in Minnesota. Ouch! We always enjoy spending time with Bill and Diane, and they have always pitched in to help us with parking at our Arizona rallies, working long hours to help get all of the RVs parked at the fairgrounds. We had a very nice visit with them, and they hadn’t been gone two minutes when Dan and Karen Silverwood were knocking on the door.

Dan and Karen are parked next to us in a beautiful Winnebago Vectra motorhome and they wanted us to take a tour of their coach. We were understandably impressed! Winnebago sure makes a good rig, and they are very high on our list of possible coaches to replace our bus with. Dan and Karen wanted us to go to dinner with them, but we had a previous commitment, so we had to beg off.

We also got to visit with Terry and Dale Pace before the day was over. We have known Terry and Dale for what seems like forever, and since they are from this area, we always run into them here at Elkhart Campground sometime during the summer.

That’s one of the great things about the fulltime RV lifestyle; no matter where we go, we run into folks we know and have things in common with. I always tell people it’s like living in a small town where we run into our neighbors in every corner of the country!

Needless to say, I didn’t get one word written yesterday, but we sure had a good time visiting with all of our friends!

Thought For The Day – The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you’re not good enough. Ignore them, they’re all idiots.

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