Our old hometown of Show Low, here in Arizona’s White Mountains, was first settled by Mormon pioneers, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) still has a strong influence on the community. However, not everybody here is a member of the church, and I guess the owner of this Jeep wanted to be sure folks knew it.

In our RV travels around the country, we have seen hundreds of funny business signs, and even more bumper stickers, vanity license plates, and signs on vehicles that have had us laughing out loud. If you do much traveling, I’m sure you have too. Here are some we just couldn’t resist taking a picture of, and a few that our readers have sent us from all across the nation.

I think we camped next to these folks at least once.

When we spent a few weeks down on the Texas Gulf Coast a couple of years ago, we spotted this mural on the side of a home built RV.  I wanted to peek!

Some of the funniest vehicle signs we have seen have been on septic tank pumper trucks.  One of our readers sent the top one from California. I’m not sure which administration was in power at the time, but does it really matter?

We took this one in Indiana last summer, while staying at Elkhart Campground.

I think I may have been married to this lady at one time.

And to this one too!

My buddy, Jim Gass, sent me this picture, and when I showed it to Miss Terry, she made me sell my motorcycle.

Now this is a girl with a Bad Nick sense of humor!

We slept in yesterday, and then ran into town to do some banking, drop off some orders at the post office, and then popped in to see my daughter Tiffany for a while. Son-in-law Jim is working two jobs to make ends meet in this troubled economy, and we have not had much time to visit with him since we’ve been in town. We did get to chat for a few minutes when he came home from one job, but it was obvious that he was worn out, and we urged him to get a couple of hours sleep before he headed to his night job.  I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for Jim, and I’m glad my daughter is married to such a hard worker who gives so much of himself for his family, but I worry about the young man.

After we left Tiffany’s place, we stopped for an early dinner, and then came back to Juniper Ridge RV Resort. It was warmer than it has been all week, and the wind wasn’t blowing much, so Miss Terry took the opportunity to cut my hair and trim my beard. I’m glad she did, because I was sure getting shaggy!

Then it was a quiet evening, doing some work on the computer, watching TV, and just relaxing with my best friend. Life is good!

Well, at least I had a quiet evening. Bad Nick was busy posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled So What Should We Do? Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Those who don’t beat their plowshares into swords will be ruled by those who do.

It’s just as well that I’m stuck inside working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, because it’s raining again. We had one mostly clear day Wednesday to give us a break, but yesterday it started all over again, with more rain forecast today.

I know a couple of people who want to leave Summerdale, but the ground is so saturated that they aren’t sure they can even get their RVs out of their campsites. As soon as we get the new issue printed and mailed, we’ll be right behind them. I’m ready to head west.

I spent most of yesterday at my computer, except for an hour or so in the afternoon, when I began to get droopy and stretched out on the couch for a nap. We had a late breakfast or an early lunch, depending on what you want to call it, and when evening rolled around, we weren’t really hungry, so Miss Terry made up a batch of her homemade peanut butter cookies, which were delicious with a cold glass of milk. She says she really misses the Avanti gas range and oven she had in our bus conversion, but I think she’s getting the hang of using the convection oven in our Winnebago.

Judging from the responses to my last couple of blog posts, and the many, many e-mails I have received about our problems with our insurance claim, this has really stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Though PoliSeek, whom we purchased our insurance from, has never called me back, yesterday two other agents who sell for National Interstate contacted the bigwigs at that company, after their customers read my blog comments and e-mailed them. One said that she had already lost customers over the issue, who were taking their business elsewhere. The company told one of them that they were already aware of the blog posts on the subject and were going to get the issue resolved immediately.

Suddenly there seems to have been a complete change of attitude on the part of the claims adjuster I have been working with. He called to tell me that they didn’t have to wait for the last set of notarized papers I sent him listing the items stolen, all I needed to do was go out and buy replacements and they would reimburse me. I explained that I don’t have huge piles of money laying around to go on a shopping spree, and that we had acquired those things over time. He said no problem, just find them on the internet and send him a link to web pages showing their prices and they will send me out a check for whatever the total comes to. Suddenly that 180 day time frame that existed to settle the claim in seems to have disappeared.

I’m still waiting for word on the final repairs that have to be made at Camping World, but he assured me that it will all be resolved very quickly. I’m still skeptical, based upon National Interstate’s past performance, but I hope they will now follow through.

And while I’m appreciative of the other agents, whom I have no business dealings with, for going to bat for us, I’m thoroughly pissed that my own agent, PoliSeek still has ignored us. One of the other agents who contacted the company made one phone call, and had three managers from National Interstate contact her within 24 hours to find out the details to get the issue resolved. Why couldn’t PoliSeek do that for me? They sure have made a lot of commission money from my premiums over the years, since they cover our motorhome, two other vehicles, and I used them for coverage on the bus and my motorcycle before I sold them. I also used them to secure insurance for our Gypsy Gathering rallies. They have lost our business, and I will make it a point to tell any other RVers I talk to (and I talk to a lot of RVers over the course of a year), just how bad they treated us.

So yes, things look better, based upon my last conversations with the claims adjuster. But this whole thing leaves me wondering how many people out there have the same problems, but do not have access to the wide audience I do, to vent their frustrations in public, and instead just have to bend over and take it. It shouldn’t have to be that way for anybody.

Thought For The Day – He who knows nothing, doubts nothing.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Sunday we drove 35 miles east to New Bern, North Carolina and stopped at the KOA campground to drop off a bundle of sample copies of the Gypsy Journal, and to visit with our friends Barry and Jan Kessler, who are staying there a few days.

We first met Barry and Jan soon after we started fulltiming, and have crossed their path many times in our travels, but it has been a couple of years since we saw them last. We had a good time visiting, and getting acquainted with their two fun puppies, Jack and Molly.

We wanted to check out the Elks Lodge in Morehead City, our next stopping place, so Barry and Jan followed us another 35 miles to the lodge. It would have been fun to ride together, but our van and their truck both seat only two. The lodge was closed, but we saw that there was a lot of room to park our 40 foot motorhome with no problem. As we were leaving, one of the lodge members arrived on his motorcycle. We introduced ourselves, told him we were Elks from Arizona, and wanted to be sure there was room for us to park at the lodge. He assured us that we were welcome, showed us the best place to park our motorhome, and said they would run an electrical cord out from the building if we needed it.

We have stayed at a lot of Elks and Moose lodges in our travels. Some have full hookup RV parks, and others just offer a safe place to dry camp for the night. Our membership dues in both organizations helps them accomplish their many charity projects, and opens the door to lots of overnight parking opportunities for us.

From the lodge it was only a few miles to Atlantic Beach, where we walked along the water’s edge for a while, then strolled out onto the Oceana Fishing Pier, a privately owned pier adjacent to the Oceana Resort.

One of the things on my personal bucket list is to catch a saltwater fish off a pier, and this might be a good place to do it. There were quite a few folks reeling in several different species of fish, and one lady had caught this skate, an ugly looking critter if there ever was one.

There wasn’t much surf, but there were a couple of people out in the water trying to catch a wave, without much success. In fact, the water was so calm that I told Terry that if it were a little warmer, I’d consider dragging my kayak down to the beach to get some paddling done.

It was getting late and we had not eaten all day, so the four of us stopped for sandwiches at Panera Bread, and then went our separate ways, promising to meet up again soon, since we’re headed in the same direction.

Today we’ll drive the Winnebago back to Morehead City and spend a few days exploring the area, which locals call the Crystal Coast.

Thought For The Day – The beauty of life is that there is no predetermined formula. What ingredients are you adding to yours?

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

It’s September already? Where did summer go? I must have pulled a Rip Van Winkle and slept all the way through July or something! Here in northern Indiana it has been a cool summer most of the time. In fact, it has been down in the mid-40s the last couple of nights. Brrr! I think global warming went the way of the Chevy Vega and stock portfolios that actually earn money.

It is amazing what we keep finding as we move from our bus conversion into our motorhome. Last year I sold my Yamaha V-Star 1100 motorcycle to one of the blog readers, and today I discovered the original paperwork for the bike, as well as the owner’s manual. I’m afraid I‘ve forgotten your name, but if you’re reading this and still have the bike, e-mail me your address and I’ll send them to you.

A lot of folks have come by to admire the Winnebago, and several have asked Miss Terry what is the first modification she plans on making. But Terry tells me she has hung up her tool belt and is finished building things. She says she wants to just sit back and enjoy our new home on wheels, and she sure had earned that right!

People have been asking us if it is hard to move out of the bus, after we put so much work into it, and yes, it is bittersweet. We drove every nail, ran every inch of wire, and put together every foot of plumbing in the bus. It’s kind of like the day your first child leaves the nest, and we know there will be a tear or two shed when whoever buys the bus drives away in it.

She has been a good old girl to us and we have loved her. But our needs have changed and it’s time to move on. We’re hoping the bus finds a new home soon, because right now we are paying for registration and insurance on two rigs, and that gets expensive.

Our friends Howie and Norah Glover arrived at Elkhart Campground yesterday, and we went to a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was fun having the opportunity to visit and share stories of our travels with Howie and Norah, and to hear about theirs. Howie and Norah will be here until they leave for Ohio for our Gypsy Gathering rally the end of the month, and several other people who have signed up for the rally will be here before we all head to Celina. Some of them are going to hold a pre-rally in Celina before our rally starts. Maybe we’ll have a pre-rally here before the pre-rally there!

Thanks to everybody who has e-mailed and left comments on the new Bad Nick Blog. The little munchkin tells me he has a new post about professional victims. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – The best way to get even is to forget.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

Terry and I want to thank all of you who left comments or sent us congratulatory e-mails in response to yesterday’s blog about our motorhome purchase.

To be honest, Miss Terry had some real misgivings, not about the Winnebago itself, but about what the reaction might be from some of our readers. As longtime blog readers may remember, we were chastised by a couple of folks when I bought a motorcycle a while back, or when I announced that we were shopping for a motorhome. One rather vocal former reader felt that we were “getting rich off our subscribers,” and didn’t feel it was right for him to help pay for my new toys.

I told Terry that I have never apologized for what success I may have achieved in my life. We work very hard, and there has to be some reward now and then. Besides, it’s like my Dad used to say, “Never explain and never apologize. Your friends don’t need it, and your enemies won’t believe it anyway.” We feel very blessed to have so many wonderful friends such as all of you out there, who can share in our happiness and be happy for us. 

Two very special friends are Ron and Brenda Speidel. Not only did they help us inspect the motorhome before we bought it, yesterday they really blew us out of the water.

Terry and I had to drive 70 miles up to Michigan to pick up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal from the printer, and then drive 85 miles back to Mishawaka, Indiana to pick up the envelopes from our mail service. From there we needed to go 30 miles to Nappanee, Indiana for an appointment with Carlyle Lehman, a very talented Amish cabinetmaker who owns a company called Focal Wood and specializes in RV upgrades. We wanted to talk to Carlyle about building a custom desk/work station in our new (to us) motorhome. With that finished, we then had to drive 30 miles back to Elkhart Campground! And all we wanted to do was spend the day getting our new home ready to move into!

Before we left, Ron and Brenda told us that they had thought about getting us a nice lamp as a housewarming gift, but being fulltime RVers themselves, they know that the last thing we need is more “stuff.” So instead, they announced that while we were gone, they were going to clean our new motorhome top to bottom, so that as soon as we got the new issue of the paper stuffed and mailed out, all we had to do was start moving in! Wow! What a wonderful, thoughtful offer! We told them that wasn’t necessary, they have done so much for us already, but Ron and Brenda insisted.

We thought we had a nice looking motorhome when we brought it back to the campground Thursday afternoon, but now it’s even better! Ron cleaned every bay, including the walls and the insides of the doors, vacuumed them all, used 303 on all of the seals and grommets, and lubed and tested every hinge, strut and anything else that needed even the slightest attention. Our sewer bay gleams!

And inside, Brenda was just as busy, removing a few small spots from the carpet, and scrubbing every surface from the bedroom closet to the dashboard. There’s not a hospital operating room any cleaner than the inside of that rig! I daresay that no new RV from any manufacturer ever left the dealer’s lot looking as nice. Ron and Brenda worked hard for hours and the results really show. We thanked them profusely, but they just brushed it off, saying that’s what friends do for each other. (Though they did admit later that somewhere around mid-afternoon, they said to each other “We should have just bought them a lamp!”)

In answer to a couple of questions we have been asked several times; we have two buyers who are interested in the bus, and we hope to find it a good home soon, but nothing has happened yet. It is advertised on our website at Gypsy Journal Bus For Sale, if you know anybody looking for a nice, affordable bus conversion. Several people wanted to know if we are moving our solar panels to the new RV. We’re not sure yet. A lot depends on the deal we make with whomever buys the bus.

And last, but not least, a lot of folks asked how they will be able to recognize us when we’re not in the bus. That’s the idea! Now I can slip into a campground or rally incognito and let Bad Nick off his leash, and nobody will know it until it’s too late!

Thought For The Day – Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally