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?

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

Yesterday we were running around in short sleeve shirts, but that didn’t last long! By evening it had turned downright chilly here in Albuquerque, and today’s high is only supposed to be 53 degrees!

We spent most of yesterday printing off copies of our various RV guides and making CDs to sell during the rally. This is our first Affinity rally, and while we have been to some big RV events over the years, I don’t think we’ve ever been to one single venue with so many vendors.

If you were looking for anything from a Fantastic Fan for your ceiling or a rooftop satellite TV dome, all the way down to wheel covers and tire pressure monitors; from headlights and auxiliary running lights to mud flaps and ladders for the back of your RV, they’ve got you covered from top to bottom and back to front. A shopaholic would be in heaven here.

The rally has some excellent seminars on all aspects of RVing, as well as some top notch entertainment lined up. Tonight legendary singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka will be performing, and tomorrow night Rita Coolidge will be the star attraction. On Sunday evening the Osmonds take the stage. I think it’s going to be a fun rally.

I try to stay out of politics and such, because I really just am not at all interested. I prefer to just live my life, roll with the flow, and try to stay under the radar. I have several people who constantly send me forwarded e-mails that would have you believe that President Obama is the devil incarnate, and just as many people forwarding me stuff about how those darned Republicans are the scourge of the earth, and I just delete them all without opening them. I think they all need bumper stickers on their cars that say “My Conspiracy Theory Can Beat Up Your Conspiracy Theory.”

In my little world, it’s all about me, and it really doesn’t matter who is in the White House, because none of them yet have offered to buy me a new bus or give me a cushy political appointment.

Extremists turn me off. My definition of an extremist is anybody who insists on sharing with me his views on religion or politics once I’ve politely said I’m not interested. Usually when people start spouting off about their political or religious opinions, I just nod my head, tune them out, and take a mental trip to Margaritaville with Jimmy Buffet.

That being said, I just had to respond to a guy yesterday. We had a couple of orders to mail out, and the fellow in line in front of me at the post office looked me over and said “You look old enough to be a Vietnam vet. Are you?”

I allowed as to how my Uncle Sam had given me an extended jungle camping trip as my high school graduation present.

“Did you hear what Obama just did?” he asked.

Now, it’s bad enough when my friends start sharing their agendas with me, but when it’s a complete stranger, I immediately start hearing Jimmy singing about shrimp boiling as we waste away in Margaritaville. So I didn’t answer him, just looked toward the counter, in the hope that the line would move quicker.

But he continued by saying “Today Obama and the Department of Homeland Security declared that all white Vietnam veterans are a national threat and he has ordered that they all be rounded up and put into concentration camps by the end of the month, along with their families.”

I tried, but even I couldn’t ignore this! Jimmy was stroking his six string and hit a sour note, and I said “What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s true.” He insisted, “The mainstream media is keeping it a secret, but it’s all over the internet if you know where to look!”

I know I should have ignored him, but sometimes I just have to say something.

“Are you really stupid enough to believe that?” I asked him. “Do you really think that could happen? And that not one radio or television station or newspaper would report the fact that millions of Americans are headed for a concentration camp? And do you really think we’d all just go along quietly? Have you even considered the logistics of it? How could they make it happen in less than two weeks?”

“It happened to the Jews in World War II,” he insisted. “You just wait and see! I’ll be waving to you from outside the fence when they take you to the gas chamber!”

Now, I’m not going to lose any sleep over his dire predictions. I’ve ridden in Mac McCoy’s van with the windows rolled up on the drive home from the Golden Corral buffet, so I know all about gas chambers. But what really concerns me is that people that dumb are allowed to drive cars and procreate!

(And please, don’t start replying with your political viewpoints, okay? Remember, I have a delete button, and I’m not afraid to use it!)

Thought For The Day – I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally