Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of my personal heroes, Charlie Minshall. If you don’t know her, Sharlene “Charlie” Minshall is the author of half a dozen books telling the stories of her adventures over 20 years of solo fulltime RVing, including In Pursuit of a Dream, Freedom Unlimited, RVing Adventures with the Silver Gypsy, and the newly updated RVing Alaska and Canada, to name just a few.

Back when Terry and I were dreaming of escaping our hectic workaholic lifestyle and becoming fulltime RVers, we read all of Charlie’s books, and she helped convince us that we too could make it happen.

My first contact with Charlie was when I conceived the idea of the Gypsy Journal. Since the name of her self-publishing company is Gypsy Press, I wrote her to ask if she would have any objection to the name of our new publication, or if she felt there would be a conflict between the two names. Charlie wrote back and told us to go for it, and very graciously wished us well in our new business and in our new lifestyle.

We met Charlie a couple of months later when we went to our first Life on Wheels conference as brand new, wet behind the ears RVers. We sat through two of her seminars, and found her just as entertaining and delightful in person as in print. Over the years we had quite a few laughs together when we also became Life on Wheels instructors.

Whether she’s taking a jet boat ride up the Rogue River in Oregon, exploring the wonders of Alaska and Canada, or taking a “detour” over a cow path in the middle of Montana, Charlie always seems to find something interesting to get into, and somehow survives her adventures and misadventures.

When we visited Charlie at her lot at the Escapees North Ranch in Congress, Arizona a couple of years ago, Charlie told me that she had entered the “nesting” stage of her life, had bought a park model, and sold her motorhome. I wondered how well the Silver Gypsy would adapt to life in one place, and in yesterday’s e-mail she proved that the gypsy blood still flows through her veins. This year Charlie packed her little red Chevy Cavalier, bought a tent, and took off on a four month long journey that covered 11,623 miles! It doesn’t look like she’s letting any grass grow under her feet!

You can read Charlie’s Silver, Single, and Solo column on the RV Life website, or visit her own website, Full Time RVer. I bet you’ll enjoy getting to know Charlie as much as we have over the years.

Thought For The Day – Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know why I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.

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It has been raining so hard here at the fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri that some RVs are either going to have to be towed out, or else sit in the same spot until it eventually dries out.

We started out vending outside, which is usually our preference, but the rain was making it impossible to do business. Even under our canopy, our books were getting ruined and nobody was going to stop and stand in the rain to visit. To make matters worse, as I was doing my nightly ritual of painting Miss Terry’s toenails as she soaked in a bath of warm milk and eucalyptus oil, I noticed that she was beginning to grow webs between her toes.

Something had to be done, and my good buddies Jack and Doreen Ingle from PoliSeek Insurance (formerly AON) sprang to the rescue. They had reserved two indoor vending spaces, and only needed one, so yesterday morning Jack arranged for us to move inside next to them. Thanks Jack and Doreen, we really appreciate your generosity.

There are a lot of great vendors at Escapade. My friend Orv Hazelton told me that he and Nancy had discovered a crack on the cover to their seven year old Fantastic Vent on the way to the Escapade. Orv mentioned this to Jim Wood, the vendor for Fantastic Fans, here in the Indoor Market, and Jim said that he’d take a look at the unit yesterday. Orv said when he and Nancy got back to their coach after being out wandering around, they discovered that Jim had installed a new vent motor, cover, and fan blade! This clearly wasn’t a warranty issue, just superb customer service from Fantastic Fan and Jim Wood. 

Even though we have four bars of EVDO service on our Verizon cell phones here at the fairgrounds, we are experiencing very slow internet service until late at night. I guess the cell towers are swamped with so many RVers here, until everybody goes to bed.

Speaking of Verizon cell phones, my contract allows me to get a new phone every two years, and I am about due. I really like the looks of the Blackberry Storm, and the idea of getting my e-mail even when I’m away from my computer appeals to me. The other Blackberry models don’t have the touch screen, and my fat little fingers have a problem with the tiny buttons on them. Do any of you readers have a Blackberry Storm? If so, I’d like to hear your feedback on it.

I played with somebody’s iPhone yesterday and really liked it, but they are not available on the Verizon network and won’t be for a year or so, if then.

Okay, I guess the score is Bureaucrats 1, Common Sense 0. A year or so ago I wrote about Ray & Kathleen Robinson, who have built a railroad on their 40 acres in Oregon as a hobby, and how the local bean counters were trying to force them to close it down. According to a blog post titled Last Chance At A Railroad, Dan Chance writes that after a prolonged battle, the Robinson’s have had to concede defeat. Read all about this miscarriage of justice on Dan’s blog. Did I ever mention how much I dislike bureaucrats?

Thought For The Day – You’re getting old when getting lucky means you can find your car in the WalMart parking lot.

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