If the Peanuts cartoon character would have been with us yesterday, he’d have believed that there really is a Great Pumpkin!

After dropping off the new issue of the Gypsy Journal at our printer in Allegan, Michigan Monday afternoon, we drove 60 miles further to Muskegon to visit with Rocky and Berni Frees, two of our favorite people in the world. We didn’t have much time, but we managed to have a nice dinner, and then go back to their apartment for a spirited game of Mexican Train that lasted until midnight.

Yesterday morning, after a quick visit with Berni, we started back to Elkhart and our waiting motorhome. For a person who doesn’t live in a house anyplace, I sure do miss my home when we spend a night away from it!

In Grand Haven, Michigan we stopped at the Green Acres Farm Market, which had the largest display of pumpkins I have ever seen. These are just a few of what they had to offer!

Who knew there were so many kinds of pumpkins in the world? There were huge pumpkins that must have weighed over a hundred pounds, pumpkins that were three times larger than a bowling ball, tiny pumpkins smaller than a baseball, and everything in between!

I’m not a big pumpkin fan. I’ll eat a half dozen slices of pumpkin pie in season, just to be polite, but I stay away from the whole jack o’lantern thing. Think about it – me with a carving knife and a candle. You just know that’s going to turn out bad! I’d probably cut my thumb off, and then knock over the darned candle and set fire to the motorhome while I was looking for a band aid!

But I have to say that I was impressed with the variety of pumpkins on display at Green Acres, and how many they had to offer. Sure, we’ve all seen the typical big orange pumpkin, but have you ever seen a Long Island Cheese pumpkin? They look like a roll of cheese, and their inside is a deep orange. According to the folks at the farm market, they make excellent pies, and can be kept in storage for up to a year!

Or how about these miniature varieties? The are called Circus Minis, because they look like a circus tent, and they fit into your hand. They are used more for decoration than eating.

The farm market had lots of other goodies too, including apples, fruit, pies, and cider. We didn’t buy any pumpkins, but we did get some cider and apples. Yummy!

Back in Elkhart, my pal Butch Williams stopped by to visit for a while, and then Jim Beletti from the Heartland Owners RV Club came by. Jim talked to the company, and has arranged for them to have a few Heartland fifth wheel units on display at our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally here at Elkhart Campground next year.

After Jim left, I wrote today’s blog post while Miss Terry logged in some orders that came in the mail, and then Bad Nick posted a new Bad Nick Blog called Close This! Then we watched TV and relaxed until it was time for bed.

Today we have a lot of chores to do, as well as winterizing our bus conversion for winter storage. Tomorrow we’re headed back to our printer’s to pick up the new issue of the paper and start getting it ready to mail out.

Thought For The Day – My idea of a well balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Terry and I have been very lucky in that our business has allowed us live our dreams and have a life that many people envy. We’ll never be rich, if you measure riches in terms of dollars, but we get to go where we want, see interesting things and beautiful places, and meet wonderful people.

We really don’t have the time to take on any other jobs, but I can’t help browsing through the pages of Workamper News and thinking “That might be fun to do!”

Last week while we were at the Escapade rally in Sedalia, Missouri, we talked to some friends who are going to be selling fireworks for a couple of weeks leading up to the Fourth of July. They gave me the name of their contact at the fireworks company, and I called just to see how it all works.

Basically, as the company representative explained it to me, they have specific locations arranged, sometimes a lot on a busy corner, sometimes part of a WalMart parking lot or some other high traffic business. The company sets up a tent and delivers a load of fireworks about the third week of June. The contracted dealers, many of whom are RVers, sell from the stand through July 5^th or 6^th, and then whatever inventory remains is returned to a nearby company warehouse. The dealer gets 20% of all of the money they take in.

I was told by some people that have experience in such things that different companies have different contracts, and some pay a guarantee plus commission. We have met several RVers who pick up extra money selling fireworks, Christmas trees, and pumpkins at roadside stands. It is hard work, you are expected to be open 12 hours a day for two weeks or more, and you are responsible for any theft. The tent must be lighted at night to prevent theft, and the dealer is expected to either use their RV generator to power the lights, or rent a generator.

How much you make depends on your location. At one spot the company had in Connecticut, the representative said we could expect to clear $4500. At another, in southern Michigan, I was told to expect to make about $3,000.

That sounded like a lot of money for just a couple of weeks’ work, until I crunched the numbers. The Michigan commitment would require us to spend a day or two receiving the inventory and getting it set up, 15 days of sales, and then at least another day to pack all of the inventory up and get it back to the warehouse.

Just the 15 days of sales, at 12 hours a day per person for the two of us was a deal breaker. That is $200 a day, or $100 each. $100 divided by 12 hours is $8.33 an hour. And that does not include the time involved in receiving and setting up the inventory, fuel for a generator to light the tent at night, rental of a credit card machine and cash register, as well as a few other expenses the job required, or the time to pack everything up and take it back to the warehouse. It also did not factor in the loss due to theft, or heaven forbid, if we got robbed.

Even if we would have been willing to invest the time, that is when our next issue of the Gypsy Journal is due to be printed and mailed, so we would not have had the time anyway.

I’m curious if any of you blog readers have sold fireworks, Christmas trees or pumpkins, and how it worked out for you. Care to share your experiences?

Thought For The Day – Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally