In yesterday’s blog, I wrote about a couple of bad experiences I had here in Morgan Hill, California. But those were petty little inconveniences in the overall scheme of things. Just remember that old saying  “I complained I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.”

Compared to what fellow Escapees Mel and Charlene Schwartz just went through, getting a bad meal or being hassled by an overzealous cop is nothing!

Mel wrote me that about 3 p.m. on June 29, they were driving east on U.S. Highway 50 just outside of Delta, Utah, doing about 55 miles per hour, just enjoying the scenery on the two lane highway, when this limb broke off a tree beside the highway, crashed into the hood of their Ford truck, and then through the windshield, showering them with glass.

Their guardian angel must have been riding with them that afternoon, because unbelievably, Mel and Charlene were not injured. It’s a wonder they weren’t killed! Look how the limb slammed through the driver’s side of the cab and out the window! Mel said that aside from being scared and shook up, they were unharmed.

Mel said their Excel fifth wheel was not damaged, but the truck is going to need extensive repairs. They are currently in an RV park in Delta, and the truck is in a local body shop, waiting for the insurance adjuster to show up. Mel said that once they were set up in the RV park, they spent an hour vacuuming bits of glass out of each other’s hair.

As a side note, Mel told me that the sheriff’s deputy that investigated the accident said that he had been notified of a tree limb that was about to fall, but hadn’t been able to get to it yet. As Mel said, timing is everything.

This is a perfect example of why I believe that while we can take every reasonable precaution in the book, sometimes things just happen, and when they do, all we can do is roll with the punches.

We never know when the car or truck coming toward us down the highway may cross the centerline and hit us head on; or when a tire on the eighteen wheeler passing us may blow and wipe out the side of our RV; or when some tiny speck of plaque in an artery will break loose and block the blood flow; or a million other things that probably will not happen, but can at any instant.

What quirk of fate determines who will dodge the bullet, and who won’t? Why did I have friends who survived Vietnam, only to come home and die in traffic accidents? What keeps that semi tire from blowing when the truck passes me and makes it blow when passing some other poor guy? As I wrote in yesterday’s blog, life is a crapshoot. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.

We can’t live our lives in fear of everything, so all we can do is cherish every moment we have, and thank whatever higher being we believe in when we have a close call and survive.

Thought For The Day – When life sends storms, remember to dance in the rain!

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Last year I posted a blog about a visit that the Tin Can Tourists paid to the RV Hall of Fame Museum in Elkhart, Indiana, and included several photos of the vintage and homebuilt RVs the club members own.

One of my favorites was this beautiful  cedar sided fifth wheel, named Wayzalot. The unique RV that Hardy and Terry Evans built included more features than I can list here, but you can read about the entire construction process on the Evans’ Wayzalot website. The towed their RV to Tin Can Tourist events all over the country.

I wrote in that blog post that I would have liked to see the inside of Wayzalot, but now that will never happen. A few days ago Hardy and Terry were southbound on State Route 65 in Jeffersonville, Indiana, headed for a Vintage Camper Rally in Tennessee. Just before they crossed the Ohio River, a tanker truck ahead of them braked hard. Hardy managed to stop his rig before he hit the tanker, but then an eighteen wheeler slammed into the rear of Wayzalot.

The impact pushed the Evans’ truck and trailer into the concrete median, totally destroying both units. It was a huge accident that tied up the highway for hours. Fortunately, even though they lost their truck and beloved home on wheels, the only injury the Evans’ suffered was Hardy’s ankle, which was broken in two places.

These photos show the horrendous damage to both the Evans’ truck and trailer. It’s a wonder they escaped alive! Having built our own bus conversion, I know how many hours, and how much blood, sweat, and tears went into the project.

Terry said they had traveled several months a year in their RV for the last ten years, covering over 50,000 miles in over 25 states. Now all they have left are photographs and memories. You can see more pictures of the accident on their website. Folks, it can happen to any of us, at any time, no matter how careful we are. Cherish every day and every mile you travel.

Speaking of travel, my pal “Froggi” Donna McNicol clued me in to a new iPhone app called State Lines that every RVer can use. It includes information on things like state gun laws, rules on sleeping overnight in rest areas, state sales taxes, rules of the road, and lots more. The app updates as you travel, so you always have information for wherever you happen to be. In the coming weeks, the app will be updated for the iPad as well. I plan to get it real soon, because I can see a lot of times when it would be invaluable in our travels. 

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that there is a noticeable slowdown in service on my iPad here in Show Low, away from AT&T’s 3G system. While we have high speed EVDO 3G service on our Verizon cell phones and air card, the iPad is on AT&T’s slower Edge system.

I did some speed tests last night, and here are the results: My desktop computer, operating off the Verizon air card and Cradlepoint router, showed download speeds of 1.73 MB and upload speeds of .43 MB. The iPad, on the AT&T Edge signal, showed .06 MB download speeds, and a dismal .007 MB upload.  As slow as that sounds, I have been able to get online and do whatever I have wanted to, including opening websites with lots of photos. I don’t know if that is due to the iPad’s own speed over my computer running Windows XP Pro, which seems to be pretty fast under most circumstances. When I switched to our WiFi signal, the iPad showed 1.30 MB download and .16 MB upload. Still not as fast as my desktop computer, but more than enough for my needs. Even on the Edge service, the iPad is still faster than I was getting a lot of times on my computer and air card in Apache Junction back in January and February. I’m very pleased with the iPad and its performance.

Yesterday I showed it to a friend who has never used a computer and who has always said he has no interest in them. Five minutes with the iPad had him asking me where he can get one! Contrary to what the naysayers claim, I’m convinced that this gizmo is going to make a major impact on the way people get online and access media. Now if it would just let me win at Scrabble once in a while!

Thought For The Day -The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.

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When I checked my e-mail yesterday morning, I had a message from Verizon Wireless that an update for my Blackberry Storm was available, which was supposed to be the latest and greatest thing since sliced bread.

So, being the trusting soul I am, I plugged my phone into my computer, logged onto the Verizon website, and clicked the update button. The process took a few minutes, and then I got a message telling me the download was complete. Quick and easy, right?

Well, yes, except for the fact that the upload wiped out my entire contacts list. The photos I had stored on the phone are still there, even a couple of songs I transferred over from my computer a while back. But every telephone number I had is gone.

Yeah, I know, I could have backed up my information to my computer, but I never thought of it. So I’ll be spending some time digging out business cards and entering all of those numbers all over again. What fun.

There are many features I like about the Blackberry, but after using it for the last few months I have come to realize that my smart phone is smarter than I am by a long shot! I’m sure my seven year old granddaughter Hailey could probably make it do wonderful things, but I get a headache trying to figure what all the buttons are for.

It has been interesting to read all of the e-mails and comments from readers of yesterday’s blog Considering Our Options, about RV extended warranties. Some people feel that an extended warranty is a good investment, and just as many, if not more, seem to think they are not worth the money. I also heard from some folks who did buy extended warranties on their RVs, only to find that the companies issuing the warranties either did not honor needed repairs, or were very slow in paying. Like so much in the RV industry, there seem to be so many snakes selling extended warranties that you have to be very, very careful who you do business with.

I have had some comments from longtime readers who took me to task for buying a factory built motorhome because I have always said that “all RVs are junk and I’d never own anything but a bus conversion.” I don’t know when I supposedly said that, and in looking back over several years of past blogs and issues of the Gypsy Journal, I don’t find any such comment.

Yes, I have said many times that the quality of most factory built RVs is pretty sad, and I have said that a lot of junk has been foisted off on RV buyers by a lot of companies. However I have also said many times, in print and in the seminars I present at RV rallies, that there were four companies whose rigs I would be comfortable owning. Those companies are Heartland, Tiffin, Newmar, and Winnebago. When we started looking for a rig to replace our MCI bus conversion, they were on our very short list.

I love our old bus, and I will always be a fan of bus conversions. For cargo carrying capacity, safety in the event of a crash, longevity, and overall ruggedness, there has never been a stick and staple motorhome built that can compare. When we moved from the bus to our Winnebago, we traded down in those respects. No question about it.

However, our needs have changed. As our granddaughters have gotten older, the bus has become very crowded when they came to visit. We really wanted a coach with a slide. We also do not see ourselves doing nearly as much dry camping as we have in the past, so the huge holding tanks, battery bank, and solar panels on the bus are no longer a necessity.   

Yes, we had many wonderful years in our bus, and it carried us many miles in comfort and safety. Just as it will whomever owns it next. And though we have moved on, we’ll always look when we hear an old Detroit diesel roar to life. Once a bus nut, always a bus nut.

Thought For The Day – It’s frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.

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