Sometimes I don’t have anything special to write about, because a lot of the time, living in an RV is just like living in a house or apartment. We do chores, we goof off, we visit friends, and before we know it, the day is gone. Yesterday was a good example.

My friend Dave Damon had asked if I could pick him up in Clermont yesterday about 12:30, after an appointment he had, and I said no problem. He actually called about 11 and said he had finished up early, so we drove the 15 miles or so to pick up Dave and his pretty wife Jean, and drove them back to the Thousand Trails campground.

The last couple of nights, I have been unhooking our water hose overnight because it was getting so cold, so back at the motorhome I hooked it back up and filled our fresh water tank, and left it hooked up so Terry could do some laundry.

I had been craving some of Miss Terry’s delicious crepes, and while I was doing that, she made up a batch for brunch. Yummy! I’ll never be a slender man.

In the afternoon, I spent some time trying to familiarize myself with a Kodak Zi8 digital video camera I recently bought for an upcoming project I’ve been working on. The Zi8 is a pretty nifty little camera. It’s about the same size as my Droid Incredible phone, and the quality of the videos, even taken inside the motorhome with just ambient light, is pretty impressive.

I knew from the reviews I had read that the camera’s built-in microphone is basically worthless for outside use, so when I ordered it, I also ordered an Audio-Technica lavalier microphone. But even with the mike, the sound volume was very low. My buddy Greg White has the same camera, so I called him in Texas and picked his brain. Greg said he’d look at his camera and try to figure it out, but about then, I found the camera’s volume adjustment, and solved the problem myself. When all else fails, read the directions.

Greg is a computer whiz, so while I had him on the phone, we talked about the fact that my Dell desktop seems to be getting slower all the time, in spite of running all of the different cleanup programs and such. The computer is about three years old, and that seems to be about the lifespan for one for me, since I use it so much, and bounce them around all over the country. We decided that when we hook back up before our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally, Greg will try to work his magic on it, and if that doesn’t do it, it’s time to go shopping.

After I got off the phone with Greg we made a run to WalMart, which was busy, but not as busy as we had expected, what with folks returning Christmas gifts and shopping for after-Christmas bargains.

It was a good day for telephone conversations, so once I got my fill of WalMart (which didn’t take long), I left Terry to the shopping and went outside and talked to my buddy Orv Hazelton, who is at the Escapees Jojoba Hills co-op in southern California. Orv said it was supposed to get very cold there overnight. That made me feel a little bit better. If I have to be cold, everybody should be cold!

When we got back to the motorhome, our neighbor, Charles Deutschmann, invited us over for a bowl of ice cream and some conversation during the evening. Never one to turn down free food, especially ice cream, I quickly said we’d be there.

We had a nice time visiting with Charles and his wife Nancy in their beautiful Monaco motorhome. It’s a mid-entry diesel pusher, which you don’t see many of, and the layout was very nice. The ice cream was delicious, the conversation flowed well, and before we knew it the time had flown by and it was after 10 p.m. We felt bad for taking up Charles and Nancy’s entire evening, so we took our leave and came home.

We watched TV for a while, and by the time I caught up on a few e-mails and wrote this blog post, it was getting late and time to think about bed. Where did the day go?

Thought For The Day – I’m not cynical. I’m just experienced.

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It was another chilly day here at the Orlando Thousand Trails campground, so we spent most of the day at home. The bad news is that being stuck inside too long really gives me cabin fever. But, the good news is that we’re getting a lot of things accomplished.

Yesterday I found a mail service in Orlando and made arrangements for them to handle sending out the new issue of the Gypsy Journal that is somewhere on a truck between Michigan and Florida, making it’s way south. We should have the papers in a couple of days, and then we’ll get them mailed out. Between the holiday printing schedule, which is always a hassle, bad weather, and problems with new production equipment at the printer’s, we’re running late. But as I wrote a few days ago, every December we run into something to delay us, no matter how hard we try to plan ahead.

Once that was taken care of, I uploaded the new digital issue of the paper, and sent e-mail notifications to all of our digital subscribers.

Meanwhile, Miss Terry has been busy sorting cabinets and drawers and piling stuff up on the counter. I asked her what she was up to and she said it was early spring cleaning, and anything that wasn’t useful was just taking up space and adding weight to the motorhome going to the dumpster. I was very quiet the rest of the day, just trying not to get noticed.

We have some changes coming for the new year. My pal Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour has been working on moving us to a new web server, and making some changes in our blog format.  We’ll be taking it live in the next few days, but here’s a sneak peak at the new blog format. Look it over and let me know what you think.

At first glance, it looks very similar to the present blog, but the comments will be easier to post and access, the new format automatically displays links to related blog posts, the links in the left column to the rest of our website are more contemporary, and best of all, it won’t be on the Yahoo servers, which have given us so much grief over the years. Chris still has some tweaking to do, but I think it’s a big improvement.

You may notice that there is a tab at the top to Miss Terry’s Kitchen. Don’t get too excited, Terry isn’t ready to commit to a cooking blog yet, but if we push her far enough out on that limb, she may have to. Or, she may just break that limb off and beat me with it!

In the afternoon, Denny and Cindy Henderson came by to pick us up, and we went to dinner at a nice restaurant called Oakwood Smokehouse and Grill in Clermont. Denny and I had the rib platter, Terry had chopped barbecued pork, and Cindy had a burger. Everything was delicious. At one time we were fans of Sonny’s Barbecue, which has locations all over the Southeast, but on our last few visits, we were disappointed in the food.  Given the chance, I’d opt for Oakwood Smokehouse any time.

Back at the campground, I unhooked our water hose so it would not freeze overnight, then came inside and got some writing done before it was time to go to bed.

Bad Nick did some writing too, and posted a new Bad Nick Blog titled You Can’t Make This Stuff Up! Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Sorry, but my karma just ran over your dogma.

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We are into our annual slowdown in our printing schedule.

We try to have each issue of the Gypsy Journal printed and mailed by the middle of the month preceding the issue date, and five issues a year, we are usually able to meet that deadline. But every year, when it’s time to print the January-February issue, that schedule goes out the window. No matter where we are in the country or which newspaper we are using to do the printing, and no matter how far we plan ahead, we run into scheduling problems.

This is caused by several factors, including heavier than usual printing schedules, as stores are printing and mailing out special holiday advertising inserts, at the same time that press rooms are shorthanded as employees take vacation days. Because we are not a weekly or even monthly job on their schedule, we get shoved to the bottom of the pile while they take care of their regular customers’ needs. We understand it, we expect it, but it’s still frustrating.

So, like every year, the newest issue of the paper is going out later than we want it to. It’s at the printer now, and hopefully they’ll have it back to us early next week so we can get it mailed out. In the meantime, we appreciate everybody’s patience.

We have made a change to the way we do our printing, starting with this issue. Until now, we have used different printers in different locations around the country, wherever we happened to be when it was time to go to press. This has been problematic at times, and with the changes in the industry, it has only gotten worse. We never know what kind of quality we’re going to get with a new printer.

Another major problem is that the size of most newspaper pages is getting smaller and smaller, and we have resisted going to the newest size reduction. But, it has been increasingly hard to find newspapers that continue to print on our size paper at times. Last year we had to leave Alabama earlier than we had planned and drive all the way to south Texas to get printed, after last minute changes at the printer we had used in this region in the past. This year we thought that we’d have to go all the way back to Indiana from Washington, DC to get printed, when the newspaper we had planned to use switched paper sizes on us. Fortunately, we found a printer in Virginia at the last minute, but it was stressful.

So we have contracted with one of the newspapers who prints us in Michigan when we are in the Midwest to do all of our printing in the future. They have recently upgraded their systems and added the ability to allow us to upload our files to them via the internet, and once each issue is printed, they will ship it to us by truck.  They could actually handle our mailing too, but in addition to the papers we mail out, we also have several thousand extra printed of each issue, which we distribute as samples at RV rallies and RV parks we visit in our travels.

This will add quite a bit to our cost for each issue, but it will give us consistent quality from a printer we are comfortable with, and who understands our unique needs.  I’m sure we’ll have a glitch or two along the way, but we’re confident that in the long run, it will all work out.

I’m still adding new seminars to the schedule for our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally, March 7-11 in Yuma. I still have quite a few time slots to fill in, but it’s coming together. I have posted a very preliminary seminar schedule on our rally registration page to give you an idea some of the offerings we will have. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check it out. We’ll have over 60 different seminars by the time we’re done, so there’s sure to be plenty to meet everybody’s interest. As I said, this is just a preliminary schedule, and there will be lots of changes and additions by the time the rally starts. Be sure to register early, we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Thought For The Day – We can’t go back in time and have a different beginning, but we can start today to make a new ending for ourselves.

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When we checked into the Peace River NACO campground on Sunday the office was closed, so the ranger said to go up to the office anytime Monday morning and pay for our stay. Apparently “anytime” is first thing in the morning, because at 10 a.m. somebody was knocking on our door.

Since we seldom get to bed before 2 a.m., we don’t get up early, so by the time I threw on some clothes and got to the door, the person was driving away in a golf cart. After I brushed my teeth and combed my five or six hairs, I went to the office and paid for our stay. Geez, we’re here for fourteen days, it’s not like we were going to stiff them out of $70.

Over the years, we have gotten a lot of flack from other RVers who seem to be offended by our sleeping schedule. More than once some older RVer has said something about “lazy” people sleeping the day away. I usually tell them I’m not lazy, I was up late working hard so I could pay into Social Security so they can get their check next month. I mean, really, is it anybody’s business when we go to bed or get up, as long as we don’t make any noise or disturb them when we’re up and they’re in bed?

Since the rain had stopped and we had a nice blue sky overhead, even if it was still rather cool, we went down to check out the boat ramp to the Peace River, here at the campground. The river was nice and calm, and if it warms up some more, we want to get our kayaks wet.

Okay, maybe we want to get our kayaks wet! I saw a sign about alligators at Lake Hancock at the Orlando Thousand Trails, and that didn’t bother me. But snakes? That’s taking things a little bit too far! I’ve heard of people wrestling alligators, but this fat boy don’t do snakes!

The Spanish moss that hangs from the live oaks trees all over Florida is even on the palm trees here at the campground! 

Our South Dakota license plates and registration for the Explorer came yesterday. The nice folks at our mail service in Sioux Falls, Alternative Resources, handled all of the paperwork, got the plates and registration, and sent them to us by Priority Mail. Since the 30 day temporary plate from the dealer where we bought the SUV expired Saturday, I was glad the plates arrived.

After picking up the license plates in the office, we drove into town to make a stop at the post office to mail off an order, then on to WalMart for a few things, and back to the campground. As we were driving back to our RV site, we stopped to take a picture of this motorhome with steer horns mounted on the front end. I wonder if this guy is from Texas?

We spent the rest of the day at home. I answered e-mails, had a long exchange with a lady in Oklahoma who is looking at a used RV and was asking my advice because she had some concerns. After hearing them (105,000 miles on a 1999 gas powered Class A, many stains on the ceiling from obvious roof leaks, a musty smell inside the coach, a generator that would not start, and a broken windshield), I told her to run, not walk, away. She still wasn’t convinced, because at only $25,000 the seller tells her it’s a heck of a deal. Yes, it is. I’m just not sure if it’s a heck of a deal for him, or for her!

Thought For The Day – Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

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Okay, just what the heck is going on here? I came to warm, sunny Florida so I could sit on a beach and leer at all of the pretty girls in their skimpy bikinis, just like they show on all of the travel posters. And what happens? I get here and it’s so darned cold that the only creatures on the beach are penguins, and the girls are at home wearing sweat suits, bundled up in down comforters, huddled around space heaters! Where are those bikinis I came here to see? I was promised bikinis! Heads will roll!

As I wrote in yesterday’s blog, we scrubbed our plans to go to the Keys, and instead drove from Fort Lauderdale to the Peace River NACO preserve at Wauchula. We left Paradise Island about 8:30 a.m., stopped for fuel and to hook up the Explorer to our tow bar, and were on the highway before 9.

We retraced our route back up US Highway 27 through the Everglades to South Bay, around Lake Okeechobee, and through Clewiston, Moore Haven, and Lake Placid. Just before Sebring, we turned west on State Route 66 and followed it 25 miles to Zolfo Springs. From there it was only a mile or two north on US Highway 17 to the campground.

Most of the way we ran in a light mist that occasionally became rain, and under a heavy overcast. It’s harvest season in Florida, and we passed trailers being loaded with oranges all along the way.

In  Moore Haven, the police were escorting a long convoy of trucks and tractors pulling sugar cane trailers in the right lane.

US 27 is a well maintained divided four lane highway most of the way. When we left it, State Route 66 was a two lane road, but in good condition. You can see in these pictures what a gray, ugly day it was.

We got lucky and the rain stopped a few minutes before we arrived at the campground, so I didn’t have to park and get hooked up in the rain. The campground has 200 full hookup 30/50 amp electric RV sites, and another 200 30 amp water and sewer only sites. We had been told that this time of year, the full hookup sites go fast, and to expect to have to settle for one of the water and electric sites. But we got lucky again, when we arrived they still had several full hookup sites available to choose from.

The campground has both open sites, and sites in the beautiful live oak trees that we see all over the south. All sites are back-ins, on grass. We chose an open site to be sure we could get a good signal on our rooftop TV dish.   

Under our Thousand Trails membership, we are entitled to 50 nights camping a year for our dues, and any nights over that are $5/night. This is the first year that we have gone over 50 nights, but we’re more than happy to pay $5 a night for a full hookup campsite in Florida, even if it is cold and dreary!

The trip was 175 miles, and we arrived at the campground at 1 p.m. Once we were settled in and hooked up, we ran into town for an early dinner, then stopped at Sweetbay grocery store so Miss Terry  could pick up some things.

While Terry was in the store, I talked to Greg White on the phone. Before he ran away from home to become an RV gypsy, Greg ran an IT computer company, and when he’s back home in Houston, Texas, where he and Jan are now, he keeps busy solving problems for his former customers. Greg and I were talking about all of the ways people can get into trouble online, and we decided that he should do a seminar on the Do’s & Don’ts of Computer Security at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma, in March. I’m going to arrange the schedule so I can sit in on that one!

Looking at the 10 day weather forecast, it looks like we may have a couple of decent days this week, with temperatures in the 70s, and then another cold front will drop it back into the 60s. I think the only way I’m going to see bikinis this winter is if I buy a calendar!

Thought For The Day – A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

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