A while back a company called Aero Cosmetics contacted me about trying their cleaning supplies, and after a delay in shipping, a box of their goodies finally caught up with us. The company has been selling their waterless wash/wax/polish to airplane owners, and is expanding into the  market. We decided to give it a try, to see how it worked.

Our Winnebago had a couple thousand miles of road grime on it and really needed a bath. So we spent most of yesterday cleaning the outside of our motorhome. You have no idea how big a Winnebago Ultimate Advantage is until you have to wash one from top to bottom! What a job!

I have tried most of the RV cleaning products on the market, including Protect-All and Dri Wash N Guard, at one time or another, and my impression of the Aero cleaning products is that they are probably as good as anything else on the market, but certainly no better. We tried both the Degreaser and the regular version of their Wash Wax All, following the instructions on the bottles, and found that while they worked fine on the less grimy parts of our RV, the front end, where we had an accumulation of highway bugs, required a lot of very hard scrubbing with a microfiber cloth to get clean.

Would I buy the Aero products to clean my RV? Yes, if they were available and the price was right. But, since I know several vendors who sell Dri Wash N Guard, 303, and other cleaning products, I’d probably give them my business first. It’s not a bad product by any means, but I don’t think it’s going to set the RV world on fire, either.

Okay, here’s my take on cleaning the motorhome. Keep in mind that I am terminally lazy, and, to quote a line from a Jimmy Buffet song, “any manual labor I’ve done was purely by mistake.” Terry and I worked on the coach for about six hours each, which included cleaning the fiberglass roof, polishing the wheels, and everything in between.

In that time, I could have written a couple of magazine articles and made $400 or more, paid somebody to wash the RV for me, and we both would not be sore, stiff, and achy this morning. My Daddy taught me a long time ago that it’s better to do what I do best, and to farm out the other stuff to people who can do a better job of it. The older I get, the wiser I realize my old man was.

Thought For The Day – Heroism consists of hanging on one minute longer.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

The last month has been so chaotic that it seems like we were always on the go, pushing deadlines, or dealing with one problem after another. Yesterday, we had a much needed quiet day, and it did wonders to rejuvenate both of us!

We slept in, then just stayed warm and cozy snuggling under the covers, talking, and putting off starting our day as long as possible. The temperature had dropped down to 29 degrees overnight, and the day’s high was only in the mid-50s, with a gloomy gray sky. Except for a quick walk down to the dumpster, we never even stepped outside all day long.

The day passed peacefully, watching TV, browsing the internet, and I even laid down on the couch for a quick nap late in the afternoon. In short, it was a lazy day! We all need those now and then.

I mentioned the many deer that live here at the Thousand Trails preserve in yesterday’s blog. They provided quite a bit of entertainment as we watched them cavorting around our campsite. Some of the yearlings chased each other around like so many children playing tag, and it was obvious that they were having a lot of fun. We had fun just enjoying the show!

After close to a month without television, I sure am enjoying having the new automatic Winegard rooftop dish. We watched several holiday movies on the Hallmark channel, and caught up on the news broadcasts, to see who we’re at war with this week.

I spent an hour or two catching up on paperwork, and logging in several new reservations for our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally. For some reason, people who use Firefox as their internet web browser are having problems registering online, but if they use Internet Explorer or another browser, everything works fine.

We have almost 80 registrations already, and we already have over 20 vendors registered who will be selling everything from tire pressure monitoring systems to jewelry, RV cleaning supplies, Fantastic vents, computer accessories, RV insurance, windshield repair, and more. I think this is going to be a big one, folks!

Miss Terry made us a delicious dinner, and we spent the evening doing what we had done all day long, which was not much of anything. Some people would call a day like this wasted, and back in my old workaholic days, I’d have felt guilty for not doing anything productive all day long. But it sure was nice not to have to do anything we didn’t want to do. I just may do the same thing again today!

Thought For The Day – Life is messy. Wear your apron!

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Today is the first day of our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, but by the end of the day yesterday, we already had 104 RVs on the fairgrounds! This included our advance staff, the parking crew, quite a few vendors, the Escapes class reunion group, the attendees at the Geeks on Tour Computer Boot Camp, and the folks who paid for early bird arrival. And today we have even more rigs scheduled to arrive!

Mike Loscher is a veteran member of our hardworking parking crew, and the first person people talk to when they arrive. Mike determines if they need to take on fresh water or dump their holding tanks, if they need handicapped parking, and then sends them on to the designated parkers.

Mike is retired military, then retired from a second career in nursing. I think he does this to prepare for a third gig as a Wal-Mart greeter!

Once everybody was parked, they headed over to the Registration Building, where Terry and the dedicated ladies who help her got them signed in, gave them goodie bags, sold them tickets for our pizza party and rally T-shirts, and answered lots of questions.

This is our first year to have our vendors inside, and they are in the same building where we hold registration and serve morning coffee and donuts.

We have a nice variety of vendors, selling everything from RV cleaning supplies to automatic rooftop satellite television dishes, and anything else you could want. Russ and Debbie Davis are back for a second year, selling magnetic jewelry and Eniva health supplements. Since we saw them last, they have purchased a truck conversion, and I can’t wait to get over and check it out!

Red and Beth, from Too Crazy Ladies, are outside vendors, and by mid-day they were already doing a brisk business, as people lined up to order name badges and other custom engraved items. They have vended at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rallies, but this will be their first Eastern rally with us.

Meanwhile, back in the driveway, we had a long line of RVs pulling in, and the parking crew worked long hours getting everybody in and parked in record time. Everybody I talked to was very happy with how smoothly they got in and parked in their designated sites. Well known RV authors and speakers Joe and Vicki Kieva have decided to retire from presenting seminars at RV rallies and shows, but they honored us by making our rally their last event. They arrived with their beautiful and lovable young Golden Retriever, Molly, whom I instantly fell in love with. What a magnificent animal!

We were first introduced to Joe and Vicki through their columns and books, and then we got to know what a nice couple they are in person when we all taught at Life on Wheels. Be sure to check out their RV Notebook blog.

Chris and Jim Guld from Geeks on Tour were busy presenting their Computer Boot Camp, and from the look on the faces of Henry and Kathy Gartner, they were both learning and having fun at the same time. That’s what the Geeks are all about!

On the other side of the fairgrounds, Rick Lang from Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) was weighing motorhomes and fifth wheel trailers, and from the happy smiles on this couple’s faces, Rick must have given them a good report on their motorhome.

While all this was happening, Dick Snider was spiffing up the veggie powered Country Coach he is displaying for sale. That’s right, veggie powered! The coach runs on biodiesel and waste cooking oil! If you want to travel for just pennies day, stop by and see Dick’s motorhome here at the rally, or check it out online here.

Terry and I could not make these rallies happen without all of the hard work from so many volunteers, from the folks who collect door prizes, to those who help with parking and registration, door prize runners at our evening drawings, those who help serve at the pizza party and clean up afterwards, our seminar room hosts, and all of the many other chores that need doing. We appreciate every one of them more than we can ever say!

Thought For The Day – The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier.