Yesterday we felt like we were going in two directions at once. We had to drive into Orlando to pick up the pre-printed envelopes from the mail service, and even though it was only 27 miles, it took us well over an hour to get there.

We left the Thousand Trails campground about 11:15 and ran into a lot of traffic on State Route 192 through Kissimmee, which is no surprise, since that road is always busy. When we got onto Intestate 4, it was a parking lot, with long lines of cars in each eastbound lane sitting still.

For the next eight miles, it was stop and go traffic, with a lot more stopping than going. We were close to Disney World and Universal Studios, which are both very busy with holiday travelers, and several roads merge onto the highway there, creating a bottleneck. Which meant that all of the traffic coming onto the highway was trying to push their way in, passing on the shoulder, and doing whatever they could do to get one or two cars ahead of the next guy. And once they got there, they crept along just like the rest of us. It took us over a 45 minutes to go those eight miles, and when we finally reached our exit, there was road construction for several miles, making progress slow on the surface streets too!

We finally got to the mail service, picked up the envelopes, and then had to get right back on Interstate 4 to drive to the UPS freight dock in Tampa to pick up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. Fortunately, the interstate was only backed up in the eastbound lanes, so even though  traffic was still heavy, we made good time.

It was 77 miles to the UPS facility, and once we were out of the traffic around the Orlando area, we zipped right along. Traffic started to get busy again when we got to Tampa, but it wasn’t close to being as bad as in Orlando.

I have to say that I’m impressed with the UPS freight service. They picked up our load of newspapers from the printer in Allegan, Michigan at 12:36 Monday afternoon, and it arrived in Tampa at 6:35 a.m. Wednesday morning! I couldn’t have driven that far that quickly!

Of course, when we were picking up the load of papers, we discovered that UPS has a freight dock in Ocoee, just 17 miles from the mail service, and 22 miles from the Thousand Trails campground! When we were scheduling the shipment, I was told that the closest facility where we could pick it up was in Tampa. Hey, gasoline is cheap right? And what else do I have to do with my time but drive 140 miles round trip?

We hadn’t eaten all day, and by the time we got back from Tampa, we were famished. We met Dave and Jean Damon at a Chinese restaurant a few miles from the campground, and when I hit that buffet line, it wasn’t a pretty sight!

We had a nice dinner with our friends, and the more time we spend with Dave and Jean, the more we like them. In fact, we’ve gotten so close that I may even take our hard kayaks off the roof of the Explorer and let Dave work them over with some of his 303 products! Yeah, I’m that kind of friend.

Thought For The Day -Time flies when you don’t know what you’re doing.

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I’ve been working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, which I will be sending off to the printer early next week, and we still had a few bundles of the November-December issue left. We needed to get them distributed so we’d have room for the new issue after it’s printed.

So yesterday, we spent the day dropping off sample bundles at RV parks along Interstate 4 between the Kissimmee area and Interstate 75, on the west side of the state.

It was interesting see how folks were bundled up, due to the cold snap that has hit the South. Everywhere we went, we saw people in jackets, scarves, hats, and even gloves! And they thought they were coming to Florida to spend the winter basking in the sunshine!

I was surprised by how many Carefree RV resorts we stopped at! They have a lot of RV parks in Florida! All of them were very nice, and I really appreciate the fact that Carefree Resorts also gives veterans a 50% discount on RV sites. That’s very nice, and I made it a point of telling their managers that, at the resorts where we stopped.

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One of the campgrounds where we stopped, Tampa East RV Resort in Dover, has a special weekly rate that is good until the end of December, so we may pop in there for a week between Christmas and New Years. It’s about a half hour away from my nephew Steve’s place in Pinellas Park, and might make a good place to stay while we visit Steve and the rest of the family in that area.

One place where we won’t be staying, or doing any business at all, is at Lazy Days, the mega-dealer just off Interstate 4 that has an RV dealership, campground, Camping World, and Cracker Barrel on the premises.

We stopped there to drop off a bundle of papers, and the manager on duty said no, because we had two ads for RVs for sale in the paper. One is a tiny little 1984 Mirage camper with an asking price of $4,000 up in northern Indiana, and the other is an eight year old Class A gas rig a couple have for sale in Texas.

The manager never actually gave me the courtesy of talking to me, the message relayed by the young lady at the counter was that since Lazy Days is a dealership, they don’t want to “encourage the competition.” Yeah, that sixteen year old $4,000 Mirage is sure some competition for the land yachts that Lazy Days sells!

I find it interesting that Lazy Days has contacted us in the past suggesting that we consider holding one of our Gypsy Gathering rallies there, and they have sent me press releases in the past when they want free publicity for something. But I guess that’s a one way street.

But that’s okay, we found another campground just down the road that was happy to get the papers, and whenever anybody is RV shopping and asks me my opinion of Lazy Days (and I get a lot of people asking for advice), I’ll be happy to share it. Did you ever notice that the little mom and pop places are so much nicer to deal with, and that the biggest outfits are the most chickensh..?

By the time we were done, we only had two or three bundles left, and I’ll get rid of them at a couple of places we’ll be stopping in the next few days. It was twilight by the time we were headed home, and I don’t see well after dark, so Miss Terry took the wheel. We stopped for dinner at the Sonny’s Barbecue in Clermont, and by the time we got back to the Thousand Trails, it was downright cold again! It sure felt good to get inside, turn up the thermostat, put on our Teepee Creepers slippers, and warm back up!

Bad Nick is no fool. He stayed inside where it was warm all day, pounding out another Bad Nick Blog titled I’m Sorry, I Just Don’t Get It. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

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The purpose of our visit here to the Kansas City area is to spend some time with Terry’s cousin Carolyn and her husband Mel, two of our favorite people in the world.

Mel and Carolyn are completing the final steps to becoming fulltimers, and yesterday they took us to see their Heartland fifth wheel trailer, which they have in a storage lot just waiting to hit the road. Even though the slides were in and we could not get the full effect, we were impressed with how nice it is, just as we have been with all of the Heartland products we have ever seen. Mel says just a few more weeks and they’ll be on the road, and we know they are both itching to get out here and join in on all of the fun!

Two RVs that are on our very short list of rigs we’d like to have to replace the bus with are a Winnebago Ultimate Advantage or Ultimate Freedom, and there was an Ultimate Advantage in the same storage lot, which I pointed out to Mel and Carolyn. Just for the heck of it, when we left the storage lot, Carolyn drove past the dealership where they bought their trailer, and there was a used Ultimate Advantage sitting on the lot!

Even though it was Sunday and the place was closed, we decided to see what we could see. The bays were unlocked, and we checked out the impressive amount of storage space, and somebody said “It’s too bad the door is locked, or we could see the inside too.” Just being silly, I pulled out my key ring, and stuck an old key I have carried around with me for years into the lock. This was not a Winnebago key, in fact, it was originally for a small fireproof metal storage box, but it unlocked the door!

Mel thought that was funny and I told him it was my magic key, because in the past I have used it to unlock everything from storage boxes and padlocks to pickup camper shells. Just being a goofball by then, I walked over to another used rig, this one a three year old Allegro Bay diesel pusher, and even I was shocked when my key unlocked it too! I bet that makes you feel real secure when you lock your door and leave your RV for a while, doesn’t it?

I have had car keys that worked in the same model of cars before, and I had my pal Butch Williams install his special tubular locks on our bay doors a while back, because I know there are just a few key codes for them and if you put any ten RVers together, it’s a good bet somebody’s keys will open most of the bays. But I’d like to think that when Miss Terry tucks me into bed at night, the boogey man has to at least work a little bit to get inside!

I wasn’t too worried about the local constabulary coming to carry us away, because Mel and Carolyn have done enough business with this dealership that they have a very good relationship with them.

We really liked this particular Winnebago, and the price is right too. We’re not quite in a position to make a deal yet, but we’re close enough that I may go back to the dealership and talk to them while we’re here. But if we were to get it, or any other coach for that matter, you can bet that the first order of business would be to get custom locks installed!

So how secure is your RV?

Thought For The Day – Be wise enough not to be reckless, but brave enough to take great risks.

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