After our marathon drive to Elkhart, we slept soundly in spite of the fact that Duncan RV Repair is located just a block or so from a major railroad switching yard, and day and night you can hear the screeching of steel wheels on steel rails, and the banging and clanking of railroad cars being shuffled around.

While Miss Terry was having her morning coffee and checking e-mail, I went to the office and checked in, letting them know which site we were in, though that probably wasn’t necessary, since the only RVs in Duncan’s camping area are our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage and an Alpha motorhome.

We went over the things I needed done that I had listed when I made our appointment (fix water heater, which works on gas but not electric, and install our Wilson Trucker antenna on the roof of the motorhome for better reception with our Verizon air card), and then, when I discovered that Duncan is an authorized Onan service and repair facility, I added a couple of other tasks (oil and filter change, lube job, and new fuel filter on the motorhome, and service our Onan diesel generator). As long as we’re here, we’ll get everything done we can.

Later on, a service tech named Marco came out to the motorhome to go over our job list again, and since it was noon by then and he would not be able to start on our rig until about 2 p.m., he suggested that we wait until today, and he’d pull it in first thing and have the whole day to get things done, rather than start, then have to button everything back up at closing time and move the motorhome out so we could sleep in it overnight, and then do the same thing this morning all over again. We agreed, and promised we’d have the motorhome ready to go at 9 a.m. today.

With that all arranged, we drove to Phoenix Commercial Paint, where we have had our bus stored since we left the area. Owner Michele Henry greeted us, and we checked out the full body paint job she was finishing up on a Fleetwood diesel pusher. That lady does great work and is a stickler for getting every detail perfect!

We checked the bus out to be sure it was ready for its new owner on Friday, then made a quick stop at RV Surplus to say hello to our friend Trina Ambris. By then it was late in the afternoon and we were ready for dinner.

The storm that has been moving across the country began with sprinkles as we were driving back to our motorhome, and we wondered how bad it was going to get. We have snow showers predicted for the next several days, and temperatures in the 20s. Not exactly perfect RVing weather. We look forward to getting back to the South to soak up some sunshine.

Bad Nick is no fool, he spent the day inside writing a new Bad Nick Blog post titled How Do You Put A Deadline On A War?. Check it out and leave a comment. 

Thought For The Day – Bad decisions make good stories.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

After six days in Muskegon, Michigan, we said a sad farewell to Rocky and Berni Frees and hit the road, driving three hours south to Elkhart, Indiana. We pulled into Elkhart Campground, stopped to pick up a big box of mail that was waiting for us in the office, and then pulled into our regular site. It’s good to be back home.

After we had our water and electric connection hooked up, blog readers Patty and Russ Frady stopped by to introduce themselves. Terry was busy wrapping a new water hose into a Cord Pro hose reel, which is great for keeping hoses and electric cords from tangling and kinking, and Russ helped her with that chore while I watched and chatted with Patty.

Later on, our pals Terry and Dale Pace stopped in to say hello. They are parked here at the campground for a month, so I’m sure we’ll have more chances to get together and visit. I always say that if you spend enough time here at Elkhart Campground and at the Escapees RV Club’s Rainbows End RV park in Livingston, Texas, sooner or later you’ll meet every RVer in the country.

One RVing couple we haven’t met yet is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni. For that, we need to park overnight at Wal-Mart, according to this story from Fox News. How cool is that? I wonder if I could talk Justice Thomas into coming to our Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally and doing a seminar on RVing and the Law? Probably not.

A while back I told you about my friend Michele Henry and her company, Phoenix Commercial Paint, and how she can transform a dated looking RV with a top quality full body paint job at prices too low to believe.

After reading about her, readers Jim and Cathy Palm recently took their 2001 Four Winds Class C motorhome to Michele, and last night they sent me pictures of the finished project. To say that Jim and Cathy are delighted would be an understatement. Jim and Cathy have several good blogs you might enjoy, including Palms-Americana, Detour Through History, and In Deeds.

Speaking of blogs, my pal Sharon Del Rosario has started a blog about her fulltime RV lifestyle with hubby Don, called Gypsy and the Mariner’s RV Adventures. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Fulltime RVers are like Macs in a PC world.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally