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 think we missed a turn somewhere along the way south, and instead of Fort Lauderdale, we ended up at the South Pole! I mean really, 33 degree overnight lows just 30 miles from Miami? Really? Isn’t that just a little bit ridiculous? Uh huh, global warming, sure. Would somebody get that damned penguin off my patio!

Yeah, I know, they are having blizzard conditions in Indiana and Michigan. I don’t care! I’m not in Indiana or Michigan! I left Indiana and Michigan and came to warm, sunny Florida!  Did I mention it was 33 degrees here overnight?

Yes, I’m sniveling. Get used to it. I intend to snivel until it hits at least 72 degrees and stays there. And don’t be surprised if I throw in a pout, a tantrum or two, and some serious bitching until it warms up!

Yesterday my friend Chris Guld, from Geeks on Tour, spent several hours with us, going over a lot of technical issues with our websites and e-mail. I would really like to move all of my websites off the Yahoo servers and to some other hosts. Over the years, Yahoo has messed things up so many times, and their technical support is terrible when you call with a problem. But I didn’t want to try moving to a new hosting company until Chris was available to help deal with any problems that might come up.

Chris has some concerns about moving the websites, and I’m not sure what we’ll end up doing yet. I defer to her in things like this, because that lady has more computer knowledge in her little finger than I do in my whole pasty, flabby body.  

Late in the day we went to the post office to mail out some orders, and when we came back, we stopped at J.C. and Beverly Webber’s beautiful Country Coach motorhome for a tour. Wow, what a palace on wheels!

The four of us went out to a great Chinese restaurant for dinner, called the Dragon Gourmet Buffet. The selection was huge, and everything was hot, fresh, and delicious.  

Even with the unseasonably cold weather, this is still snowbird season in Florida, and this great You Tube video pretty much sums things up. It’s just as applicable if you’re in the Rio Grande Valley; Yuma, Arizona, or any other snowbird roost. check it out, I guarantee you’ll get a giggle.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that something inside our door lock got out of synch, and we had to have a mobile tech fix it. Yesterday when we started out the door, I stuck my key in the lock to turn it, and the entire lock cylinder fell out! We can still secure the door with the deadbolt, but I think it’s time to just replace the entire thing and be done with it.

The door’s been acting flakey ever since I slammed it on the burglar’s hand last year, even though the RV repair shop took it off the Winnebago and put it in a jig to straighten it. Apparently you’re not supposed to use your door as a weapon. Who knew?

We still don’t know where we’re going when we leave here on Sunday. The weather still looks funky, so we probably won’t go down to the Keys after all. I want to spend our time there kayaking and playing in the water, not sitting inside shivering.

I had better close for now, before I launch into another rant.

Thought For The Day -The measure of a man is not whether he falls down, but whether he gets up again.

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I wish I had something new and exciting to write about in today’s blog, but right now I’m in my plow horse mode, just plugging away to get the new issue of the Gypsy Journal ready to go to the printer early next week.

This is the mundane part of our job, and while we enjoy the traveling, sightseeing, and adventures we have along the way, none of it matters if we don’t sit down and put it all together for the next issue. Our lives are pretty cool overall, especially compared to the rest of the working world, but into every working RVer’s world, a little rain must fall. Six times a year, this is our rain.

My plan for this week was to chain myself to my desk and get the job done. Of course, nothing ever goes exactly according to plan. When I fired up my computer yesterday morning, the display on my LCD monitor was an ugly shade of deep rose or pink. I spent an hour or so trying to adjust the color balance, and got it somewhat back to normal, but all day long it would suddenly switch from green to blue to red tints, and no matter how much I fiddled with the color balance, it would not stay at any one setting. I suspect the monitor is on its last legs.

I really can’t complain. I’ve had this Envision monitor for at least five years, maybe six, and it has been bounced along over many thousands of miles of highways and back roads, which it was never designed to do. I just hope it holds out long enough for me to get the new issue finished.

Several people have asked me why I don’t use a laptop computer, like most RVers do. While I have a very nice Dell laptop, I spend hours a day at my desk, and I just prefer the larger size keyboard and monitor of a desktop unit. And yes, I could plug an external keyboard and monitor into a laptop, but this is what works best for me.

I did take a break about midday, when Al Hesselbart from the RV Hall of Fame Museum stopped in to say hello, and asked  if I could give him a ride to a repair shop a few blocks away, where his car was waiting. It’s always good to see Al, and we look forward to spending  more time with him while we’re here.

Back at Elkhart Campground, I kept pounding away at the keyboard, with occasional breaks to readjust the display on my monitor, while Miss Terry made a WalMart run to stock up on things we needed. I hate shopping, so it’s always best if she goes by herself, and doesn’t have to deal with me breathing down the back of her neck while she shops.

A couple of times, folks who are here waiting for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally to start came by, but I was just too busy to visit, and asked them if we could get together after the paper was finished.

About 5:30 we got together with Greg and Jan White  and Al Hesselbart at a nearby Chinese buffet for dinner, and Al told us about his trip to China last winter to be the featured speaker at an RVing conference. The Chinese are just discovering the RV lifestyle, and Al said there are only about 30 campgrounds with RV hookups in the entire country! It was interesting hearing about his trip, which was a once in a lifetime experience.

Back at the campground, I went for a short walk, then came back and worked for a couple more hours, until it was time to stop and get the blog ready to post.

Like I said, just plugging away, and tomorrow will be more of the same.

Thought For The Day -The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have.

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My mother used to say that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I was reminded of that last week when we were at the Winnebago Customer Service facility in Forest City, Iowa.

Several of us who were having our coaches worked on were relaxing outside under the shade of a big old tree, solving all of the problems of the world, when  a couple pulled in with an attitude.

The way things work at Winnebago, if you do not have a scheduled service appointment, your name goes on a list and when you get to the top of that list, you’re the next one in the shop. Apparently that wasn’t good enough for these folks, because from halfway across the parking lot we could hear both of them reaming out the service writer because they were not going to be taken care of immediately, and to hell with everybody else who was patiently waiting their turn.

They didn’t have to wait all that long anyway, and when the service tech assigned to them came out to move their coach inside, we listened as they gave him a hard time, let him know just how important they thought they were, and what a hayseed he and anyone else in Iowa was. A couple of us listening in mentioned that we sure wouldn’t want to be talking that way to the fellow who was then going to drive away in our motorhomes and fix whatever we needed done.

That’s about like treating a waitress rudely in a restaurant. Come to think of it, I bet those two jerks have probably drank some coffee laced with spit in their time!

I was reminded of a fellow I ran into at the Verde Valley Thousand Trails Preserve in Camp Verde, Arizona one time, who obviously thought he walked on water, and Jesus walked one step behind him.

I was at the guard shack when he pulled up, blew his horn to get the attention of the young lady on duty, and then walked past several of us who were waiting in line to demand to be led to a 50 amp full hookup site and hooked up. She explained to him that they only had 30 amp sites, and that they don’t escort campers to their sites, to just go find one, and then come back and let her know where he was parked.

He was a rather large gentleman, who towered over the young lady, and he looked down at her and said “I don’t believe you heard me correctly, my dear. I am Mr. So And So, and I need a 50 amp site, and I need to be taken there now!”

Never being one who has ever been accused of shyness, I spoke up and said “Sir, why do you need 50 amps?”

He but his hands on his hips, leaned down toward me and said, “Because, my friend, I have a 50 amp coach!”

I replied “My bus is 50 amps too, but I just use a dog bone adaptor to plug into 30 amps. They have them here in the store if you don’t have one. You’ll get by just fine on 30 amps, it’s very comfortable weather here, so you won’t need any air conditioning or anything like that.”

He scowled at me and stood up in all his glory and said, “Why, thank you, my good man. Obviously I’m not as smart as I thought I was!”

Well, you just know that old Bad Nick had to get in on the fun, so I smiled right back and said “Maybe not, but you’re just as smart as I thought you were!” He stormed out, and all of us had a good chuckle at his expense.

Why do some folks have that need to put other people down? Does it really make them feel that much superior? Do they really think that they are that much superior?

I learned a long time ago that my mother was right, and that most people will bend over backward to accommodate you, if you just treat them with respect.

Fortunately, the RV lifestyle doesn’t have too many clods like that, but there are a few out there. I usually just ignore them, because I prefer to spend my time with all of the real people we meet who are busy enjoying life and accepting others as they are.

Thought For The Day – If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

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We woke up to gusty winds and scattered showers Sunday morning. Normally, we would roll over and go back to sleep on such a gloomy morning, but we had company coming, so we had to get in gear.

About 11 a.m. Mel and Charlene Schwartz arrived for a visit. I wrote about Mel and Charlene’s close call when a tree limb came through their windshield in an earlier blog post titled Life Is A Crapshoot. We were happy to see them safe and sound, and we had a very nice visit, talking about our mutual RV adventures. One of the best things about the RV lifestyle is the wonderful people we have met in our travels!

I guess my reputation for being a night owl has preceded me here to Pony Express RV Park,  because Mel said when they stopped at the office to find out what site we are in, the person at the desk said “Are you sure you won’t be waking him up?”

After Mel and Charlene left, Terry worked on a crochet project she has been busy with, and I tried to answer a backlog of e-mail that had piled up. Our internet service on our Verizon air card has been really flakey here. Sometimes it is very fast, and five minutes later it is about as slow as sludge. Since the park’s WiFi system is having problems of it’s own, communication is pretty spotty at times. So if you have written me and not received a reply, please be patient, and I’ll try to get to you as soon as possible.

By mid-afternoon the sky had cleared up, and it began to get pretty warm. We sure are pleased with the basement air conditioning in our Ultimate Advantage. Our first Class A motorhome, and our bus conversion, both had rooftop air conditioners, and we much prefer the basement unit. It is much quieter, and even on the 90+ degree days we have had here in Salt Lake City, it gets so cold inside the motorhome that we have to adjust the thermostat upward.

I had an interesting e-mail the other day from longtime readers Mary and Frank Maniaci, with a question for all of you. They wrote that they had issues with their Winegard satellite dish, contacted both Winegard and Camping World, and that the two companies coordinated to get their problems fixed.  They had just finished writing letters and emails commending both companies because in their words – “We will be the first to complain when something is wrong, but feel that obligates us to comment when things are right.  Are we  the rule or the exception when it comes to writing letters of commendation to those that deserve it?”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always try to compliment good service, whether it be in an RV repair shop, a store, or a restaurant. Having been a business owner much of my life, I sure have heard my share of complaints, and I can tell you that, in my experience anyway, while the complimentary  comments may not come as frequently, they are always very much appreciated. So how about you? Do you write letters, call, or e-mail to say thanks for a job well done?

Thought For The Day – A fair-weather friend is one who is always around when he needs you.

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