No matter what you have ever heard, there is absolutely no energy crisis, there never has been an energy crisis, and there never will be an energy crisis. All we have ever had is a technology crisis, and misdirected focus!

If you doubt me, spend an afternoon with two little granddaughters, ages seven and three. I guarantee that the only energy crisis there will be is you trying to keep up with them!

If we could get the scientists to stop wasting their time on silly things like fossil fuels, wind, solar, and nuclear power, and just convince them to concentrate on harnessing the energy in any child’s body under say, age ten, I think we could change the world. I haven’t done any official studies on it, but I’d say that each of my granddaughters has the equivalent of a dozen nuclear power plants inside of them, just bursting at the seams trying to get out.

We spent yesterday afternoon at my daughter Tiffany’s house, and her two girls wore me out so badly that it was all I could do to drag myself to the keyboard to write this blog when we got back home. I’m an old man! I need a vacation from my permanent vacation!

We had a wonderful time with Jim, Tiffany, and the girls, and Miss Terry knew that with all that commotion happening, I needed red meat to keep myself going. So she grilled up some beautiful rib eye steaks and some roasted red potatoes, which, combined with fresh corn on the cob, really hit the spot!

Back at the motorhome, I spent some time staring at the schedule for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, trying to figure out how to fit all of the seminars the vendors want into the time allotted, and still have a good selection of non-commercial seminars for rally attendees to choose from.

A few people have said we concentrate too hard on making our rallies an educational experience, but the overwhelming majority of the folks who come to the rallies say they are delighted with the opportunities they have to learn about everything from RV safety to technical issues, and the RV lifestyle in general. It’s a juggling act to have something for everyone, to find enough new seminars to keep returnees interested, and to fit in the favorites that people have given rave reviews in the past.

My pal Michele Henry from Phoenix Commercial Paint in Elkhart called the other day to tell me that she has booked several RVs for her beautiful custom paint jobs this summer, but that she still has some time open around our rally dates, in case any of you are thinking about getting your RV a facelift. But I wouldn’t wait too long, because true craftsmanship takes time, and Michelle doesn’t rush through her work. Instead, she takes the time to do it right, at at a price so low that you’ll think she hit the wrong buttons on her calculator.

Here is a Travel Supreme fifth wheel before Michele worked her magic on it.

And here is the finished job. Beautiful, isn’t it? And a lot less money than buying a new RV!

Michele also told me that Bob Patel, owner of Elkhart Campground is working like a madman adding new full hookup RV sites at the campground to accommodate our rally crowd. Bob and his wife Gita are wonderful folks, and we think of them as family. I’m looking forward to introducing a bunch of new people to them, and to Elkhart Campground during the rally.

Thought For The Day – Cherish your dreams, for they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

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When I checked my e-mail yesterday morning, I had a message from Verizon Wireless that an update for my Blackberry Storm was available, which was supposed to be the latest and greatest thing since sliced bread.

So, being the trusting soul I am, I plugged my phone into my computer, logged onto the Verizon website, and clicked the update button. The process took a few minutes, and then I got a message telling me the download was complete. Quick and easy, right?

Well, yes, except for the fact that the upload wiped out my entire contacts list. The photos I had stored on the phone are still there, even a couple of songs I transferred over from my computer a while back. But every telephone number I had is gone.

Yeah, I know, I could have backed up my information to my computer, but I never thought of it. So I’ll be spending some time digging out business cards and entering all of those numbers all over again. What fun.

There are many features I like about the Blackberry, but after using it for the last few months I have come to realize that my smart phone is smarter than I am by a long shot! I’m sure my seven year old granddaughter Hailey could probably make it do wonderful things, but I get a headache trying to figure what all the buttons are for.

It has been interesting to read all of the e-mails and comments from readers of yesterday’s blog Considering Our Options, about RV extended warranties. Some people feel that an extended warranty is a good investment, and just as many, if not more, seem to think they are not worth the money. I also heard from some folks who did buy extended warranties on their RVs, only to find that the companies issuing the warranties either did not honor needed repairs, or were very slow in paying. Like so much in the RV industry, there seem to be so many snakes selling extended warranties that you have to be very, very careful who you do business with.

I have had some comments from longtime readers who took me to task for buying a factory built motorhome because I have always said that “all RVs are junk and I’d never own anything but a bus conversion.” I don’t know when I supposedly said that, and in looking back over several years of past blogs and issues of the Gypsy Journal, I don’t find any such comment.

Yes, I have said many times that the quality of most factory built RVs is pretty sad, and I have said that a lot of junk has been foisted off on RV buyers by a lot of companies. However I have also said many times, in print and in the seminars I present at RV rallies, that there were four companies whose rigs I would be comfortable owning. Those companies are Heartland, Tiffin, Newmar, and Winnebago. When we started looking for a rig to replace our MCI bus conversion, they were on our very short list.

I love our old bus, and I will always be a fan of bus conversions. For cargo carrying capacity, safety in the event of a crash, longevity, and overall ruggedness, there has never been a stick and staple motorhome built that can compare. When we moved from the bus to our Winnebago, we traded down in those respects. No question about it.

However, our needs have changed. As our granddaughters have gotten older, the bus has become very crowded when they came to visit. We really wanted a coach with a slide. We also do not see ourselves doing nearly as much dry camping as we have in the past, so the huge holding tanks, battery bank, and solar panels on the bus are no longer a necessity.   

Yes, we had many wonderful years in our bus, and it carried us many miles in comfort and safety. Just as it will whomever owns it next. And though we have moved on, we’ll always look when we hear an old Detroit diesel roar to life. Once a bus nut, always a bus nut.

Thought For The Day – It’s frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.

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We were talking to a couple who are considering extended RV travel, and one of their concerns was safety. They have heard urban legends about RVers being attacked while they spend the night at places like Wal-Mart, small town parks, and rest areas.

We assured them that those kind of things almost never happen and not to spend a lot of time worrying about them. As I told them, they are in more danger from a traffic accident then they ever will be from a criminal, as long as they use common sense, keep their doors locked, and don’t spend any nights parked in an inner city ghetto. We have spent many, many nights dry camping in every corner of this country, in truck stops, highway rest areas, commercial parking lots, even in wide pullouts on back roads miles from nowhere. We have never felt threatened.

However, that does not mean that any of us are ever completely safe. You never know what that idiot coming down the road at you, riding a ton of steel might do, You can be as vigilant as is humanly possible and still become a victim in an instant, as these pictures show.

One of our subscribers sent me the photo on the left the other day. She was driving down a city street when a car driven by a seventeen year old girl who was text messaging somebody on her cell phone crossed the center line and hit her head on. Fortunately her airbag deployed and she was not injured.

Of the four girls in the other car, the front seat passenger had some cuts and bruises, but that was all, fortunately. Our friend said what really ticked her off was that the girl driving the other car never apologized, and never showed any concern for her own passenger. She was too busy being freaked out because her cell phone got broken in the accident! And there are airheads like that driving on every street and highway in America!

I took the photo to the right after a near miss I was involved in a few years ago in Tucson. I was driving down the street when the light gray car in the foreground roared passed me, driving halfway on the sidewalk. Two blocks down the street he ran a red light and slammed into the white car, which burst into flames. Fortunately, the older couple in the white car escaped uninjured. As the story turned out, the driver of the gray car had stolen it and was making his getaway. He jumped out and fled the scene on foot.  

No, I sleep just fine at night, wherever we are parked. It’s driving down the highway that sometimes scares the hell out of me!

Thought For The Day – You’re getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.

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