There is a phenomenon that takes place this time of year that has mystified me ever since we became fulltime RVers over ten years ago, and that is getting income taxes filed.

No, I understand the process. What confuses me is why people would leave a place like sunny Arizona and return to cold states in the Midwest just to file their taxes. Don’t they know that they have mailboxes in Arizona too?

Yesterday I talked to two different people who are here in Arizona, one in Yuma and another in Tucson, who both said they really wanted to come to our Gypsy Gathering rally next month, but the timing was wrong because they had to go back to Iowa and Minnesota, respectively, to file their income taxes. We have heard people say this ever since we got on the road, and I just don’t understand it.

I guess if you are a snowbird and all of your records are back home, it might make sense, though not as much sense as taking the records with you when you leave for the winter. But I know fulltimers who still go back to wherever they came from to file their taxes. Why? Even the IRS doesn’t have enough clout to make me go where it is snowing!

Besides tires and house batteries, another thing we need to replace on our Winnebago are the slide toppers, which show their age and have several small tears and holes in them.

When Russ Maxwell from Carefree Awnings was visiting the other day, he took a look at them and agreed that they needed replaced, and said he’d have a fellow named Darrell Vliem from a company called Awning Man stop by and give us an estimate. Darrell came by yesterday and did some measuring, and said he would order two new slide toppers, and have them installed before we have to leave for the rally in Yuma.

Yesterday afternoon, Jim and Nancy Tidball stopped in for a visit and to pick up a copy of our RVers Guide To Fairgrounds Camping. We last saw Jim and Nancy last year when we were in Aransas Pass, Texas and they came by so Jim could test paddle the kayak I had for sale. It was nice to see them again, and we had a good visit before they had to run.

Besides all of her regular chores, and proofing the stories as I write them for the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, Miss Terry has been busy helping her mom get things prepared for her dad’s birthday party this weekend. It will be a small family gathering, just Pete’s daughters, grandkids, and their respective spouses, but a lot of time and effort still goes into getting everything arranged.

One final note before I close this blog post. I was told that Mail Call USA, a mail forwarding service in Cleveland, Tennessee has apparently gone out of business without giving their clients any notice. There is a thread about it on the Escapees forum. That can sure create a lot of problems for RVers who depend on their mail service to get their snail mail to them. 

Thought For The Day – Some marriages are made in heaven, but they all have to be maintained on earth.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Boy, can I draw a crowd! As I wrote in yesterday’s blog, when we arrived at the Elks campground Wednesday we had it all to ourselves except for a sailboat on a trailer. Then shortly after we got parked a motorhome pulled in. Yesterday morning three big motorhomes came in together. The place is filling up, and with yesterdays temperature in Phoenix topping out at 104 degrees, I’m sure more folks are headed for the high country.

RVers are facing a new challenge from the state of Maine, which has slipped a bill in under the radar that makes it illegal to park overnight in any commercial parking lot anywhere in the state! Not in a WalMart, not even in a truck stop. As the law is written, even if your son owns a business and gives you permission to stay in his parking lot overnight, you are subject to a $100 fine! Here is a link to more information on the Escapee website.

We all need to send e-mails and letters to the state of Maine to let them know that we disagree with this nonsense and will take our tourist dollars elsewhere if they insist on making us feel unwelcome.

We often stay in commercial parking lots overnight and have dinner in a nearby restaurant on our way to a destination, where we then spend our money with a local campground. But I don’t want to pay some campground owner $20 or more a night (usually a lot more in places like Maine) just to sleep in my own self-contained RV.

Folks, I need your help. In the last two weeks I have received e-mails from a number of subscribers who spent the winter traveling away from home, and did not send us their winter address, which resulted in them not getting their Gypsy Journal. We try to accommodate our readers by sending out replacement copies if we still have them available, even though this adds up to quite a bit of additional expense to us over the course of a year.

For example, just this week we have sent out several envelopes with two back issues each in them, at a cost of $2.19 each. When you consider that a subscription is $20 a year, and that this time of year we usually have anywhere from 50 to 100 subscribers who contact us asking for the back issues they missed because they did not send us a change of address, it adds up.

Since we run our business from the road, storage is a problem and many times we just don’t have the missing issues to send them. Then people get mad at us because they didn’t get their paper.

Please, please, please send us the temporary address if you are doing the snowbird routine! The post office will not forward the Gypsy Journal unless you upgrade to First Class, which is an extra $5/year. Just send us a quick note or e-mail when you head for your snowbird destination, or back home in the spring. It will really help us a lot.

Thought For The Day – Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally