Did you ever have one of those days where you remember waking up and getting out of bed, and the next thing you know, you’re falling asleep and wondering where the day went? That sums up yesterday for me.

Josh Leach, from Bradd & Hall,  was knocking on our door before we were up yesterday morning, having come by to drop off some company brochures and a check to cover their sponsorship of Tuesday morning’s coffee and donuts at our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally. We jumped into some clothes and visited with Josh for a while, and by the time he left, somebody else was here asking about the rally schedule.

From there, the day was just a blur of fielding telephone calls, answering e-mails, greeting folks who arrived early at Elkhart Campground for the rally, and getting last minute chores done. Red and Beth from Too Crazy Ladies arrived in the late morning, and I spent some time helping them select a site for their motorhome and vending trailer.

About the time I was finished with that, a potential vendor showed up asking if we had any indoor booths left. I told him no, but that we could get him into an outdoor space, which he declined. A short time later, one of our vendors who had reserved a double booth came by to tell us that due to a medical issue, he had to cancel at the last minute. I sure wish I had known that an hour earlier, when I turned away the other vendor

Our close friends, and stalwart rally volunteers, Mike and Elaine Loscher arrived and got settled in, and we had a nice little visit with them in our Winnebago. Then Terry and I took off to get some things done away from the campground, including picking up the rally T-shirts from the screen printer, stopping at the bank, post office, and to fill our van’s gas tank.

Then we went by Heartland Recreational Vehicles to pick up brochures to distribute at the rally. Heartland has also agreed to be a sponsor for our coffee and donuts, on Wednesday morning. For those who are staying on at Elkhart Campground after the rally, rather than traveling on the busy Labor Day weekend, Heartland is holding a special factory tour just for our rally attendees, at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning. It will be a great opportunity to see how the fastest growing RV company in the industry does things.

Back at the campground, a large crowd had gathered for a happy hour under the tent we rented for the rally. The crowd included several folks who are staying in Goshen working on the upcoming Escapees RV Club Escapade rally, and included Escapees head honchos Bud and Cathie Carr. We had dinner plans, but we told everybody to have fun, and they seemed to have a pretty good handle on doing just that.

Terry and I, Greg White, Mike and Elaine Loscher, and Stu and Donna McNichol had a nice dinner at North Garden Chinese Buffet, and a lot of fun joking around and enjoying the company of good friends. If there has ever been any encounter of three or more fulltime RVers that did not include food, I’ve never heard about it!

By the time we got back from dinner, visited with our friends Russ and Debbie Davis, who had arrived while we were out and were parked right behind us in their beautiful truck conversion, talked to a few other people, and Miss Terry got her bike ride and walk around the campground done, it was getting late. I wrote my blog and it was bedtime. Where did the day go?

I may not know where the day went, but Bad Nick spent part of it writing a new Bad Nick Blog post titled Stuck In The Dark Ages. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – If you are traveling just for the fun of it, how can you be late getting anywhere?

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

The Arizona Good Sam Rally starts today, so yesterday we spent some time checking out how they were getting everybody in off the street and parked. Since this is the first time for both us and Good Sam to have a rally at the Yuma Fairgrounds, there is a learning curve. 

32^nd Street in front of the fairgrounds is a very busy road, and it is important to get everybody into the big parking lot in front of the fairgrounds as quickly as possible so we don’t tie up traffic. We have come up with what we think is a pretty good plan, and it’s basically the same thing the Good Sam group is using. So far, so good.

Several vendors who are here for the Good Sam rally will be staying over for our event, and I chatted with several of them as they were setting up their booths yesterday. They all seemed enthusiastic, since the Good Sam rally has about 170 RVs registered, and we have about 215 registered, and quite a few more who have told us they will be here. Not to mention all of the snowbirds who are wintering locally, and will be coming in on day passes.

We are discovering that while the fairgrounds assured us they could easily provide power for over 200 RVs, that is pretty iffy. We will have limited electric for the majority of RVs, but probably not for everybody. If you have solar panels, they’ll get a good workout during the rally! Of course, rally veterans don’t worry about things like that. They come into a fairgrounds aware that they are not staying at a full service campground. After all, that’s why we have self-contained RVs, right?

Besides getting underfoot with the Good Sam crowd, yesterday I put the finishing touches on a new seminar, called Cemetery Stories, in which I will be sharing some of the interesting tales we have discovered in cemeteries during our travels around the country.

I also worked on a second new seminar, Blogging For RVers. I really wish my pals Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour were going to be on hand, because they have such an excellent presentation on blogging, but they are busy in Florida this winter. So I am cobbling together a seminar to at least give beginning bloggers and those who are just getting interested in blogging, some pointers.

Bill and Mabel Becker stopped by to say hello and visited with us for a while, and they’ll be back today to pick up the rally T-shirts once they get delivered, so they can start folding them and getting them ready to sell.

Once RV tech Phil Botnick arrived and got settled in for the Good Sam rally, he came by and checked out our Atwood water heater to see if he could find anything that may have caused our recent problems. Phil is about the best RV tech you’ll find anywhere, with years of experience, and he has handled many little problems for us over the years, and a couple of big ones too.

Phil cleaned out of some of sand the blown into the compartment by all of the wind here in Yuma, tested the pressure from our LP tank, and then adjusted the water heater’s fuel/oxygen ratio. Phil will be staying over for our rally, handling any emergency repairs necessary to keep folks up and running.

Thought For The Day – I have kleptomania, but when it gets bad, I take something for it.

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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.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Terry and I want to thank all of you who left comments or sent us congratulatory e-mails in response to yesterday’s blog about our motorhome purchase.

To be honest, Miss Terry had some real misgivings, not about the Winnebago itself, but about what the reaction might be from some of our readers. As longtime blog readers may remember, we were chastised by a couple of folks when I bought a motorcycle a while back, or when I announced that we were shopping for a motorhome. One rather vocal former reader felt that we were “getting rich off our subscribers,” and didn’t feel it was right for him to help pay for my new toys.

I told Terry that I have never apologized for what success I may have achieved in my life. We work very hard, and there has to be some reward now and then. Besides, it’s like my Dad used to say, “Never explain and never apologize. Your friends don’t need it, and your enemies won’t believe it anyway.” We feel very blessed to have so many wonderful friends such as all of you out there, who can share in our happiness and be happy for us. 

Two very special friends are Ron and Brenda Speidel. Not only did they help us inspect the motorhome before we bought it, yesterday they really blew us out of the water.

Terry and I had to drive 70 miles up to Michigan to pick up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal from the printer, and then drive 85 miles back to Mishawaka, Indiana to pick up the envelopes from our mail service. From there we needed to go 30 miles to Nappanee, Indiana for an appointment with Carlyle Lehman, a very talented Amish cabinetmaker who owns a company called Focal Wood and specializes in RV upgrades. We wanted to talk to Carlyle about building a custom desk/work station in our new (to us) motorhome. With that finished, we then had to drive 30 miles back to Elkhart Campground! And all we wanted to do was spend the day getting our new home ready to move into!

Before we left, Ron and Brenda told us that they had thought about getting us a nice lamp as a housewarming gift, but being fulltime RVers themselves, they know that the last thing we need is more “stuff.” So instead, they announced that while we were gone, they were going to clean our new motorhome top to bottom, so that as soon as we got the new issue of the paper stuffed and mailed out, all we had to do was start moving in! Wow! What a wonderful, thoughtful offer! We told them that wasn’t necessary, they have done so much for us already, but Ron and Brenda insisted.

We thought we had a nice looking motorhome when we brought it back to the campground Thursday afternoon, but now it’s even better! Ron cleaned every bay, including the walls and the insides of the doors, vacuumed them all, used 303 on all of the seals and grommets, and lubed and tested every hinge, strut and anything else that needed even the slightest attention. Our sewer bay gleams!

And inside, Brenda was just as busy, removing a few small spots from the carpet, and scrubbing every surface from the bedroom closet to the dashboard. There’s not a hospital operating room any cleaner than the inside of that rig! I daresay that no new RV from any manufacturer ever left the dealer’s lot looking as nice. Ron and Brenda worked hard for hours and the results really show. We thanked them profusely, but they just brushed it off, saying that’s what friends do for each other. (Though they did admit later that somewhere around mid-afternoon, they said to each other “We should have just bought them a lamp!”)

In answer to a couple of questions we have been asked several times; we have two buyers who are interested in the bus, and we hope to find it a good home soon, but nothing has happened yet. It is advertised on our website at Gypsy Journal Bus For Sale, if you know anybody looking for a nice, affordable bus conversion. Several people wanted to know if we are moving our solar panels to the new RV. We’re not sure yet. A lot depends on the deal we make with whomever buys the bus.

And last, but not least, a lot of folks asked how they will be able to recognize us when we’re not in the bus. That’s the idea! Now I can slip into a campground or rally incognito and let Bad Nick off his leash, and nobody will know it until it’s too late!

Thought For The Day – Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

Living on limited electric power seems to be a major concern for many RVers, and I have never understood why.

Time and time again I have had people ask when registering for our Gypsy Gathering rallies if we will have 50 amp power available. When I tell them that (depending on the location) we will only have 30 amps, or maybe even 15 amp power, they freak out. We have had more than one RVer cancel a rally reservation when they learned we don’t have 50 amp power. What has amazed me more than once is that they canceled on our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally, after spending a week or two (or more) dry camping at Quartzsite! After that, even 15 amps is pure luxury to us!

Living on limited power is no problem if you understand how to manage your power consumption properly. We just spent a week parked in a relative’s driveway in Traverse City, Michigan plugged into 15 amp power. Actually, with the multiple cords we had to run to reach an outlet, I’m sure there was quite a power loss between the power outlet and our bus conversion. But we had no problems. We have a house style refrigerator that was plugged in all of the time, Terry made coffee every morning, and we used our computers, CradlePoint wireless router, and laser printer with ease. Terry even did a load or two of laundry and used our 110 volt apartment size electric dryer!

Of course, we did not use everything at once. When not needed, we turned the laser printer off to conserve power, and when she had the dryer running, we were careful not to use any more power than needed during the drying cycle. We never tripped a breaker and never felt like we were living on the edge.

One thing we always do when hooking up to a limited power source is to turn the battery charge rate on our Magnum Energy inverter/charger down to 10%. We don’t need any more than that, and the batteries charge up just fine while we sleep. Of course, we also have 540 watts of solar panels on the roof, and that helps too. But we got by just fine even before we had the panels. We also switch our gas/electric water heater to just gas to lessen our power needs. If we had an RV style refrigerator, we’d switch it to gas only to save power.

We have been to many different RV rallies where there were so many rigs hooked into the same circuit that we had 10 amps of power at best, and unless somebody insisted on making coffee in the morning, or fired up their curling iron, everybody survived. Of course, if somebody turned on one of the aforementioned appliances, there were circuit breakers popping all over the rally grounds!

At an Escapees Fun Days rally once, the fellow next to us insisted on turning on his air conditioner, which of course blacked out our whole line of RVs. He just couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of “roughing it” and earned himself some pretty bad karma from his neighbors by the time the rally ended.

Even if you always stay at RV parks and never plan on going to an RV rally or plugging into an electrical outlet on the side of some friend or relative’s garage, you should still practice living on limited power, just in case. You never know when some unexpected breakdown will find you parked at a repair shop overnight or for the weekend and all they have is a 15 amp receptacle you can use. 

I’m always amazed at the folks with big coaches who insist they cannot survive on less than 50 amp power. A couple of years ago, at the Verde Valley Thousand Trails preserve in Camp Verde, Arizona, a rather obnoxious and overbearing “gentleman” was giving the poor girl at the ranger station grief because he insisted on being assigned a site with 50 amp electric. She explained to him over and over that there were no 50 amp sites in the campground, only 30 amps, but he was just not having any of that. 

Finally I interrupted and asked him why he felt he must have 50 amps. He looked down at me like I was the village idiot, put his hands on his hips and said, in a very condescending tone of voice, “Because, my good man, I have a 50 amp coach!” (By the way, if someone tells you he has a “coach” instead of an RV, there’s a good bet he’s going to be a jerk!)

I tried to explain to him that with a 30 amp dog bone adapter, he could plug in to the campground’s 30 amp power, and since the weather was very pleasant, he wouldn’t need his air conditioners. I even went so far as to tell him that the campground store had the 30 amp adapters if he didn’t own one.

He looked down at me again and said “Why, thank you, sir! Obviously I’m not as smart as I thought I was!”

Well, you know that Bad Nick wasn’t going to let that one pass, so he replied with a big grin “No, but you’re just as smart as I thought you were!” 

Thought For The Day – I do not intend to tiptoe through life only to arrive safely at death.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally