Today is the last day to take advantage of our Two For One Holiday Special. So if you haven’t clicked the link above, there’s still time. You can enter a new subscription to the Gypsy Journal for yourself, or renew your subscription early, and we’ll give someone on your Christmas shopping list a free one year subscription, with a note that it is a gift from you. All you have to do is enter your mailing address, and send me a separate e-mail with the name of the recipient of your gift subscription at editor@gypsyjournal.net and we’ll do the rest. The special ends tonight at midnight, so if you snooze, you lose!

It’s still unbelievably cold here in Fort Lauderdale, but at least the wind has stopped. We’d like to do some sightseeing while were in this area, but between having to get the new issue of the paper finished, and the weather, I don’t know if we’ll do much of anything but stay home and work.

I got an e-mail from my friend Tom Owen down in Key West yesterday, and he said they tied a record low, set in 1952, and that folks on that tropical island are running around in winter coats, gloves, mufflers and longshoreman caps. Tom said that the wind chill was 30 degrees in Key West! We won’t be going to the Florida Keys this year after all!

Speaking of the cold weather, I have been exchanging e-mails with a couple who are staying in their RV, in a relative’s driveway in the upper Midwest, until after the holidays. They wrote to ask for advice because their water lines were frozen, and I suggested that they put a droplight in their utility bay with a 25 watt bulb. That’s what we did when we were stuck in northern Michigan years ago during Terry’s battle with cancer, and it kept it toasty warm in the water bay.

They replied that their son didn’t want them to do that, because it would run up his electric bill. I also suggested they use heat tape on any exposed water lines, but the lady wrote back and said that was an “awful lot of trouble” and asked me if there wasn’t a simpler way to solve the problem. Uh, yeah, there is. Turn the key and get the heck out of there!

My friend Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour spent most of the afternoon yesterday helping me make some changes in our e-mail program, laying the groundwork for migrating our websites to another host, and talking about where we want to go with our online business in the future. The technology is changing on a daily basis, and it is amazing what we can now offer our readers online.

Later in the afternoon, Chris and her hubby Jim treated us to a wonderful seafood dinner at a restaurant called Catfish Deweys,  that is a local landmark. I had the blackened seafood platter and Miss Terry had blackened catfish, and both were excellent. Thanks Jim and Chris!

Bad Nick has been quiet for a while because he has been on strike, protesting the cold weather. But he finally got of his duff yesterday and posted a new Bad Nick Blog titled Snappy Comebacks. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – You shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back sometimes.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

In a blog a few days ago, I wrote about the dumb mistakes all of us RVers make from time to time, no matter how long we’ve been at it. Just to reinforce that message, let me tell you about my latest blunder.

I was getting the motorhome unhooked and ready to hit the road yesterday morning, and since we might be overnight in a parking lot or two on our trip north to Indiana, I was filling our fresh water tank. Normally we only carry about 1/3 of a tank full of water, to keep our weight down, but when we know we might need it, we fill up.

After the water tank was full, I moved the knob in our Winnebago’s utility bay from the Fill Tank position back to the normal position that we use when in a campground with a water hookup. Then I reached over and slid the brass collar free on our Quick Connect fitting that connects the hose to the motorhome, never bothering to turn the water off at the campground outlet. Rainbow Plantation has darned good water pressure, which is a good thing, except on a chilly morning when you pull a stunt like that! I got a very cold shower before I could run over and turn the water off. Miss Terry got a real laugh out of that one! I’m glad one of us enjoyed it.   

We wanted to get an early start yesterday, but leaving an Escapees campground is never a quick thing. There are too many folks to say goodbye to! Dutch and Di Irrgang were parked a couple of sites down from us, and we stopped to see the complete re-do they had done on their beautiful Carriage fifth wheel. Dutch said they had been considering buying a new fiver, but they liked the floor plan of their present one so much that they had it remodeled for a whole lot less than the cost of a new rig. It came out great, and we were really impressed.

Between saying goodbye to several people and checking out at the campground office, it was 10 a.m. when we finally pulled out. We had an easy run north on State Route 59 to the junction with Interstate 65 at Bay Minette, and then took 65 on its path north across the state. We ran in a mixture that ranged from a light mist to showers until we got past Montgomery, with one stop for fuel at a Flying J. The Silverleaf and Miss Terry’s calculator agreed that we got 7.75 miles per gallon on our last tank of fuel.

Traffic began to get heavier as we approached Birmingham, and soon we were in a tangle of construction zones, kamikaze drivers in four wheelers, and truckers trying to dodge them as they merged without yielding,  and changed lanes without signaling. I don’t remember traffic in Birmingham being this hectic on past trips through the area, but after yesterday, I’m in no hurry to get back.

Once we were clear of Birmingham, we rolled north, making good time, and began to see blue sky above us, which was a welcome sight after the gloom we had been driving in.

By the time we crossed the Tennessee State Line it was late in the day and we were running out of time. It was getting pretty dark by 5:30 p.m., and though I had hoped to get past Nashville by the end of the day, it just wasn’t going to happen. We pulled into the Tennessean Truck Stop, about 60 miles south of Nashville, and parked way back in the furthest reaches of the lot, well away from the truckers. After a nice dinner in the truck stop restaurant, we returned to the motorhome, shivering all the way. The temperature had really dropped! We started the day wearing T-shirts, but walking back to the motorhome wearing a T-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket, I was still cold! We fired up the Onan Quiet Diesel generator and turned on the heat pump to warm up the rig.  

Even with our late start, we covered 392 miles yesterday, and that’s a lot of driving in one day. Certainly much more than most RVers usually cover in a day. Usually 200 to 300 miles is a good day of driving in an RV, and gives you time to relax along the way, and get off the road and set up someplace early. But we’re not in a relaxed RV travel mode where we’re playing tourist, we’re in our “go fast” mode to get up to Elkhart and take care of our business up there. It’s too cold to play tourist!

Thought For The Day – Anger hurts you more than the person who upset you.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

After spending the weekend cooped up inside the bus, yesterday I wanted to get out and breathe in some fresh air. We ran a couple of errands, stopped to talk to a dealer about a Winnebago Ultimate Advantage we saw for sale at a car dealer’s lot in Goshen, and decided that they would rather double talk and play games than just give us a price so we could say yes or no.

What is it with these guys anyway? I told them I wanted a price I could take to my credit union, and instead of giving me that price, they wanted me to make an offer, put down a deposit, and fill out a credit application. I told them I wasn’t interested in their financing, I would arrange my own, just give me a price. No, it was their way or the highway. We chose the highway.

Later in the afternoon we came upon a 2004 Alfa SeeYa 40 foot diesel pusher at another lot and decided to check it out. To be honest, we had never given the Alfa’s a lot of thought. Our friends Earl and Sami Aeverman, on whose RV lot we squatted in Aransas Pass, Texas for several weeks last winter, have an Alfa and they love it. After spending an hour or so poking into every nook and cranny on this coach, I can see that’s there’s a lot to love.

I don’t think we’ve been in any motorhome that has so much storage and feels to open and airy. The overall fit and finish was good, we liked the layout, and while there were a few things that weren’t exactly what we had envisioned in our next RV, there were more positives than negatives.

And wonder of wonders, the salesman was straightforward, answered all of our questions, and when he didn’t know an answer, he didn’t try to bulls&%@ us, he just said “I don’t know, to be honest with you.” I can appreciate and respect that. We’re not jumping into anything, but we’re doing our research and have added Alfa to our short list.

Since I still wasn’t ready to go home, we stopped to check out a gun shop with an indoor shooting range located a few miles from Elkhart Campground. Finding a place to shoot while traveling can be a problem, and I was pleased to see that they have a very nice facility. We’re in a saving mindset, so I really had to drag myself away from a great deal they offered me on a new AR-15 rifle they had in stock. I have absolutely no use for it, but did I mention that it was a heck of a deal?

Back at the bus, we had an e-mail from Michael and Christi Hargis telling us about a cover story Christi had in the August issue of Bus Conversions magazine. We have not met Michael and Christy yet, but we feel like we know them from their excellent website and blog. Michael will be performing at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally next year in Yuma, and we’re really looking forward to seeing his show.

We never get bored when we’re in a campground, because the neighbors always give us a lot to talk about. Late in the afternoon a fifth wheel pulled in a couple of sites down from us, and we noticed that the couple in it was standing outside looking confused. Their problem was obvious, they had pulled in on the wrong side of the utility pedestal, so it was on the curb side of their RV, while the utility bay is on the driver’s side.

Finally, after they stood there looking lost and confused for quite some time, I walked over and asked if they needed any help. “Our water hose and cord are too short” the woman said.

“Actually, you pulled in on the wrong side of the pedestal,” I told them. “Just pull out and make a big circle turn and come back in on the other side and you’ll be fine.” They talked it over for a while, so I went back inside, and a while later the man got in his truck, started it up, and made a big circle, just as I suggested. And then he pulled up on the wrong side of the pedestal again, jus where he had been before! And his water hose and electric cord were still too short! Go figure.

Thought For The Day – Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally