Yesterday was the final day of our 2010 Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, which consisted of morning coffee and donuts sponsored by Mac McCoy, one last chance to visit the vendors who had not already packed up and left, and the tour of the Heartland Recreational Vehicles factory. By noon we had all of the tables and chairs put away, and the building emptied out.

We spent most of the afternoon trying to get our motorhome back to some semblance of normality, stowing away rally materials in our bays, and sorting through leftover brochures, display materials, and notes we had hastily scribbled on slips of paper about interesting places to visit that our attendees had suggested, and good campgrounds they thought we might like to stop at someday.

Our dear friends Tom Owen and Diane Rojewski came by to chat for a while, and Frank Hinman popped in for a few minutes. Rumor control has it that there may be another visit to Tom and Diane’s houseboat in Key West in our future. Tom and Diane graciously invited us to stay at the houseboat two years ago, and we spent a wonderful week exploring Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys, kayaking, and playing tourist. We’re really looking forward to getting back down there again.

Soon after Tom and Diane left, Orv Hazelton stopped in, and we solved most of the troubles of the world; then Greg White came over to join us, and he had answers for the few dilemmas of mankind that Orv and I had not gotten to yet.

I spent a couple of hours reading over the rally feedback forms that we asked each attendee to fill out. There were a lot of glowing compliments about the rally, which are always nice, but also some good feedback on the different seminars we had, as well as suggestions for future rallies.

Terry and I read each and every feedback form, and give those suggestions serious consideration. We don’t always go with them, for various reasons, but we have incorporated several of our attendees’ suggestions into our rallies.

One comment that gets repeated frequently at every rally is that we have too many seminars at the same time, and that a person can’t attend one that interests them unless they miss another in the same time period.

One of the things that sets our events apart from many other RV rallies is that we focus on a broad spectrum of seminars. We had 60 different seminars at the rally, which is about average for one of our events. Not just vendor seminars, but also seminars on all kinds of other topics. At this rally we had seminars on bicycling, kayaking, traveling to Alaska, genealogy, Midwest travel destinations, RVing history, RV electrical systems, tire safety, weight safety, fire safety, and more!

True, sometimes there are conflicts when somebody wants to be at two different seminars held at the same time, but the flip side of that coin is that at least we offer plenty of options to choose from, to suit every interest. If we offered fewer seminars, and repeated them twice as some have suggested, we would drastically reduce the options for others who may be interested in something else. To us, more is better when it comes to seminars.  

Of course, we can’t please everybody; we had comments that people wanted more computer related seminars, such as the nine that Geeks on Tour presented, and comments from other folks who said they didn’t care about computer seminars, they wanted seminars on RV maintenance, or pet care, or crafts, or… you get the idea. The problem there is, of course, finding people qualified to teach those seminars. All we can do is to continue to find new seminar topics and new people to present them.

Comments were mixed on having the rally at a full hookup campground. Some people loved it, and some said they would have been just as happy at a fairgrounds, if the cost had been less. And, of course, there were folks who wanted the full hookups, but at fairgrounds prices. That just doesn’t happen!

We had 165 RVs registered the rally, as well as a dozen or so others that had not registered, but were here at the campground on a weekly or monthly basis, and signed up for the rally when they learned about it.

Most of our vendors reported good sales, and a few said that they made more money at our rally then they did at the big Newmar Kountry Klub rally the week before in Goshen, which had over 600 RVs.

With rally week behind us, Miss Terry and I plan to sleep late today and spend some time recharging our minds and bodies. We’re worn out, but we’re gratified that we have another successful rally behind us.

Thought For The Day – A ton of regret never made an ounce of difference.

The wind has not let up a bit here in northern Arizona, and as predicted, a cold front has moved in and dropped the temperatures quite a bit. The sky is very gray, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it starts snowing!

I talked to my buddy Mac McCoy from Fire and Life Safety yesterday. Mac is in Goshen, Indiana running around in shorts, and I’m freezing my butt off here in Arizona. Life is not fair!

Since it’s been too nasty to go anywhere, Terry and I have been getting a lot done at home. Most of yesterday was spent working on our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, which will be held August 30 to September 3 at Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana.

I have started putting together the seminar schedule, and early indications are that we’ll have an excellent lineup once again. Mac McCoy will be presenting his RV Fire Safety seminar, the folks from Recreational Vehicle Safety and Education Foundation will be doing seminars on RV Weight Safety and RV Tire Safety, the Geeks on Tour have a great selection of computer seminars, I’ll be doing my two new seminars, Cemetery Stories and 100 Miles From Here. Orv Hazelton will present a seminar on Understanding RV Continued Service Plans, and there will also be seminars on bloggng, RV insurance, accessing the internet on the road, RV history, digital photos, RV maintenance, and lots more.

We already have several great vendors signed up, including AGS (recruiting RVers to sell advertising on campground maps) , Lawrence RV Accessories (Tire Traker tire pressure monitoring systems and Progressive Industries electrical management systems), Techno RV (computer accessories), Tastefully Simple (gourmet food mixes), Coyote Sales (Wilson antennas, cell phone accessories and PressurePro tire monitoring systems, Uniquely RV (solar lights), Good Sam Extended Warranty Service, Fire and Life Safety (fire extinguishers and fire alarms), Flags Galore & More (flags and flagpoles), Too Crazy Ladies (custom name tags), M&B Enterprises (diesel engine filters and supplies), Passport America (discount campground memberships), Geeks on Tour (computer education DVDs), MOR/ryde (suspension systems) and Precise Satellite and RV Electric (MotoSat dishes), to name just a few, and we have more vendors signing up every week.

RV sites are going fast for the rally. We only have 27 of our 50 amp full hookup sites left,  and we have 12 of the 30 amp full hookup sites available, and 23 of the 30 amp water & electric sites.  We also have quite a few sites available with 20 amp electric and water. To reserve your site, visit our Rally Registration Page. We’re looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends at the rally, and making some new friends too!

Thought For The Day – Earth First! We’ll strip mine the other planets later.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally! 

Okay, we both know that headline is a lie. I’m very overweight. But the good news is that our Winnebago motorhome is not overweight!

My buddy Rick Lang from the Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) arrived at the fairgrounds here in Celina yesterday, and will be weighing RVs for folks coming in for our rally. Once Rick was in and set up, I had him weigh our new coach to see how we were doing now that we have moved in.

The motorhome has a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of 32,000 pounds. With a full tank of diesel fuel, about 75 gallons of water onboard, and empty waste tanks, with me in the driver’s seat, we came in exactly 500 pounds under our weight limit. So the good news is we’re okay for weight, and the bad news is, we have to be very careful about bringing anything else onboard. That was never an issue with our bus conversion. If we could find a place to stick it, we could carry it.

Actually, we still have quite a few things to get rid of, including some books, tools, and other heavy items that will probably give us another couple hundred pounds of safety margin once they’re gone. Thanks for weighing us Rick, you gave us some extra piece of mind.

Okay, as for my weight, I have decided that I can spend an hour or two a day walking and exercising to lose weight, or I can just spend an hour or two once a year going to Wal-Mart to buy new clothes in a larger size. As busy as I am, I think that’s the way it will probably go.

I am a big believer in education, especially education that can save your life. There are many excellent safety classes offered at RV rallies that every RVer should take part in. These include the RVSEF classes on RV weight safety and tire safety, Mac McCoy’s excellent fire safety classes, and the RV Driving School’s classroom seminars and their behind the wheel driver safety program.

Modern RVs, with power steering and brakes, and air bag suspensions, are easy to handle. But they are still big, heavy vehicles, and they don’t drive like the family minivan. They take longer to get up to speed, longer to stop, and longer to clear an intersection.

One careless minute and you could find yourself in a situation like this, which took place in Amador, California when an RVer pulled out into the path of a big truck. Get some education before you get behind the wheel.

When you read blogs, do you also read the comments? If so, do you ever go back the next day and read the comments that were left after you originally read the blog? Do it sometime. The comments from Friday’s blog, Who Gets Their Dream, have been very interesting. Longtime reader George Stoltz sent me an e-mail saying that they could be a discussion guide for a graduate-level course on marital relationships. I have to agree. In fact, for the first time ever, Miss Terry even left a comment!

Thought For The Day – Before you give someone a piece of your mind, be sure you have enough to spare.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

Our Second Annual Eastern Gypsy Gathering is getting closer every day. As of now we have over 100 RVs registered, and every day more registrations are coming in. Things are happening fast, and I have lots of rally news to share with you.

At last year’s rally, husband and wife team Melissa and Larry Beahm of One More Time delighted the crowd with their concert, and a while back they wrote to ask if we’d like to have them back this year. Their concert is set for Wednesday evening, and I know you’re all going to love them.

However, as they say in those television infomercials, but wait, there’s more! Yesterday Melissa e-mailed to offer to do a second concert on Thursday evening, this one a combination of soft rock, jazz, blues, and a couple of original songs they’d like to showcase. The performance will include some Carole King, Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, Johnny Nash, and The Beatles. Sounds great, doesn’t it? I told Melissa we’d love to have them give us two performances.

These two are very talented, and a lot of fun, and all they ask for their great contribution to the rally is that we pass the hat for donations. Last year the crowd was very appreciative of their efforts, and very generous in showing them so, and I know this year will be more of the same.

We know how dangerous an overloaded RV can be, and how carrying too much weight can cause all sorts of mechanical problems, from early tire failure to broken shock absorbers and even axles. So one of the first things we plan to do at the rally is have the folks from the Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) weigh our new to us Winnebago motorhome. The new rig has a pretty healthy cargo carrying capacity, but you can never be too safe, and it is an investment in our safety.

The RVSEF representatives will be doing two seminars at the rally on RV Weight Safety and RV Tire Safety, both on Tuesday morning, because they have other commitments and will have to leave the rally early to get to another event back here in Indiana. Usually they schedule RV weighing for after a rally, but this time around they will be weighing rigs as they arrive.

If you plan to have your RV weighed, please click the appropriate link and print out and complete the Motorhome Work Sheet or the Trailer Work Sheet. Then when you arrive, you can just hand it to the weighing crew and save everybody a lot of time. For weighing fees and information, or any questions, call Rick Lang at (207) 522-3336, or e-mail him at ricklang46@hotmail.com.   

If you have not signed up yet for the Geeks on Tour pre-rally Computer Boot Camp Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, click this registration link and get that taken care of now. Everyone I know who has attended one of the Geeks’ Boot Camps has had nothing but praise for it, including Miss Terry.

The material in the Boot Camp is more advanced than most people expect.  The program is designed to fill in the holes in your computer knowledge, and I promise you that you will come away a much more informed computer user. I’ve always been the one who knew his way around a computer in our home on wheels, but after taking the Boot Camp last year, Miss Terry has found herself answering questions for me many times.

The cost of the Boot Camp is $99 per computer for one person or a couple. This does not include your camping fee, which will be paid directly to the Mercer County Fairgrounds. For more information on the Boot Camp, go to http://www.geeksontour.com/bootcamp/.

The two new seminars the Geeks on Tour will be presenting, Blogger: Beyond the Basics, and Picasa: Beyond the Basics are a Gypsy Gathering exclusive that you won’t find anywhere else. They will be primarily a question and answer format, and if you will send your questions to Chris Guld in advance, she says it will help her insure they get covered.

As you can see, there is a lot going on, and if you click the Rally Registration Page and scroll to the bottom to see the schedule, I think you’ll be impressed. We think it’s going to be a great rally, and I hope we see you there! 

Thought For The Day – We teach others how to treat us by how we treat ourselves.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally