Can you believe  that three months from today, our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally will begin? That may seem like a long time to you, but believe me, from our perspective, it’s coming up fast!

There is a tremendous amount of work involved in planning and pulling one of these events off. With over 225 RVs attending, and a ton of walk-in visitors who are staying at local RV parks, it’s a real juggling act to have enough different seminars to meet everybody’s needs. Not to mention the logistics of providing morning coffee and donuts for everybody, making sure the different seminar rooms have the equipment each speaker needs, and that we don’t have two seminars in the same time slot that compete too heavily with each other. And did I mention the evening entertainment, or feeding several hundred hungry people pizza in a matter of minutes at our pizza party? All of of that is after we get all of those RVs in and parked!

I’ve been giving our seminar lineup a lot of thought. One part of me says that there are already a lot of events with seminars on the basic RV stuff like how to hook up campground utilities, basic RV systems, RV tires, etc. So maybe we should concentrate more on seminar topics that folks can’t get everywhere else, like the seminars we had on Kayaking For Beginners and Bicycling For RVers at our Eastern Rally in Elkhart this summer. But then again, if you’re a brand new RVer coming to your first rally, you need those basic seminars.

I’d like to see more seminars on RV destinations, places to go, and things to do when you get there. If anybody who is going to be at the rally has an idea for a seminar that they’d like to put together along those lines, or on any topic, for that matter, or maybe a craft class, send me an e-mail at editor@gypsyjournal.net and tell me about it.

I’m not sure what we’re going to do about T-shirts for the Arizona rally. Everybody says that they want rally shirts, but we have to order at least 100 to get the pricing that we can afford. Then, we usually end up with 40 or more shirts left over, which means we lose money anyway. Somebody suggested that we only take pre-orders that are paid in advance, but then people at the rally say “I wanted one too!” So I’m just not sure if we’ll have shirts in Yuma or not. 

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Several people said that we could just donate the leftover shirts to charity, and that sounds good, but it’s still money that we spent and received no return on, and as a business, the idea is to make a profit. 

Miss Terry found a use for some of the T-shirts that we had left over from the rallies. The other day she made a rug from several leftover shirts. Looks cool, doesn’t it? The bits of yellow, black, and white you see in the rug are the printed logos from the T-shirts.

Speaking of my beautiful bride, two people have expressed condolences to us in the last few days over the loss of Terry’s mom. I don’t know where that rumor got started, and while we appreciate your concern, Terry’s mom, Bess Weber, is alive and well, and just as feisty as ever. My parents have been gone for many, many years, but Terry’s parents, Pete and Bess are still healthy, active, and very involved in life, their church, and their family’s activities. I know a lot of people half their age that are not in as good shape.

We only have a week to go on our Buy One, Get One Free Holiday Special Offer. A lot of folks have taken advantage of the savings, and there’s still time for you to renew or extend your subscription, and get a free subscription for somebody on your Christmas shopping list too! Just click the link below, while there‘s still time

Whatever you’re doing today, I hope you take a moment to remember our fellow countrymen who were lost 69 years ago today during the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. That terrible Sunday morning changed the world forever, just as the terrorists attacks of 9/11 did. The only difference is that back then, our nation had the cajones to kick ass and take names, as we used to say in the military.

Hey, I’m starting to sound like Bad Nick, so I’ll stop for now, but check out his latest Bad Nick Blog, titled Silly Sarah, and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – No matter how bad you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.

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My friend Brenda Speidel calls me Gadget Boy because I am always looking for some neat new toy to tell my readers about. But that’s okay, like the old saying goes, “the only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys.” With Christmas coming, there has to be a gadget out there for every guy on your shopping list.

One of the most useful upgrades I have come by in years is my HTC Incredible Android phone.  I’m not a true geek, so I can’t tell you all of the technical specifics that make the Droid so much better, but it has the Blackberry beat in every way, in my opinion. It’s more user friendly, it gets better reception, it has more built in features, internet access is much faster with it, and there are more and better apps available.

One free app I recently downloaded is ShopSavvy. This is pretty cool. When I am in a store, I hold the Droid over an item’s barcode, and the software scans it, then tells me the price of the item online and in nearby stores. It even gives me directions to local stores stocking the item, and their addresses and telephone numbers. Now I never have to worry that I paid too much, and I can show a salesman the price just down the street and ask them to meet or beat it. Way cool!

I’m finding that I use the GPS features on the Droid as often as I do our Garmin GPS, and usually it’s more accurate and up to date. I especially like the Google street view, which shows me exactly what the neighborhood looks like where I’m going.

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Speaking of GPS units, blog reader Roger Parrish told me about a new techno toy he got; a Garmin Nuvi 465T Trucker GPS. Roger said this has all of the features of a regular GPS, with the addition of specialized routing options suitable for commercial trucks. If you have ever let your regular GPS lead you onto narrow, winding residential streets hardly suitable for an Oldsmobile, you can see the value of this GPS already! Roy said it  displays warning information of upcoming road conditions to make drivers aware of sharp curves, steep grades, side winds, and other possible hazards along the route. The GPS even has an FM traffic receiver to give drivers free alerts about traffic delays, road construction, and detours around the problem area.

Now, I haven’t actually seen this one, but somebody sent me a link that every RVer who uses WiFi to get online should have; a T-shirt with a built in WiFi signal detector! You could be the first in your RV park to have your very own WiFi Detector T-Shirt!

My buddy Phil May from TechnoRV is the guy who really knows gadgets, and he’s always got something new to drool over. Check out Phil’s You Tube video of The Beast, which has to be the brightest LED flashlight I’ve ever seen! I want one of these for the motorhome, and another for the Explorer!

Of course, I can’t afford every new gadget that comes along, and even if I could, I wouldn’t have any place to carry them in my motorhome. The good news is that since I can’t try them all, you can try some of them yourself, and tell me about them!

Now if somebody would just just invent a gadget that makes mornings go away. I have to take the Explorer to Camping Connection this morning to have the base plate installed, which means getting up way before my usual time.  I tried to get Miss Terry to take it over to them, and let me sleep in. But apparently there’s no app for that! 

Thought For The Day – My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely.

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In spite of some setbacks, such as overbooking vendor spaces, and not having a large enough building for all of the activities, we managed to make our 2010 Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally a success! At yesterday evening’s closing ceremonies, the audience let us know that they had a good time, and we really appreciated their support.

I’m a natural ham and thrive on the attention, but Miss Terry is never comfortable getting up on stage. During the opening and closing ceremonies at our rallies, she let’s me drag her up there, but she’d be much happier just doing what she shines at, working quietly behind the scenes, taking care of 1,001 duties to make sure the rally runs smoothly.

Last night when I had her on the stage, the audience gave her a standing ovation, and if anybody ever deserved one, it sure is Terry. Here is a rare picture of Terry up on stage, during our opening ceremony earlier in the week.

It’s late, and I still have a couple of hours of work to get done for tomorrow, so I’m going to share some pictures my buddy Paul Anderson took at the rally. Here I am enjoying a hug from my friend Marcia Jones. I sure do appreciate a pretty lady!

Our vendors all seemed to do well. Here are Bill and Janet Adams from Internet Anywhere, talking to Stu McNichol. Stu said Bill was able to solve a problem with his rooftop TV antenna when the techno-geeks at the network dropped the ball a couple of times.

Our vendors had all kinds of goodies for sale that no RVer can do without.

Here are our friends, Butch and Fonda Williams, who sell induction cookware, and make the most delicious almond toffee candy in the world!

Our rented tent was a busy place all during the rally, serving as a classroom, a place to socialize, and as a venue for our evening entertainment.

Our classrooms were filled with students for the many seminars we held.

Dennis Hill from the RV Driving School presented an excellent seminar on Testing Air Brakes.

For those looking for some adventure in their lives, the Beginning Kayaking seminar was popular.

This morning we’ll have coffee and donuts, sponsored by Mac McCoy, better known as Mac the Fire Guy. Then we have about 75 folks going out to tour the Heartland Recreational Vehicles factory, while others will be hitching up and heading off to their next adventures. Still others will be staying on here at Elkhart Campground through the Labor Day weekend, and quite a few will be here until the Escapees RV Club Escapade rally begins in a couple of weeks.

Terry and I will spend a couple of days wrapping up all of the paperwork from the rally, settling our bill with Elkhart Campground, and hopefully finding a few minutes to catch our breath.

But we won’t have a lot of time to relax, since we have to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania in less than a week to get settled in as vendors at the big Hershey RV Show.

Thought For The Day – Statistics show that at the age of seventy, there are five women to every man. Isn’t that a lousy time for a guy to get those odds?

Keep your raincoats buttoned up, you perverts! That’s not what I’m talking about!

Do you flash your headlights to let truckers and other RVs know it is safe to pull back into the lane ahead of you after they pass? I’m curious. If you do (and we all should), how many of them blink their marker lights or tap their brake lights to say thank you?

That used to be the norm, from the days I first started driving, but it seems to me that fewer and fewer truckers take the time to send this little thank you message these days. Why is that? Have the truckers changed, or has society in general changed that much, that not many people bother to acknowledge simple courtesies any more?

Or, are we part of the problem ourselves? Do we alienate a lot of truckers by our actions?

I’ve noticed lately that a lot of RVers don’t seem to understand basic etiquette. Things like pulling away from the fuel pump at a truck stop when done, so the next fellow in line can fill his tank. Over and over we see RVs blocking the fuel islands while the wife or husband goes inside to pay, and some trucker sits there waiting to get back on the road. I’ve seen more than one RVer fill his tank, then wash his windshield, and then go inside to pay, while the wife sits in her seat and never steps outside. That’s just wrong.

When we pull up to a fuel island, Terry goes inside to pay if they won’t take a credit card at the pump, and then while I am filling the tank, she cleans the windshield. As soon as the tank is full, she goes back inside to settle our bill and get a receipt, while I pull far enough forward to clear the pump with our motorhome and van.

We have spent many nights parked at truck stops, and when we do, we always park in the designated RV area, if they have one. If not, we get as far away and as far over to the side as we can, both to give the truckers room to park, and because it’s usually a little quieter.

Now that we have a motorhome with a much more powerful engine than our old bus conversion had, I will admit that I do gloat when I pass an eighteen wheeler on a long hill. But, I also watch my rear view mirror, and if I see another truck coming in the left lane, I’ll stay over and wait to pass slower traffic until he has gone on by. I can regain my momentum faster than a heavily loaded truck, and I don’t want to slow them down. These are working men and women!

On the road, whenever we see an eighteen wheeler coming up the onramp, we get over to the left or center lane if we can, so they can build up speed before they merge into traffic. I have noticed, however, that even when we do this to make their lives easier, not many truckers signal a thank you.

But that’s okay, I still do my thing. I just enjoy being a flasher.

Thought For The Day – Where do forest rangers go to “get away from it all?”

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When we started fulltiming, a veteran road warrior told me that you’re not a real RVer until you have accomplished most, if not all, of what he called RVing’s Top 10 experiences. We must be slow learners, because after eleven years on the road, we still have a couple to go. So are we real RVers yet?

1 – Boondocking: To truly experience the freedom that the RV lifestyle has to offer, at least once you should spend a few days or even a week or two boondocking, also called dry camping. I define boondocking as living without being hooked up to a water source or electrical outlet, living off my RV’s systems. The feeling of independence you get when you sever the campground umbilical cord is something you must experience to understand. Whether you prefer to camp for weeks on end on BLM land in the desert or just cross the country spending the night in the parking lots of RV friendly businesses like WalMart, boondocking can save you a lot of money, and once you get used to it, it is lots of fun!

2 - Quartzsite: If you spend any time at all around fulltime or snowbird RVers, before too long someone will ask you if you have been to Quartzsite yet. Located on Interstate 10 about 125 miles west of Phoenix, Quartzsite is a sleepy little Arizona desert town of a couple hundred people most of the year. But every January, thousands and thousands of RVers descend on Quartzsite to boondock on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in the surrounding desert, and to attend the big Quartzsite RV Show and the numerous flea markets, rock and gem shows, and other events held every winter. It’s big, it’s crowded, it’s dusty, and it’s fun! Some people love it and some attend once and seek quieter activities for future outings. If you have not been to Quartzsite yet, you owe it to yourself to experience it at least once.

3 – Rainbows End in Livingston, Texas: Rainbows End is the Mecca for serious RVers. National Headquarters of the Escapees RV Club, literally thousands of RVers “live” on Rainbow Drive in Livingston, the address of the Escapees Mail Service. Rainbows End includes a very nice RV park, the club’s National Headquarters, and CARE, the adult care center the Escapees created to provide assistance to retired RVers and those recuperating from illness or surgery. RVers come to Rainbows End to license their vehicles and become “legal” Texans, to tour the club’s mail forwarding service, to meet friends, and just hang out with like-minded folks.

4 – The Rally: RV rallies offer the opportunity for fun, fellowship, and education, and the biggest RV rally is the Affinity Group’s annual mega-event, known simply as The Rally. Thousands of people come to camp, shop the vendors, attend seminars, enjoy entertainment from top named performers, visit with old friends and make new ones. This year’s event will be in Louisville, Kentucky July 22 – 25.

5 – Escapade: Though not on the huge scale of The Rally, the annual Escapees Club Escapades are events no RVer should miss. You will meet lots of nice people, attend some excellent seminars, and enjoy the entertainment every evening. This year’s Escapade will be in Goshen, Indiana September 12- 17.

6 – Slab City: Located on an abandoned military base in Niland, California, Slab City is a popular gathering place every winter for RVers who come to boondock and enjoy what many call the last great bastion of freedom in America. Populated by serious RVers, snowbirds, eccentrics who live there year round, and an assortment of colorful characters, Slab City is another one of those places you either love or hate. Check it out once, and draw your own conclusions.

7 – Elkhart Indiana: Home to at least half of the RV manufacturers in the country, Elkhart, Indiana has a lot to offer RVers, from factory tours to RV surplus stores, displays of some of the earliest RVs at the RV Hall of Fame Museum, RV rallies, and lots of fun exploring the Amish countryside just east of town.

8 – Highway 101, Oregon Coast: This is surely one of the most spectacular drives in the United States, offering beautiful ocean vistas, charming fishing villages, beach combing, whale watching, lighthouses, and memories around every bend in the road.

9 – Padre Island: Every winter RVers come to Padre Island National Seashore, near Corpus Christie, Texas to dry camp at Padre Island National Seashore. A $10 annual permit is required, and water and a dump station are free. There is no time limit, and many RVers stay the entire season.

10 – The Alaska Highway: This is the ultimate RV destination for many. A trip up the Alaska Highway includes adventure, wonderful scenery, wildlife, history, and memories to last a lifetime. The road is not nearly as bad as some people would want you to believe, but the experiences you will have are more than anyone could ever describe.

Well, are you a real RVer? How many of these Top 10 can you lay claim to?

Thought For The Day – If God is willing to forgive us, why do we sometimes find it so hard to forgive ourselves?

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