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.

We really like Forest City, Iowa. It’s a charming little town that draws its lifeblood from the Winnebago factory, and just as folks in southern Texas love the Winter Texans who flock there every year, folks here love the “Bagos” who come to town every year for the Grand National rally. Everybody we have met in the stores and restaurants have been very friendly and gone out of their way to welcome us to their community.

We are also very impressed with the Winnebago Customer Service facility. When I spoke to someone here last week to talk about the work we wanted to get done, she urged us to get to Forest City as soon as possible, to get our name on the list for some work we needed done, since they get swamped when the rally ends.

When we arrived Thursday, we got signed up, hoping to get a service slot by Tuesday. We were amazed to be told we were on the stand-by list for yesterday morning, and sure enough, they took us in at 11:30, and by the time their day ended at 3 p.m., they had already completed several things on our list. The service techs carefully explained everything they had done, and what still needed to be completed. Compared to our experiences years ago with the morons at the Fleetwood factory in Riverside, California, it’s a difference between night and day.

We are parked for the weekend in the Service Center camping area, with 30 amp electric, until Monday morning, when they want to start on the rest of our work… at 6 a.m.! Who in the world gets up at 6 a.m.? I told the techs I hoped they worked quietly, because I never roll out of bed before 9 or 10!

While I am impressed with Forest City and the folks at Winnebago, I’m not very thrilled with the very slow 1X National Access internet service  we’re getting from our Verizon air card. Getting online is very slow, if we can get on at all, and then staying online is a crapshoot at best. During the day I can take my iPad inside the Customer Service lounge and use their WiFi to answer e-mail (except for the weekend, when they are closed), but posting the blog is terribly slow, and I get knocked offline about three out of four times.

So if you don’t see the blog every morning for the next few days, we didn’t get abducted by a UFO, or eaten by a rogue rooster. Please, please, don’t send me forwarded jokes and other stuff while we’re here. It’s just too hard to access e-mail. If you do e-mail me about anything else, I may not be as fast in replying as normal.

My pal Butch Williams noticed a mistake in the schedule I posted for our upcoming Gypsy Gathering rally, in which I have seminars scheduled for  Wednesday, September 1; Thursday, September 1; and Friday, September 1. Butch asked me how many times we are having September 1st this year, and I wrote back to tell him three that I know of so far. That’s the last time I buy a calendar at the dollar store! I’d change those typos, if only I could get online!

I also have added a new seminar to our rally schedule, on Beginning Kayaking, as well as a panel discussion on RVing Alaska. I think both will be well received. And don’t forget that the good folks from RVSEF will be at the rally weighing RVs, and that the RV Driving School will be offering behind the wheel driving lessons in your own RV. These are two things you should plan on scheduling as soon as possible, to be sure of getting a weighing time slot, and a driving lesson before or after the rally. To schedule your weighing time, call Rick Lang at (207) 522-3336. For a driving lesson, call Dennis Hill at the RV Driving School at (530) 878-0111.

Thought For The Day – Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

I’m sorry yesterday’s blog was so short, but I was just too punch drunk from two days of parking RVs and putting out fires to function. I’m just as tired tonight, but at least we got back to our motorhome a little earlier (9 p.m.) and I can think straight.

Besides being an expert instructor, my friend Dennis Hill from the RV Driving School really knows how to handle a camera, and he has been busy taking photos here at the rally, and was gracious enough to allow me to use some of them in the blog, so you call can see all the fun you’re missing if you’re not here.

You all know about Good Nick and Bad Nick, but here is a picture of Tired Nick taken Monday night, after operating on adrenalin, nervous energy, and only about six hours sleep in two days. Miss Terry was just as exhausted, but she’s never too tired to laugh. How did a guy who looks like me ever get such a beautiful, intelligent  lady to even give him a second glance? It’s one of the great mysteries of life. 

Here is a shot of the crowd gathering for our official welcoming Monday night, which kicks off the rally. For most of my life, I have had such stage fright that the idea of getting up in front of even a dozen people and speaking terrified me and made me physically ill, but now I’m perfectly comfortable on stage talking to crowds like this, numbering in the hundreds.

After Terry and I welcomed everybody, Sharon and Don Del Rosario came up on stage so Sharon could tell everybody about the small afghans, called lapghans, that she crochets for a wonderful organization called Soldiers’ Angels, that passes them on to wounded veterans. Sharon urged all of the knitters and crocheters in the crowd to consider making a few projects for our troops.

Then a fine young man from the Yuma Marine Air Station, Lance Corporal Benson, spoke to the crowd about the mission of the air station and its role in training combat pilots for overseas deployment.

It did this old veterans’ heart proud to see everybody on their feet, applauding and giving Lance Corporal Benson such respect for all he and the rest of our men and women in the military do for us. I know I wasn’t the only vet there with a lump in his throat, and a tear in his eye.

Once all of the welcoming and introduction duties were handled, I was only too happy to relinquish the stage to David Bradley, who put on a wonderful 90 minute concert that had the entire crowd clapping and singing along to the music.

Yesterday was packed with seminars, and the feedback we are getting on them is very positive. I was told that the geocaching seminar had over 60 people in the audience, and I know we have some new converts to the hobby!

I did a seminar on Gypsy Journal FAQs to answer some of the questions that people always have about the paper and why we do things the way we do, and then sat in on Joe Kieva’s excellent Personal Security Tips For RVers seminar. If you couldn’t make it to the rally, you can order their book by the same title, in either paperback or online as an e-book.

I don’t worry about security here at the rally, because I have Art Fennell to keep an eye on things. With this big guy covering my back, I can sleep tight tonight. Of course, having 5,000 U.S. Marines right across the street helps too!

Our vendors all seemed to be doing good business as people shopped for everything from satellite TV systems to tire pressure monitors, jewelry, and RV insurance. If you need it, it’s probably for sale in our vendor area.

I’ll be doing two new seminars today, Cemetery Stories, and Blogging For RVers. I also hope to find time to sit in on a few seminars myself. Joe and Vicki Kieva are doing a seminar on RVing Alaska, and Judy Bayless is doing her popular The RVing Genealogist, and I hope to take in both.

Before I close, I want to mention again how much I appreciate all of our volunteers, who do so much to help make these rallies a success. And, a very special thank you goes out to Miss Terry, who shoulders so much of the burden in everything we do. While I get to be up on stage goofing off and telling my little stories, she’s the one behind the scenes who makes sure the donuts get ordered every morning, the coffee gets made, the day pass visitors are handled, and a 1,001 other details that I can’t even begin to list. Without her, there wouldn’t be a Gypsy Gathering rally, or a Gypsy Journal at all. They say that behind every great man is a great woman, and I’ll tell you what, behind this very mediocre man is one hell of a lady! I love you, baby.

Thought For The Day – Don’t let your fears stand in the way of your dreams

I spent most of yesterday updating our Gypsy Journal website and working on details for our upcoming Gypsy Gathering rally March 8-12 in Yuma, Arizona. As of now, we already have about 100 RVs registered, and at past rallies, most of the registrations come in during the last three weeks. So I think we’re going to have a big crowd.

I posted a preliminary rally schedule on our website to give you an idea of some of the seminars we have planned. Please scroll down to the bottom half of the page to view the schedule. This is a preliminary schedule only, and there will be some changes as more seminars and activities are added.

New for this rally will be seminars on oil painting, wine tasting, and Joe and Vicki Kieva’s excellent Personal Security Tips For RVers seminar, just to name a few. Byron Hibshan will also be on hand to tell you how you can get a non-resident concealed weapons permit from Utah, and we’ll have not one, but two seminars on RVing Alaska. We’ll also have seminars on boondocking, choosing a home base for fulltimers, and Mac McCoy’s excellent RV Fire Safety class.  

While the rally dates are March 8-12, Early Birds can arrive on Sunday, March 7 for an extra $15 fee. There is a Good Sam rally going on at the fairgrounds before our rally, and they will be leaving by noon on Sunday. Our people cannot be parked before noon. There is a large parking lot outside the fairgrounds, on 32^nd Street, and RVs can park there until the Good Sam group departs and we can start bringing our people in.

As always, we have had many requests from people wanting to be parked next to friends at the rally. While we cannot absolutely guarantee it, we will try our best to park everybody together who wants to do so. To help us make that happen, please arrive together, or be prepared to park off to the side until the rest of your group arrives. We will have 200 RVs or more to get in and parked in a very short time, and the logistics can be very difficult. Please try to arrive at the fairgrounds with empty waste and gray water tanks, and full fresh water, if possible.

They do not have full hookups at the fairgrounds, but the fairgrounds manager has told me that everybody will have electric, and there are water bibs and a dump station on the grounds.

I am a firm believer in both people in an RV being able to drive it, if only in case of an emergency. Dennis and Carol Hill from the RV Driving School will be at the rally, and Dennis will be presenting two seminars. They have two instructors in Yuma during the season. Dennis said they can give lessons before or after the rally, and they have four different RV parks in the Foothills area of Yuma that they suggest to students. You can contact Dennis at rvschool@wizwire.com for details on driving classes in your own RV.

Another important service we will have at the really is RV weighing by Rick and Joyce Lang from the Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF). An overloaded RV can cost you money in the form of increased breakdowns, premature tire wear and failure, and can be downright dangerous. If you want to have your RV weighed, please click the appropriate link and complete either the Truck and Trailer Worksheet or the Motorhome Worksheet before the rally so you can give them to Rick and Joyce and they can get you on their weighing schedule. For more information on getting your RV weighed, you can call Rick at (207) 522-3336.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on. We hope we’ll be seeing you in Yuma!

Thought For The Day – If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Yesterday we made a day trip of 90 miles to Victoria, Texas to pick up the January-February issue of the Gypsy Journal from our printer. Victoria is a bustling city of 86,000, and is popular with RV snowbirds who don’t want to go as far as the Rio Grande Valley. The city is big enough to have everything you could want, from big box retail stores to excellent medical services, and rates at the RV parks are affordable.

When we left Alabama for Texas, we were not sure where we would be staying, but we knew we’d be in Victoria to pick up the new issue, so I had our mail forwarding service send our mail there, care of General Delivery. But I made a newbie mistake and didn’t check first to see if they had more than one post office location. Sure enough, they have two.

Fortunately, all it took was one phone call to learn that all General Delivery mail in Victoria goes to the downtown post office on Main Street. In large cities with many post office locations, only one location accepts General Delivery, and one can spend a lot of time running back and forth trying to track down their mail.

With that chore out of the way, we picked up the new issue of the paper, and then stopped to do some banking.

Gypsy Journal subscribers Richard and Patsy King live in Victoria, and had invited us to stop by when we were in town. Richard and Patsy have been to our three Arizona Gypsy Gathering rallies, and are a fun couple we have enjoyed getting to know. We had a nice time visiting with them, talking about our respective adventures on the road, and comparing travel tips.

Speaking of RV rallies, at our Ohio rally in September, well known RV authors and speakers Joe and Vicki Kieva honored us by coming and presenting their last seminars before officially retiring from the speaking circuit. After a distinguished career as the premier RV seminar presenters in the nation, Joe and Vicki had decided it was time to really retire and just enjoy their RV travels, without having a speaking schedule to keep. We have known Joe and Vicki ever since we got on the road, and were honored to work with them at Life on Wheels.

Well, to quote those television infomercials, “But wait, there’s more!” Yesterday I got an e-mail from Joe, saying that they wanted to come to our Arizona rally and give a couple of their seminars! How cool is that? They will be presenting their excellent RVing Alaska seminar, as well as their Personal Security Tips For RVers. After our burglary earlier this month, that’s one seminar I don’t want to miss!  

The next couple of days will be a whirlwind of envelope stuffing to get the new issue in the mail. As soon as that’s done, we’ll head for Arizona, maybe stopping to pick up a couple of stories for future issues of the paper along the way.

Thought For The Day – Falling in love is easy, but staying in love is something very special.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally