I was awakened earlier than usual yesterday morning by a bird pecking on our bedroom window. Miss Terry shooed it away, but the dumb thing came right back, and was at it again. I was real tempted to get my BB gun and teach it a lesson, but I don’t do those kind of things any more, since Terry got me housebroken. So I just cussed the bird and all of his feathered friends, and got out of bed to start my day.

Terry and Jan White spent the morning with some “girl time,” shopping and having fun without having to deal with us guys sighing and impatiently looking at our wristwatches.

We love spending time with Greg and Jan, and we’ll be sorry to see them leave today. It’s been a fun visit. But then again, we always have fun with those two! Fun seems to be their middle names. Check out this picture of them from the Awkward Family Photos website. I just love the look on Jan’s face! At least Greg looks like he’s having a wonderful time. Be sure to read the comments left by readers about the picture, especially the “Priceless” one.

We’re jealous that Greg and Jan are going to be on the road today. We have enjoyed our time here in our old hometown with my daughter Tiffany and her family, but we sure are looking forward to seeing some sights. We had planned to leave tomorrow or Tuesday, but between the delays in getting the paper finished, and wanting to stay here a few days until some tests come back on a couple of family medical issues, we will be here a little while longer.

A while back I mentioned my pal Jaimie Hall Bruzenak and Alice Zyetz’s new e-book, Retire to an RV: The Road Map to Affordable Retirement Living. It’s a great guide for anyone contemplating the RV lifestyle. While the ladies were out yesterday morning, Greg uploaded a link to their new book, which you will find in the column on the right hand side of this blog page. Check it out and download your copy today. You’ll also find links to some of Jamie and Alice’s other books, including The Woman’s Guide to Solo RVing and Taking the Mystery out of RV Writing.

Today I’ll be working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, and I think I may be getting a handle on the new InDesign layout program. It’s still taking longer than I had expected, but hopefully I’ll start making better time, now that I have learned some of the program’s quirks.

Some readers have asked how I feel about my new iPad, now that I’ve had it a while. I can honestly say that as I have become more familiar with it, and all that it is capable of, I am even more impressed with the iPad than I was the day I got it.

Well, this has been fun, but it’s time to get back to work and try to knock out a few more pages.

Thought For The Day – If it weren’t for stress, I’d have no energy at all.

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After our long day trip to Yuma on Thursday, we didn’t feel much like going anywhere yesterday, so we spent the day doing administrative tasks. I think the only time either of us went outside was when I carried the trash down to the dumpster.

Now that I had a better idea of the size and layout of the buildings available at the Yuma fairgrounds for our rally, I was able to update and refine the seminar schedule. I posted the updated schedule to the bottom of our rally web page, but there are still some gaps that I need to fill in as other seminars are confirmed. This is still a tentative schedule, and there will no doubt be changes as we get closer to the rally dates.

While I was busy with that, Miss Terry was doing some paperwork, logging in rally reservations, and recording some receipts for expenditures we made recently. When people learn that we are fulltime RVers and that we make our living by writing about our travels, they say that it must be fun having a job that is a permanent vacation. Yes indeed, it is a lot of fun. But it’s not all touring interesting places and sightseeing. There are a lot of days just like yesterday, when we’re sitting at our desks working at mundane tasks. But I still wouldn’t trade it for any other job in the world!

It was just as well, because even though the storm clouds had moved on, yesterday was pretty chilly, and we weren’t too interested in being outside anyway. We hope it eventually warms up enough that we can do some geocaching, or maybe even get our kayaks into the water.

Yes, there is a lot of water in Arizona, from small lakes like Lake Patagonia and White Mountain Lake, scattered all around the state, to some huge impoundments like 22 mile long Roosevelt Lake, northeast of Phoenix; or Lake Mead, which stretches for over 110 miles along the Colorado River, in the northwestern corner of the state.

Lately I have been looking at digital camcorders. I don’t need anything professional, but I’d like to experiment with putting some small videos on the blog from time to time. I’ve owned a couple of older style camcorders years ago, but the technology has changed a lot since then. I’ve been doing a little bit of research, and realized that I have a lot to learn, with so many choices and options on the market these days. I’d appreciate feedback from any of you who have camcorders as to what features you like and don’t like about yours.

I have to brag just a bit. A few months ago I collaborated with Christine Pinheiro on a new book titled The Step By Step Guide to Self-Publishing for Profit. Actually, Christine did all of the work, I just gave her some input, and she was kind enough to share credit for the book with me. Our book has won the Allbooks Review Editor’s Choice Award for 2010 in the writing category. I’ve never had one of my books win an award before!

Bad Nick didn’t want to go outside yesterday either, so he stayed in too, and posted a new Bad Nick Blog titled They Should Have Aimed Higher. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

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After reading yesterday’s blog about working on the road, several readers e-mailed to ask me why I did not include freelance writing and blogging as a way for RVers to earn money.

My focus in yesterday’s blog was on jobs available to RVers other than traditional workamping in RV parks. Writing and blogging fall more into self-employment, and if there is enough interest I will post a blog on small businesses that can be run from the road.

But, to answer the questions I was asked about writing and blogging, it is another way to earn a few bucks, but freelance writing is far from steady work. I’ve sold a few magazine articles over the years, but most of my writing income has been generated through self-publishing.

While there are a very few folks who make big bucks blogging, and a few more of us who make a few hundred dollars a month with our blogging activities, most blog publishers are lucky to make enough to cover their internet bill every month, if that. If you can find a good blog topic, and if you can write consistently enough to post on a regular basis, over time you could make money at it. But it doesn’t happen overnight. For more on writing, blogging, and self-publishing, check out my Publishing 4 Profit website.

On the topic of writing consistently enough to come up with regular blog posts, sometimes it’s easy for me to come up with something to write about, but other times, when we’re stationary for a while, I don’t think you really want to read that we got up, had breakfast, visited with family, came home, cruised the internet, blah, blah, blah, day after day. That would fast become about as boring as somebody showing me pictures of their grandkids, or telling me about their cat. A little goes a long way. 

I’m curious as to what kind of blog posts you enjoy and want to see in this blog. Do you like those posts on our day to day activities? Posts about places we visit in our travels? Posts on the RV lifestyle in general? How about posts on earning money on the road, or volunteering? Tell me what you want to read about.

But please, don’t ask me for technical stuff, because that’s just not my area of expertise. There are a lot of excellent writers who cover the technical side of the RV world, including Mike Steffan, Mark Polk, Mark Nemeth, and Gary Bunzer, to name just a few. But if you took my advice about anything technical, you’d probably get into trouble really fast!

Of course, Bad Nick always seems to have something to write about. Check out his newest Bad Nick Blog, titled “Undocumented” = Illegal and leave a comment. 

Thought For The Day – Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

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Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of my personal heroes, Charlie Minshall. If you don’t know her, Sharlene “Charlie” Minshall is the author of half a dozen books telling the stories of her adventures over 20 years of solo fulltime RVing, including In Pursuit of a Dream, Freedom Unlimited, RVing Adventures with the Silver Gypsy, and the newly updated RVing Alaska and Canada, to name just a few.

Back when Terry and I were dreaming of escaping our hectic workaholic lifestyle and becoming fulltime RVers, we read all of Charlie’s books, and she helped convince us that we too could make it happen.

My first contact with Charlie was when I conceived the idea of the Gypsy Journal. Since the name of her self-publishing company is Gypsy Press, I wrote her to ask if she would have any objection to the name of our new publication, or if she felt there would be a conflict between the two names. Charlie wrote back and told us to go for it, and very graciously wished us well in our new business and in our new lifestyle.

We met Charlie a couple of months later when we went to our first Life on Wheels conference as brand new, wet behind the ears RVers. We sat through two of her seminars, and found her just as entertaining and delightful in person as in print. Over the years we had quite a few laughs together when we also became Life on Wheels instructors.

Whether she’s taking a jet boat ride up the Rogue River in Oregon, exploring the wonders of Alaska and Canada, or taking a “detour” over a cow path in the middle of Montana, Charlie always seems to find something interesting to get into, and somehow survives her adventures and misadventures.

When we visited Charlie at her lot at the Escapees North Ranch in Congress, Arizona a couple of years ago, Charlie told me that she had entered the “nesting” stage of her life, had bought a park model, and sold her motorhome. I wondered how well the Silver Gypsy would adapt to life in one place, and in yesterday’s e-mail she proved that the gypsy blood still flows through her veins. This year Charlie packed her little red Chevy Cavalier, bought a tent, and took off on a four month long journey that covered 11,623 miles! It doesn’t look like she’s letting any grass grow under her feet!

You can read Charlie’s Silver, Single, and Solo column on the RV Life website, or visit her own website, Full Time RVer. I bet you’ll enjoy getting to know Charlie as much as we have over the years.

Thought For The Day – Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know why I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.

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I spent most of yesterday working on a website for Carlyle Lehman at Focal Wood Products. Many people are surprised to learn that while the Amish people live a much simpler lifestyle than most of us, with their horses and buggies, they do in fact make use of many modern conveniences, including telephones, electricity, and even the internet.

Every Amish community has its own rules as to how much of the “English world” (as they call life among the non-Amish), they can incorporate into their homes and businesses. While the Amish don’t own or drive cars, they will hire someone to take them where they need to go if it is too far for their buggies, and crews of Amish workers at local factories car pool in vans driven by non-Amish co-workers.

If you drive past the Amish farms on some of the back roads here in northern Indiana, you will see small wooden structures at the end of the driveway at every third or fourth home. These are shared telephone booths, where they can make and receive calls relating to business. But these booths are not heated and do not have a seat, to prevent them from spending much time chatting. We often see newspaper advertisements for items for sale, with a telephone number and the notation “Call between 7:30 and 8 a.m.” Those are the hours when they will be monitoring the telephone to receive calls. For businesses such as Focal Wood Products, they have a voice mail system, so if we call when Carlyle is busy, we leave a message and he calls us back. It’s not quite as convenient as calling a traditional business, but it works for them.

In the case of his website, Carlyle received permission from his community to have one to advertise his products, but he cannot build or maintain it himself. That’s where I got involved, and it’s been an interesting experience working with someone whose culture is different in so many ways from our own.

I mentioned a while back that I have co-authored a new book on self-publishing, titled The Step-By-Step Guide to Self-Publishing for Profit. Last week I received my first copy of the book, hot off the press, and I’m very pleased with it. All of the credit goes to my co-author, Christy Pinheiro, who conceived the project and handled all of the production details. For more information, here is a link to the book’s website. Check it out; you too could be a published author!  

One of the things I suggest on my self-publishing website, Publishing4Profit, is producing small niche guides aimed at very targeted markets. Examples would be our Guide to Free Campgrounds and Overnight Parking Places, and our Guide to Casino Camping.

I don’t know if Dale Sumner from Mobile RV Medic, Inc. spent any time reading the website or coming to any of my seminars, but he recently published a very good guide, titled Basic RV Electricity and Protection, which is an excellent primer for anyone who owns an RV. Dale packs a lot of excellent information into the book, without getting buried in technical details that the average RVer could not understand. If you want to know what happens when you plug your RV’s electrical cord into a campground’s pedestal, and how to avoid overloading the circuit, and how to protect your rig from problems, this is an easy to understand guide that is well worth the money. You can order your copy at www.lulu.com/basicRVelectricity or e-mail Dale at sales@mobileRVmedic.com.

Of course, if you’re staying at an upscale RV resort such as Retama Village in Mission, Texas, you won’t have to worry about things like electrical problems. My friend Jack Mayer owns a couple of RV lots at Retama Village, and Jack and some of the other lot owners have set up a website, Retama Rentals, to market their lots when they are not staying on them. We paid a visit to friends at Retama last winter, and I can tell you it’s the nicest RV resort we have ever seen! So if you’re thinking about spending some time in the Valley this winter, check out Jack’s website.

While I was busy building a website this weekend, Bad Nick wrote a new post for the Bad Nick Blog titled We’re Going To Lose The War On Terror. Check it out, it will give you something to think about.

Thought For The Day – Anything in the future will always look better because there’s always something wrong in the present.

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