After reading in the blog about the frustrations I was having trying to do research at the Family History Library, Roger Marble sent me some website links to articles on getting the most out of a visit to the Family History Library. I spent a couple of hours Sunday reading those articles, and then getting my notes better organized. It really made a difference.

Yesterday I went back to the library for a couple of hours, and I think I may be getting the hang of how things are laid out there. I found a lot of very good information, including the dates and newspapers that several family members’ obituaries were in, as well as their last addresses before they died. I also found some information on my older brother, who was murdered back in 1968. It was quite a breakthrough, and I feel like I accomplished a lot. I want to go back again today for a while, since our visit here in Salt Lake City is almost over. I definitely plan to come back here again!

Roger presented a couple of seminars on genealogy at our rally in Celina, Ohio last year, and the response was so good that he will be doing them again at our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally in Elkhart, Indiana August 30 – September 3.

Blog reader Ray Warner and his wife Cindy live in Riverton, Utah, a little south of Salt Lake City, and when he read that we were going to be in the area, Ray invited us to dinner. Never one to pass up the chance to make a new friend, or a free meal, I was happy to take Ray up on his offer.

We met at the Chuck-A-Rama buffet, where Terry and I had dinner Friday evening, and it was just as good this time around, too. Ray and Cindy are a very nice couple, who have a fifth wheel, and are looking forward to doing some extended traveling once Cindy retires in a couple of years.

We always enjoy talking with folks about the RV lifestyle, and sharing what we have learned in our time on the road. Cindy had questions about things like how do we get our mail on the road, and what happens if you have a major illness or accident when far away from home. We explained to them about mail forwarding services, and medical evacuation services such as Sky Med and MASA.

I also stressed to both Cindy and Ray how important I feel it is for both of them to know how to handle all of the dumping chores, how hook up and unhook their rig, and how to drive the RV, even if one is the primary driver and the other seldom gets behind the wheel. We have seen too many situations where a husband gets sick or injured, and the wife has no idea of how to get someplace safe until the situation is resolved. We have also known couples where the wife does most of the driving, and the husband would be really challenged if he had to take the wheel.

Some husbands (or wives) can teach their spouses how to drive an RV, but for many couples, it just doesn’t work. If you fall into that category, or if you are a new RVer, male or female, I have good news for you.

Dennis Hill from the RV Driving School will be presenting driving seminars at our Elkhart rally, as well as giving private lessons behind the wheel of the students’ rigs. I really hope folks take advantage of this opportunity to get lessons from the pros. The small fee for the class is worth every penny. It will make you a better, safer, and more confidant RVer. And if you do take the class, you’ll probably qualify for a discount on your insurance too!

Bad Nick is back on his soapbox, and he has a brand new Bad Nick Blog titled Talk About Cajones that may just open your eyes to how much money we are giving to criminals every month. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Money can’t buy happiness, but it can sure make misery much more comfortable.

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In a lengthy e-mail I received yesterday, a couple wanted to share their great desire to escape the rut they are living in and experience the joys of fulltime RV travel, but they also admitted that they have some serious misgivings, and asked a lot of “what if” questions.

What if our RV breaks down someplace where we don’t know a good mechanic? What if one of us gets sick? What if one of our parents gets sick or dies while we’re hundreds of miles away?

I know that to these folks all of their concerns are unique, but in truth, every fulltime RVer has asked themselves all of the same what if questions. In fact, when we were teaching at Life on Wheels, I developed an entire seminar called The Reluctant RVer to address these questions and others that wannabe fulltimers ask.

Some common concerns that new fulltimers face include separation from family and friends; serious illness or death on the road; accidents or mechanical breakdowns; leaving our comfort zone and stepping into the unknown; losing our financial cushion; adapting to the RV lifestyle; and never being able to afford another home.

Yes, people do get sick on the road, RVs do break down in strange towns, and unfortunately, sometimes family members get sick and even die when we’re not there with them. Life happens. We have faced each and every one of these problems at one time or another. We got through them, and trust me, you can too. We cannot spend our lives worrying about what if, or we’ll never get anywhere.

What happens if we break down in a strange town? That’s why we have our Coach-Net road service. They will send out a qualified repair person or a tow truck capable of getting us to a garage that can fix whatever is wrong and get us back on the road. That’s also why we created our RV Good Guys guide to honest and dependable RV repair shops coast to coast. Nobody can purchase an ad in the guide, the only way a repair shop gets listed is if we have had personal experience with them, or someone we know and trust recommends them. You can order this guide from our RV Bookstore.

What happens if we get sick while traveling? Any RV park manager should be able to point you toward the nearest hospital or walk in clinic in their area. In our case, when Terry was diagnosed with cancer nine years ago, having wheels under our house allowed us to be where she could get the best treatment, and to return for follow-up examinations as needed. Companies like Sky Med will also fly you and your spouse or partner home, or to wherever you designate, and then provide a professional driver to transport your RV to a designated place.

A few years ago we were in Ohio when Terry’s father was diagnosed with cancer. Again, because we have wheels under our house, we were free to travel back to Arizona to be with her family during her father’s treatment and recovery.

Everything in life has a certain amount of risk associated with it, whether we are driving to the grocery store, having a Sunday picnic with the family, or watching a baseball game. I don’t know what calamities may befall you as you enjoy the fulltime RV lifestyle, but you can rest assured that sooner or later something will go wrong. Just as it would if you stayed in your sticks and bricks house.    

But I’d much rather deal with whatever problems fate sends my direction while I’m living my dream instead of being back in my old workaholic lifestyle.

I’ll always remember that when her doctors first told us that Terry had Stage Four cancer, and the outcome looked grim, she said “No matter what happens, at least we had eighteen months to live our dream.”

A lot of people never get the chance to follow their dreams. Don’t let the fear of “what if” keep you from making yours come true.

Thought For The Day – Growing old is inevitable. Growing up is optional.

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For whatever reason, once we were parked at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds Tuesday after driving to Albuquerque from Show Low, Arizona, I just could not get to sleep. I tossed and turned all night long, and I think I managed about two or three hours of sleep at the most.

Since we arrived at the fairgrounds after normal parking hours and dry camped in the parking lot, we had to be up early yesterday morning, because the fellow in charge of the parking crew had said he’d be at our rig bright and early to get us moved into our assigned space.

So I rolled out of bed a little after 7:30 a.m., which is long before my normal time, and then you have to consider that our bodies are still on Arizona time, which is an hour later. Needles to say, I was kind of fuzzy headed most of the day yesterday. Yes, even more so than usual!

This place is filling up fast as people arrive for the Affinity rally, and we have run into several people we know, including Tim and Crystal Ryerson, from Inflatable Boats 4 Less, as well as Tim and Sue Daugherty from Sky Med, and Chris and Charles Yust, who represent Good Sam’s Roadside Assistance plan. All of these folks have been vendors at our Gypsy Gathering rallies, as well as Gary and Cheryl Green, who are also parked nearby. Cheryl is a representative for Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies. It was fun visiting with everybody, and just to make the party merrier, Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour arrived and are parked right behind us! We’re all just one big happy family out here on the road.

We have made so many wonderful friendships among the RVing community, and if it is possible, even closer relationships among some of the vendors we see at rallies all over the country.

Another vendor couple we have been close with for years is also here, Jack and Doreen Ingle, from AON Recreational Insurance, which has just undergone a name change and is now called PoliSeek Recreational Insurance. We met Jack and Doreen at our very first RV rally, an Escapade in Lancaster, California, during our first few weeks on the road, and we’ve been pals ever since. Like I said, one big happy family.

Since we’ve been at an RV site with just electric power for the last couple of weeks, with no water or sewer connection, our laundry had piled up. Miss Terry said it was time to either go shopping for a new wardrobe, or wash the ones we have now. So after we were parked in our designated site, we checked out the vending area, and then found a nearby laundromat. Terry much prefers to use the apartment size washer and dryer we have in our bus instead of going out to do this chore, but sometimes that doesn’t work out. We were lucky and found a very clean laundromat where all of the washers and dryers worked, which isn’t always the case.

Back at the fairgrounds, several of us got together for dinner at a Chinese buffet somebody had located, and when we returned from dinner, Jim and Chris Guld came over so Jim could resolve some issues Terry was having with her computer. I don’t know what we ever did without our mobile computer geek buddies! Chris has helped me with getting my two blogs up and running, and whenever I have a hardware issue, I call Jim. If you have not been to one of their seminars yet, be sure you do at your next RV rally. They really know their stuff, and make learning complex things easy and fun.

By the time Jim had things taken care of on Terry’s computer, it was 10:30 p.m. and we were both tired. But we still had to make the bed, and I had to get this blog and the Todays Hero Blog posts ready to go. I’ll tell you what, the bed sure looked nice by the time we were finally ready to turn in!

Thought For The Day – If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor!

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