As I reported in a previous blog entry Caught In A Dust Storm, on Monday of last week we drove from Williams, Arizona to Juniper Ridge RV Resort  in Show Low, Arizona. On Interstate 40, between Meteor Crater and Winslow, we ran into the worst dust storm I had ever been in. Soon after we came through, the Highway Patrol closed the highway for several hours.

Yesterday, one week to the day later, another dust storm closed the same section of highway for several hours. Welcome to spring in northern Arizona. Fortunately for us, this time around we were safely nestled into Tim and Sue Daughtery’s site here at Juniper Ridge. The wind rocked our motorhome all day long, but since we stayed home and waded through a mound of paperwork, we just ignored it.

Driving a high profile vehicle in strong winds is not only nerve wracking, it can be downright dangerous. In my days running small town newspapers in this area, I covered quite a few stories of big motorhomes, and even eighteen wheelers, that were blown off the highway and ended up on their sides or upside down at the bottom of a ravine. 

When I reported in Saturday’s blog that we had opened registration for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally, we had 80 50 amp full hookup RV sites available at Elkhart Campground. As of last night, we have 50 left. We also have received reservations for several of the 30 amp full hookup, and the 30 amp water and electric sites. We now have a total of 45 registrations in.  That’s not bad for three days!

Membership in the Elks and Moose organizations opens up many overnight parking opportunities for RVers. In our travels, we have stayed at Elks and Moose lodges all over the country. Some just have a parking lot where you can dry camp overnight, while others have full hookup RV parks, with very reasonable rates. But membership in both organizations is about much more than just having a place to park overnight. Both do a tremendous amount of good work in their communities and on a national basis, especially for children and veterans.

I belong to the Gila Bend, Arizona Elks Lodge, and the Elkhart, Indiana Moose Lodge. I have sponsored quite a few new members for the Elkhart Moose Lodge,and if you would like to join, I’ll be happy to sponsor you while we’re at the rally. It’s a quick and easy process, and costs less than $100 to join, including your first year’s dues. If you are interested in joining at the rally, send me an e-mail at editor@gypsyjournal.net and I’ll be sure to have enrollment forms available for you.

Our RV travels have taken us to a lot of small town festivals all around the country, but one we missed was the Texas Sandfest, which was held in Port Aransas, Texas this past weekend. As longtime readers know, Terry and I love the Texas Gulf Coast, from Rockport to Port Aransas, and we’re sorry we missed this event.

But our friends Ron and Brenda Speidel were there, and they sent us several photos they took of some of the creations. Here are a few of my favorites. Isn’t it amazing what they can do with sand?

Now that I have conquered the paperwork that was covering my desk, it’s time to start putting together the next issue of the Gypsy Journal. Maybe, by the time I get it finished in a few days, the wind will have blown out of the area. But I’m not holding my breath.

Thought For The Day – Quarrels end, but words, once spoken, never die.

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We all knew it was coming. I warned you. Well, the day has finally come. Bad Nick has his own blog! It went live Tuesday at www.BadNickBlog.com and I officially disavow anything the little munchkin does from here on out. Miss Terry was worried that I might offend somebody, but I reminded her that it’s not me at the wheel of this new blog, it’s Bad Nick. And we all know how he can be.

I reminded her of the days when I published small town newspapers, when if I didn’t get a half dozen or more calls from irate readers when the new issue hit the streets, I didn’t feel like I had done my job well.

This new blog has absolutely nothing to do with the RV lifestyle. It’s just a soapbox for sounding off about topics that don’t fit in the RV blog. Some political commentary, some common sense, some observations on life in general, and a touch of nonsense now and then. Check it out and leave a comment and let Bad Nick know what you think. 

Okay, on to other things; Monday night we moved our Select Comfort airbed over to the new rig and spent our first night in our new to us Winnebago Ultimate Advantage motorhome. That sure was nice!

Because we have an open bedroom/bathroom floor plan, except for the water closet, the bedroom really feels roomy. A couple of issues came up – we noticed right away the difference in sound levels between our bus conversion and the Winnebago. We put so much insulation into the bus that it is very quiet inside. Elkhart Campground is less than a mile, as the crow flies, from the Indiana Toll Road, and in the Winnebago we noticed a lot more traffic noise.

The other thing is that the bed in the new rig is in the slide, and Terry’s side of the bed is to the rear, and is accessed by two carpeted steps that lead up to the cedar lined closet. In the middle of the night she got up to go to the bathroom, and coming back to bed she forgot about the steps and stubbed her toes when she walked into them. I don’t think she’ll do that too many times before she remembers!

As it turns out, the Carriage rally has been a total bust in terms of sales. Every day they load folks up in busses or form car pools and go off to tour something, leaving us vendors twiddling our thumbs and staring at each other across the vacant aisles. In my Highway History and Back Road Mastery seminar yesterday afternoon, I had a total of three people in the audience. That’s a long way from the 250 or more people I have presented it to at other venues!

There is no use in both of us sitting there being bored when so much needs done here, so Miss Terry is going to stay at the campground today and start moving some stuff over to the Winnebago and getting it arranged the way she wants it. I’m not sure which one of us comes out better on that deal.

Thought For The Day – You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

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