We have less than a week left in Apache Junction, and we have barely scratched the surface of all of the things we wanted to get done while we were here. Where does the time go? There are several people we have not gotten around to see, we wanted to empty and rearrange our motorhome’s storage bays, and I still need to replace our house batteries and the RV’s tires.

Terry was busy all day yesterday stuffing the new issue of the Gypsy Journal into envelopes to get mailed out, and she managed to make a huge dent in the job. I am always amazed at how fast she gets this monumental task done every time. She still has a lot to get stuffed, but she’s getting it done fast.

While Terry was doing her thing yesterday, I got the new digital edition uploaded and sent the link to our digital subscribers. I also mailed out several dozen rally information letters to folks who don’t have e-mail addresses and depend on snail mail.

I have a continuing problem with some folks who use e-mail filters to protect them from spam. I certainly see the need for such filters, and I don’t blame folks for wanting to keep their inboxes from being filled up with unwanted junk e-mail. Most folks who use a filter require anyone not on their approved list to fill out a quick form and usually you have to type in a set of letters and numbers to prove that you are a real person and not a spam belching computer robot. Usually, once you do this any future e-mails are accepted automatically. I can live with that.

But I have about three dozen folks who either subscribe to the digital edition or have registered for the rally who apparently have their programs set up so all e-mails have to be approved, because I have had to go through this process every time I try to send them a link to a new issue, rally information, or whatever. One fellow told me that only his children are on his approved list, everybody else has to jump through the hoops every time they e-mail him. He said it’s no big deal, it only takes a minute or two. That true, but multiply that by 36 or so people, and I lose a lot of time trying to get the information they want to them. It gets frustrating.

Meanwhile, we had ordered new slide toppers for our Winnebago motorhome, and the guy arrived yesterday morning to install them. He removed the topper fabric from the bedroom slide, and then realized his supplier had sent him the wrong size. He made a couple of phone calls and hopes to have a replacement in by today or tomorrow.

I made him measure the new cover for the large living room slide before he removed the old one. That one was okay, and he got it installed pretty quickly, with me holding up one end while he slid it into the channels that hold it in place.

The old toppers were in pretty sad shape, with several small holes and tears. A young man who does work here in the park came by to ask if he could have the old toppers to use as drop cloths when painting, and I was happy to give them to him, just so I didn’t have to lug them down to the dumpster.

We had to disappoint some folks yesterday morning, who called and wanted to come by for a visit, but we have so much to get done it just wasn’t possible. We hope they’ll understand and give us a rain check.

Thought For The Day – First things first, but not necessarily in that order.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

I got an e-mail the other day from a person who markets a well known product to the RV industry. He was unhappy with the comments I wrote about one of his products that he sent me to evaluate. He called what I had to say a “hatchet job.” While I wouldn’t go that far, I did say that I didn’t feel that his latest offering measured up. I’m sorry, but I don’t write puff pieces. I tell it like I see it, good, bad, or indifferent.

Of course, we also have the people who don’t even send a product to evaluate, they just send us a glowing pre-written review, and then expect us to publish it. I always tell these people that if they have enough confidence in their product to send a sample, I’ll try it, but that only gets them my honest opinion about it. If they just send a press release, I just send them back an advertising rate card.

I also upset an RV dealer who wanted to bring some rigs to the fairgrounds in Yuma to display at our rally. He insisted that these display RVs would be parked where we intend to put our outdoor vendors, so that everybody would have to walk past them, and his salesmen, to go from the indoor to the outdoor vendor area. I told him that wouldn’t work, and that I was not going to do that to our outdoor vendors (or our attendees), but I would let him park the RVs in a convenient and visible area.

The fairgrounds charges us for every RV on the grounds during the rally, in addition to the rental of the facility itself, and I gave him a price per rig that would cover our cost. He was amazed that I would consider asking him to pay. In fact, he expected us to pay him, because he felt that just having his units there would be a feather in our cap. 

A couple of years ago, we had a dealer who wanted to display RVs at our rally in Casa Grande, but he demanded that we supply him with the snail mail addresses, e-mail, and telephone numbers of all rally attendees for his marketing purposes.

Over the years, we have been approached many times by companies wanting to buy our mailing list, and we always tell them no. We never give out our subscribers’ or rally attendees’ personal information. We’re fulltime RVers too, and we don’t like junk mail, spam, or unsolicited telephone calls.

No, I can’t please everybody, but at least I can look at myself in the mirror when I brush my teeth every morning.

It’s time for us to order rally T-shirts, and we’re trying to get an idea of how many we’re going to need. Regular sizes are $15 per shirt, and 2X and larger sizes are $2 more per shirt. We don’t need payment at this time, but if you want a shirt, please e-mail me at editor@gypsyjournal.net and tell me the sizes, and how many you want.

We’ll send the new issue of the paper off to our printer tomorrow, and then we’ll turn our attention to Terry’s dad’s 80^th birthday party until Monday, when we’ll start stuffing envelopes to get them all in the mail. 

Thought For The Day – The engineer knows the glass isn’t half full or half empty: it’s twice as large as it should be for optimum utilization of resources! 

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

More bad news for the RV industry. Yesterday it was announced that Monaco Coach Corporation had given termination notices to the remaining members of their workforce. Most of those employees had been on furlough since Mid-December, 2008.

In an article on www.cnnmoney.com, the company says it is still hopeful of some way to resolve their financial issues. But when you consider that their stock opened at 46 cents a share yesterday and closed at 6 cents by the end of the day, it doesn’t look good.

You may recall a blog I wrote on February 5 on my predictions for the RV industry, in which I said that the companies that ignore their customers’ needs would go by the wayside.

I said in that blog that Monaco was a company I could not recommend to new RVers, based upon the problems owners of their coaches have shared with me over the years.

You have to figure that when people are sticking things like this on their coaches, they’re pretty ticked off!

With so many companies closing up, and even more in trouble, you have to wonder who’s next.

But there is also good news on the horizon. A while back I reported that Walter Cannon from Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) is holding an RV Lifestyle, Safety and Education Clinic at the Wildwood Conference Center at Harrisburg Area Community College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania September 13 – 16, 2009.

For people who wanted to attend Life on Wheels, which closed recently following the death of its founder, Gaylord Maxwell, this is a great opportunity to attend an excellent lineup of classes on all aspects of the RV lifestyle. Walter has asked me to present several of my seminars at this new event, and I know that some of the other Life on Wheels instructors will be there too. We’re looking forward to seeing a lot of you there. Contact RVSEF at the link above for an e-mail announcement about the new program.

When our latest mail delivery caught up with us, a couple of people who ordered books or subscriptions asked that we not share their mailing addresses with anyone else. Never worry about that. As fulltimers RVers, we know what an expense and hassle junk mail is. We respect your privacy, and we never sell or share our mailing list with anyone.

It ticks me off enough getting spam in my e-mail. Having to pay to get junk mail forwarded to me, or paying a mail service extra to sort my mail and throw it away, really makes me mad.

We did business with a commercial mail house called Lake Michigan Mailers in Grand Rapids, Michigan one time last year, ever since then, I have been getting solicitations from them, as well as a ton of e-mail. I have asked them repeatedly not to send me their junk mail, and they just ignore me. How quick do you think I’ll be to ever spend another nickel with this outfit?

One reason we don’t belong to the Good Sam Club is the mountain of junk mail they bury their members in. Within a week of joining, ten years ago, we started getting junk mail from them. I requested that they take me off their junk mail list, and was ignored. Finally I wrote a nasty piece about them in the Gypsy Journal and sent a copy to the president of the club. Miraculously we were off the mailing list! But we never renewed our membership because I don’t like an outfit that ignores my needs so they can try to sell me something.

I learned a long time ago that when any company or organization mistreats me, voting with my pocketbook is the best response.

Thought For The Day - We have to learn to be our own best friends, because we fall too easily into the trap of being our worst enemies.