Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person. Never have been, never will be. I used to do a lot of hunting and fishing, but I never subscribed to the theory that you have to roll out of bed at O-Dark-30 just to ambush a bunny rabbit or hook a trout. Those critters are still out there at noon.

I usually do bookwork and research during the day, start writing about 9 p.m., and work until 1 or 2 a.m. before I call it a day. So I seldom get into an upright position before 9 a.m. That’s just what works best for me.

But the last few days I have been up way too early. We had company over the weekend, and Miss Terry said I had to get up and be a good host. Then yesterday I had to have my van in a shop just after 8 a.m. to have some work done on it. And this morning we are taking the Winnebago to Carlyle Lehman at Focal Wood Products in Nappanee to have our custom desks/workstations installed. Carlyle is an excellent Amish craftsman, but those people sure do get up early in the morning! Did I mention that I’m not a morning person?

We’re slowly getting settled into the new motorhome, and once we get the new work stations installed today, we’ll start feeling more organized and at home. It is amazing that our bus was 40 feet long, just like the Winnebago, but the motorhome is six inches wider, and with the living room and bedroom slides, it seems so much bigger inside.

We’ll be here in Elkhart until about the 20^th, then we’ll head over to Celina, Ohio to start getting things set up for our Gypsy Gathering rally. We have had a lot of people offer to volunteer to help out at the rally, but one of the jobs we really need done is someone to come in early and canvass the local businesses soliciting door prizes. Last year the business community in Celina was very welcoming and receptive, but the folks who collected door prizes can’t make it this time around. Anyone feel like pounding the pavement?

I have to make a decision soon about my Today’s Hero Blog. When I came up with the idea, I hoped to be able to showcase the unsung heroes in our world who give of themselves to help others. It’s something I really believe in, but I have been receiving very few submissions in the last month or so, and without input from our readers, it can’t continue. If there is someone special in your life that you think deserves recognition for their good deeds, send me an e-mail and let’s share their story with the rest of the world.

Thought For The Day – It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

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In a blog post titled Am I a Full-timer? I think so… on the RV.Net Blog, Tony Cornett, known as Firedude to his many followers, writes about going to visit family in his old hometown over Easter, and realizing he is indeed a fulltime RVer, not just a weekend warrior.

Some of the clues were subtle, such as wandering through his brother’s home and being amazed at how much “stuff” they have, or that his brother has more stuff crammed into his garage than Tony has in his entire RV.

Other clues were more obvious and we’ve experienced them ourselves when visiting family and friends. Have you ever tried to flush the toilet in somebody’s house with your foot? If you have, you might be a fulltimer! Been there, done that. How about staying at a friend’s house, and turning the water off in the shower while you lather up? My friend Terry Simpson says that when he returns to his home in Mitchell, Indiana after a winter on the road in his bus conversion, he does the same thing.

Tony’s column hit home with me because we are currently visiting our old hometown of Show Low, Arizona. We’ve enjoyed visiting with my daughter and her family, and our friends here, but I’m amazed at how much space they take up and how much stuff they have to fill that space. My daughter and son-in-law live in a rather small two bedroom apartment, which gets cramped with two little girls growing up fast in it, but their place seems huge to us.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and he said he envied the fact that we have escaped the rat race. He knew us back in the days when we worked 60, 70 or more hours a week. He had just returned from a visit to his wife’s family, down in the Phoenix area, and said it was sad how her kids and grandkids were fixated on having the newest electronic gadgets, or the latest and greatest hybrid yuppie-mobile. Terry and I don’t need much more in life than each other, a gentle tailwind when we’re going down the highway, and a level, quiet place to park for the night.

Unlike Tony, we have not driven by our old house while we’ve been in town. The place holds no special significance for us. It was just a place to eat and sleep in between our workaholic days. When we left, we put that part of our lives behind us.

But we’ve felt at home all over this country, whether we’re parked in a nice campground on the Texas Gulf Coast, boondocking under a starry desert sky, or grabbing a few hours’ sleep in a highway rest area or Wally World parking lot. We could never go back to our old lives.

In yesterday’s blog I mentioned the fishing opportunities here in Arizona’s White Mountains. While trout, bass, and walleye are the big three for anglers who fish our local waters, one often overlooked species are catfish. But there are some real lunkers waiting for the lucky fisherman (or fisherwoman) who knows how to hook them.

Here is one my son-in-law, Jim, caught yesterday evening at Fool Hollow Lake here in Show Low. The 150 acre lake is part of Fool Hollow Recreation Area, an Arizona State Park that includes 92 RV sites, many with full hookups, as well as 31 primitive sites. Fool Hollow got its name when an early settler began to farm the land now covered by the lake’s waters, and his neighbors joked that “Only a fool would plow that hollow.”

The lake is also popular with bird watchers, who come to spot a wide range of species, including Mallard and Canada geese, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, American Egret, White-faced Ibis, Stellar’s Jay, Lesser Goldfinch, Blue Birds, Acorn Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, and Red-shafted Flicker. Raptors commonly seen are Bald Eagles in the winter, Osprey in the summer, American Kestrel, Northern Harrier and Goshawk. It’s one of our favorite places to stay when visiting our old hometown.

Thought For The Day – Cleaning your house while the kids are still living at home is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.

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