I’m sure glad we moved into the Indoor Vendor area, because it was still raining when we went to bed last night! At least we are parked on the road. Almost everybody else here at Escapade is parked on grass, or what was grass before spinning tires churned it into mud. The local tow trucks are making a fortune pulling people out.

Of course, part of the problem is that people tend to panic when it gets wet. If they would just sit tight until things dry out (and the weatherman promises they will be drier by Friday when the rally ends), everybody would be better off. But people want to move early to avoid getting stuck, and in the process they create a giant mud hole and then everybody gets stuck!

The big majority of the people here are fulltimers, so it’s not like most of them have to rush off someplace. The rally ends on Friday. They could stay here in beautiful Sedalia and enjoy the town for a day or two and leave after the weekend and have no problems getting out.

Sedalia has a lot to offer, and we love the charming old downtown section, which looks like a time capsule from 50 years ago. If it were not for the modern automobiles parked on the streets, it would be easy to imagine that you had been transported back in time to a typical small town America Main Street.

I often mention the many vendors who help make up our extended family of RV gypsies, so I thought for this blog I would include a few pictures to put faces with the names.

This first couple needs no introduction to most RVers. While they are not vendors, they are icons in the fulltime RV world, Kay and Joe Peterson, founders of the Escapees RV Club.

And here is my good buddy Mac McCoy, from Fire and Life Safety, and a familiar name to blog readers. Mac and I go way back, and he’s been a good friend for many years.

This pretty lady is Carol Hill, co-owner of the RV Driving School, along with her husband Dennis. Carol loves dancing, and gives line dancing lessons at many RV events.

Next up is another familiar name to blog readers, my dear friend Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour, talking with Jim Beletti, head honcho of the Heartland Owners RV Club.

John and Lexa Comstock own Big Rig RV Accessories, and sell all kinds of top quality products to keep your RV looking good as new, when Lexa is not busy doing acrobatics and back flips from lawn chairs.

We just met Joe and Susan Briggs from Uniquely RV, vendors for neat portable solar lampposts for your favorite campsite.

Ken and Marilyn Murphy from Coil N Wrap have been vending at RV rallies for a long time and have a loyal following of customers.

Patsy Collins was holding down the SMI Braking Systems booth while husband Reggie was off gallivanting somewhere.

While not vendors, we have known and loved Sami and Earl Aeverman for years. They were so generous as to offer us the use of their lot in Aransas Pass, Texas for the five weeks we were there this past winter.

And last in the photo show, but always first in my heart is my own dear Miss Terry, pictured visiting with another longtime friend, Oz Oszman in our booth.

Thought For The Day – I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

Over the years whenever the subject of an online version of the Gypsy Journal came up, one comment I always made in favor of the printed version was that you can’t take your laptop computer to the bathroom with you.

Well as it turns out, I was wrong! Longtime reader Joyce Space sent me this picture of her reading the paper on her laptop computer while otherwise occupied. At first Joyce said it was not for publication, but then she decided what the heck, life is better when we can make people laugh. Well, you sure accomplished that mission, Joyce!

What would an RV rally be without rain? And this year’s Escapade is no exception. Yesterday it poured, and we finally gave up and closed our booth in the outdoor market area in mid-afternoon because everything was getting wet. And the weather report says the next couple of days will be more of the same. Usually we prefer an outside vendor booth over an inside one, but we always run the risk of bad weather. I guess this time we rolled the dice and lost.

Right now I’m thinking our pals Tim and Crystal Ryerson from Inflatable Boats 4 Less should blow up a couple of their inflatable kayaks and start providing a shuttle service between the vendor area and the RVs parked on the other side of the fairgrounds!

Still, we always enjoy having time to visit with our Escapee extended family. Sunday evening a bunch of us vendors sat around swapping lies and relaxing, and that alone was worth the trip to Missouri. Darryl Lawrence from Lawrence RV Accessories and I got into a bit of a contest to see who could tell the dumbest stories on ourselves, but finally I got a brain flash and decided that even if I won that debate, all I was really doing was proving I had out-dumbed Darryl. So I decided to concede the victory to him. I guess when it comes right down to it, that makes me the winner! Other longtime vendors here we have had the chance to visit with include John and Lexa Comstock from Big Rig Brushes, popular RV authors Mike and Teri Church, and Rick and Joyce Lang from RVSEF.

We’ve also had the opportunity to visit with other old friends and meet some new folks, including Joe and Susan Briggs from Uniquely RV, who sell a neat little portable solar lamppost to use at your campsite, and longtime reader George Foster, who owns the historic Grand Imperial Victorian Hotel in Silverton, Colorado. I need to cozy up to George so maybe he’ll put me up in the Presidential Suite the next time I get to Colorado. Wayne and Marti Aanurude from Monee, Illinois stopped by our booth, as have Hank Landry, George Welliver, traveling clown Dottie Hummel, and Tom Crittenden, to name just a few. There are lots more, but my poor old brain is so waterlogged I can’t remember everybody.

Hopefully the predicted rain will change direction and things will dry out, but as I write this it is pounding on the roof of our old bus and things don’t look too promising.

Thought For The Day – If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally