Hindsight is always 20/20, and more than once in my life, I’ve found myself repeating that old saying “I sure wish I knew then what I know now.” Looking back over my life, from today’s perspective, I can see a lot of things I would change, if I had it to do over. 

For example, going back to my high school days, I wish I had spent more time paying attention in typing class, and less time staring at that pretty girl with the long blonde hair who sat across the aisle from me. I’ve forgotten who she was long ago, but as a writer, knowing how to type with more than two fingers would really come in handy. Somebody gave me a touch typing instructional CD a couple of years back, but the habit of a lifetime are hard to overcome.

Speaking of bad habits, anybody who saw the pictures of my daughter in the last two blogs knows that she is the one in our family with the willpower. Tiffany was able to break her unhealthy habits at a relatively young age, while mine are so ingrained that I will probably never lose that kind of weight.

More than once I have wished I had made a career out of the Army. I made rank fast, and I enjoyed military life. It would be nice to have that military retirement to fall back on at this point in my life, and as a fulltime RVer, I’d sure love to be able to take advantage of the Fam Camps on military bases across the country.

Of course, like every RVer, I have my “shoulda, coulda, wouldas,” as my friend Joe Kieva calls them. If I had it to do over again, I’d have done more homework before we started out, and bought a diesel pusher motorhome to begin with.

I would not have invested so much money in an expensive campground membership in our first month on the road. But back then, we had never heard of resale memberships and the bargains they offer.

One thing I would have invested in was an automatic rooftop satellite TV dish. After over ten years of fumbling around with a tripod mounted dish, it sure is nice to just push a button and sit on the couch waiting until the dish locks onto a signal.

I could go on and on – there are roads we should have traveled, and those we should have avoided. There are campgrounds where we should have stopped, and others where we should have just kept right on driving. And there are several dead end streets we never should have turned down! But we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

As a fulltime RVer, there is no doubt that the one thing I would do differently is to have started out years earlier. We were in our mid-40s when we hit the road, and we regret the years and adventures we missed, while we were stuck in our workaholic ruts. I’ve never heard a fulltimer say that they wish they had worked longer, or that they had not started out so soon.

Of course, Miss Terry always reminds me that who we are today is the result of all of the things we have experienced in the past, good or bad. And some of those missteps do lead to good stories to tell around the campfire.  Yes, you really can back up a motorhome with a tow car attached if the street is narrow enough and the neighborhood shady enough to prevent you from wasting time unhooking. You shouldn’t, but you can!

So what about you? What would you do over, if you had it to do again?

Thought For The Day – Sometimes life gives you a second chance.

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In yesterday’s blog, I reported that my daughter Tiffany had lost over 85 pounds. Miss Terry informed me that the actual figure is 100 pounds. I stand corrected! Wow, what an achievement! Tiffany lost a whole person!

Tiffany wanted me to thank everybody for their birthday greetings and kind words in yesterday’s blog comments. You all really made her feel special.

The last few days, I’ve been chained to my desk getting the new issue of the Gypsy Journal ready to take to the printer on Monday, but yesterday we took a break for a while to run into town and take Tiffany and her family to dinner to celebrate her special day.

The dining options here are rather limited; we have a few fast food joints, some mediocre medium priced restaurants, some mediocre higher priced restaurants, and a handful of good places to eat. One of our favorite restaurants here has always been El Rancho in Pinetop.  No trip back to our old hometown is complete without at least one dinner at El Rancho, so when I asked Tiffany where she wanted to go, that was her first choice, and I was only too happy to agree. As always, the service was great and everything we ordered was delicious.

When we went to dinner last night, Tiffany made me promise that I wouldn’t tell anybody at the restaurant that it was her birthday, because if they find out, they plop a big sombrero on your head, sing to you, take your picture, and bring you a dessert of fried ice cream. Her dad may be a ham, but Tiffany prefers to keep a low profile.

I was very good and never said a word, but then just about the time we were finishing our dinner, three year old Destiny told our waitress “It’s my Mommy’s birthday!” Here is Tiffany sporting her new headgear! Pretty stylish, huh?

When I reported in Saturday’s blog that we had opened registration for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally, I said that we had 80 50 amp full hookup RV sites available. It looks like that may have been an error. Bob Patel at Elkhart Campground informed me that a few (I don’t know exactly how many)  of those sites will be rented to other campers during the rally.

Considering the fact that we have taken reservations for 31 of those 50 amp full hookup sites in just six days, if you absolutely have to have one, I wouldn’t want to delay too long in registering.  We also have a lot of 30 amp full hookup sites available for the rally, as well as 50 and 30 amp water and electric sites, so we’ll be able to accommodate almost any need.

I have been searching for campgrounds near Vail, Colorado, without much success. Miss Terry’s son, Casey, is getting married in Vail in mid-July, and so far, the closest parking option we have found is the Elks lodge in Silverthorne, about 30 miles away, which has a couple of 20 amp electric outlets. If anybody has spent any time in that area, we’re open to suggestions.

Bad Nick has been pretty quiet the last few days, but he pushed me away from the computer long enough to post a new Bad Nick Blog titled Cotton For Brains. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.

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Today is a very special day. 28 years ago today, my daughter Tiffany was born, and my world has been a much brighter place since then.

Of course, being my daughter, Tiffany had to make her entrance into the world in a memorable way. I owned a weekly newspaper in Grays Harbor, Washington at the time, and Tiffany’s mom had been admitted to the hospital the night before, scheduled for a C-section.

Soon after Tiffany’s mom was wheeled into the operating room,  unbeknownst to me, my secretary was in a car accident and got banged up a little bit. She was in the emergency room, and asked one of the nurses to call me upstairs to let me know about the accident. When they paged me, I was told to go downstairs to the ER.  I did, and the charge nurse said “Okay, there’s nothing to worry about. She’s got some cuts and bruises, and we’re gong to take some x-rays, just to be sure.”

Now remember, the only person I knew was in the hospital was my wife and my soon to be born daughter, so I asked “What the hell did you people do, drop her off a gurney or something?” The nurse said no, it happened in the car accident. “Car accident? Did she go for a joy ride?” We eventually got things sorted out, and I got back upstairs just in time to hold my beautiful new little girl.

Today Tiffany is a mommy to two little girls herself, and has grown into a beautiful woman. I’m proud to say that she is not only my daughter, but also my friend.

Being a great wife and mother apparently wasn’t enough of an accomplishment for Tiffany, so a year ago she took on a new challenge, losing over 85 pounds! Here is a picture of Tiffany with husband Jim, oldest daughter Hailey, and little Destiny last year at Sea World, a few weeks before she started her diet and exercise program.

This picture was taken last November, and Tiffany is well on her way to her goal.

And here she is now. What an accomplishment! I sure wish I had her willpower.

Tiffany has been empowered by her weight loss, and is now back in school, working on a degree. Can you tell that I’m a very proud dad?

Happy birthday, Tiffany. I love you very much, and I am so very, very honored to have you as my daughter.

Thought For The Day – A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart.

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