The wind has not let up a bit here in northern Arizona, and as predicted, a cold front has moved in and dropped the temperatures quite a bit. The sky is very gray, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it starts snowing!

I talked to my buddy Mac McCoy from Fire and Life Safety yesterday. Mac is in Goshen, Indiana running around in shorts, and I’m freezing my butt off here in Arizona. Life is not fair!

Since it’s been too nasty to go anywhere, Terry and I have been getting a lot done at home. Most of yesterday was spent working on our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, which will be held August 30 to September 3 at Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana.

I have started putting together the seminar schedule, and early indications are that we’ll have an excellent lineup once again. Mac McCoy will be presenting his RV Fire Safety seminar, the folks from Recreational Vehicle Safety and Education Foundation will be doing seminars on RV Weight Safety and RV Tire Safety, the Geeks on Tour have a great selection of computer seminars, I’ll be doing my two new seminars, Cemetery Stories and 100 Miles From Here. Orv Hazelton will present a seminar on Understanding RV Continued Service Plans, and there will also be seminars on bloggng, RV insurance, accessing the internet on the road, RV history, digital photos, RV maintenance, and lots more.

We already have several great vendors signed up, including AGS (recruiting RVers to sell advertising on campground maps) , Lawrence RV Accessories (Tire Traker tire pressure monitoring systems and Progressive Industries electrical management systems), Techno RV (computer accessories), Tastefully Simple (gourmet food mixes), Coyote Sales (Wilson antennas, cell phone accessories and PressurePro tire monitoring systems, Uniquely RV (solar lights), Good Sam Extended Warranty Service, Fire and Life Safety (fire extinguishers and fire alarms), Flags Galore & More (flags and flagpoles), Too Crazy Ladies (custom name tags), M&B Enterprises (diesel engine filters and supplies), Passport America (discount campground memberships), Geeks on Tour (computer education DVDs), MOR/ryde (suspension systems) and Precise Satellite and RV Electric (MotoSat dishes), to name just a few, and we have more vendors signing up every week.

RV sites are going fast for the rally. We only have 27 of our 50 amp full hookup sites left,  and we have 12 of the 30 amp full hookup sites available, and 23 of the 30 amp water & electric sites.  We also have quite a few sites available with 20 amp electric and water. To reserve your site, visit our Rally Registration Page. We’re looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends at the rally, and making some new friends too!

Thought For The Day – Earth First! We’ll strip mine the other planets later.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally! 

After days of feeling terrible, I think we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (and we’re hoping that it’s not an oncoming train). I haven’t asked Miss Terry to please shoot me and put me out of my misery in almost 24 hours, so that’s a sign of improvement. We appreciate everybody’s e-mails wishing us well and for a speedy recovery.

Yesterday we felt good enough that we went out to mail off some orders that had come in, and stopped at WalMart to pick up a few things. While Terry was doing her shopping, I walked across the parking lot to a Verizon store to look at a Blackberry Storm, since I’m due for a free phone upgrade. Once again I was reminded that there are a lot of people out there who are just dumber than a rock.

A woman was complaining that she and her husband’s cell phones were not working, and after checking her account, the young man behind the counter explained to her that the phones had been disconnected because their bill had not been paid. She replied, “That’s impossible, my sister’s phone still works!”

The clerk checked her account again and told her that the only phones on the account were the two used by her and her husband, and her sister’s phone was not on their account, which was why it was not disconnected.

“Bulls&%#,” the woman replied, “We live with her. How can two phones in the house not work and hers still does? That’s just not fair!”

Finally the woman gave up and let her husband have a shot at solving the problem. And I’ll be darned if he didn’t ask the same questions, and also insisted that it was impossible for two cell phones to be disconnected, and yet another phone owned by someone at the same address worked!

I had to leave about then, because Bad Nick was just aching to make a comment or two, and Miss Terry says I have to keep him on a leash when I’m out in public. The thing that scared me was, these two idiots were young enough to procreate! Folks, we really need to thin the herd.

If you are a veteran and are coming to our Gypsy Gathering rally in Celina, Ohio, we are going to have an excellent seminar on the Veterans Affairs medical care system, presented by Nancy Hazelton, who was my primary care provider with the V.A. before retiring and taking up the gypsy lifestyle.

Ben Miller from Coyote Sales is also planning to come to the rally and present a seminar on accessing the internet with cell phones and air cards, and he and wife Gay will be vending Wilson antennas, amplifiers, and other accessories to make getting online easier. If you haven’t registered for the rally yet, you can click the link below to do so. We look forward to seeing you there!

Thought For The Day – If what we are doing is not good for all of us, it is not good for any of us.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally