We had a busy day at home yesterday. Miss Terry was busy stuffing envelopes all day, and she put a huge dent in the job. I am always amazed at how fast she can whip through this Herculean task.

Because each envelope that goes out under Standard Rate mail is bar coded, getting even one out of sequence creates major difficulties (and delays) at the post office. Terry has her own method of getting the job done, and she will not allow me or anybody else to help her. We’ve had many people offer to pitch in and help get the job done faster in the past, and each time, all it has done is slow down the process. So I just stay out of the way and let her do her thing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

While Terry was hard at work, I was busy trying to teach myself how to use a computer page layout program called InDesign. For years I have been using an ancient version of another layout program called PageMaker to put the Gypsy Journal together, and it is so antiquated that it will not work with many other computer programs, or on computers running anything newer than Windows XP.

I bought InDesign a couple of years ago, and to be honest, it just intimidated the heck out of me. I don’t do well learning computer programs from a book, I need to do it hands on. Since PageMaker has become more and more problematic, my goal was to get familiar enough with the new InDesign program to use it. After a lot of online research, a couple of online videos, and a lot of experimentation, I think I am finally getting a pretty good handle on it now.   

It was a cold, windy, nasty day, and we even had snow flurries a couple of times! At one point, when I carried a couple of plastic mail bins filled with envelopes out to the van, the wind almost blew the heavy van door shut on me.  Wasn’t spring supposed to start on March 20? What ever happened to April showers bringing May flowers?

I hope my daughter knows how much I am sacrificing to be here visiting her. I have RVing friends who are in 75 and 80 degree weather right now, and I’d sure like to be there! Of course, every time one of my little granddaughters snuggles up with me and gives me a kiss on the cheek and says “I love you, Grandpa Nick,” it’s worth every frigid minute I spend here!

Okay, I have a new brainstorm. For years now I have been trying to get Miss Terry to compile some of her great recipes from her Miss Terry’s Kitchen column in the Gypsy Journal into a cookbook, to no avail. She is just convinced that nobody would buy it, even though many of you have told her you will. So how about if I could convince her to do a new Miss Terry’s Kitchen blog a couple of times a week? Who would be interested in it? Let her know by posting a comment here, or sending her an e-mail at travelinterry@gypsyjournal.net. I’m not saying it will happen, but who knows, anything’s possible.

Thought For The Day – If we aren’t supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?

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I spent most of yesterday setting up my new computer, loading all of the programs I use into it, and transferring projects I had been working on from my laptop to the new desktop unit.

Even though the laptop and the desktop are both Dell computers using Windows XP, there were still enough things that were different that it took me a while to get things set up optimally for my use. It’s nice to have a full size computer to work on again.

While I was doing all of that, Miss Terry was sorting through cabinets and cubbyholes, doing some Spring cleaning and deciding what to keep and what to pitch. Even after ten years on the road fulltime, we still find things we’ve been carrying for years and have not used.

Sometime in the evening I started sniveling about being famished (and trust me, when it comes to food, I can out-snivel the best of them!). So Terry made a delicious dinner of fried chicken with a crispy coating that just melted my the mouth. It was so good that I ate until it hurt, and I still wanted more.

A couple of days ago I wrote in a blog post that Terry and I were recognized with the honor of bringing in more new members to the Escapees RV Club than anyone else. In our mail this week, we had a note from Escapees Executive Director Angie Carr telling us that two more members have joined on our referral. We’re pretty proud of that.

As I’ve written before, our travel plans are always set in jello. This summer we had planned to explore the Pacific Northwest, but now we’re looking at another plan. We want to try to put some money away to either upgrade our bus or buy a newer rig, and by aggressively working some rallies, hopefully we can do that.

We think we’ll go to Escapade in Sedalia, Missouri in May instead, and then work several RV rallies in the Midwest and East this summer.

Of course, as you well know, anything can change at a moment’s notice. But right now we’re looking at the FMCA Midwest Area Rally in Albert Lea, Minnesota in June, the FMCA International Convention in Bowling Green, Ohio in July, and the FMCA Northeast Area Rally in Essex Junction, Vermont in August. I’m also scheduled to teach at the new RVSEF RV Lifestyle, Education, & Safety Clinic in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in mid-September. Then we’ll be in Celina, Ohio for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally September 28 to October 2. And who knows, we may find a rally or two along the way to pop into.

What was that I said about slowing down? I think that was just a campaign promise.

We have been talking about getting a vendor spot at The Rally, Affinity’s big event, which will be in Albuquerque in April. But between the cost of the booth and the fee for RV parking, we’re looking at an investment of over $1,000 for the rally. We’d have to sell an awful lot of subscriptions and books to make any money at that rate.

Thought For The Day - The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is to decide what you want.

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