I was awakened earlier than usual yesterday morning by a bird pecking on our bedroom window. Miss Terry shooed it away, but the dumb thing came right back, and was at it again. I was real tempted to get my BB gun and teach it a lesson, but I don’t do those kind of things any more, since Terry got me housebroken. So I just cussed the bird and all of his feathered friends, and got out of bed to start my day.

Terry and Jan White spent the morning with some “girl time,” shopping and having fun without having to deal with us guys sighing and impatiently looking at our wristwatches.

We love spending time with Greg and Jan, and we’ll be sorry to see them leave today. It’s been a fun visit. But then again, we always have fun with those two! Fun seems to be their middle names. Check out this picture of them from the Awkward Family Photos website. I just love the look on Jan’s face! At least Greg looks like he’s having a wonderful time. Be sure to read the comments left by readers about the picture, especially the “Priceless” one.

We’re jealous that Greg and Jan are going to be on the road today. We have enjoyed our time here in our old hometown with my daughter Tiffany and her family, but we sure are looking forward to seeing some sights. We had planned to leave tomorrow or Tuesday, but between the delays in getting the paper finished, and wanting to stay here a few days until some tests come back on a couple of family medical issues, we will be here a little while longer.

A while back I mentioned my pal Jaimie Hall Bruzenak and Alice Zyetz’s new e-book, Retire to an RV: The Road Map to Affordable Retirement Living. It’s a great guide for anyone contemplating the RV lifestyle. While the ladies were out yesterday morning, Greg uploaded a link to their new book, which you will find in the column on the right hand side of this blog page. Check it out and download your copy today. You’ll also find links to some of Jamie and Alice’s other books, including The Woman’s Guide to Solo RVing and Taking the Mystery out of RV Writing.

Today I’ll be working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, and I think I may be getting a handle on the new InDesign layout program. It’s still taking longer than I had expected, but hopefully I’ll start making better time, now that I have learned some of the program’s quirks.

Some readers have asked how I feel about my new iPad, now that I’ve had it a while. I can honestly say that as I have become more familiar with it, and all that it is capable of, I am even more impressed with the iPad than I was the day I got it.

Well, this has been fun, but it’s time to get back to work and try to knock out a few more pages.

Thought For The Day – If it weren’t for stress, I’d have no energy at all.

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We have been hearing all winter that with all of the RV factories closing down and taking their support businesses with them, Elkhart, Indiana has turned into a virtual ghost town. If you would believe the national news media (and who doesn’t take everything they say as gospel?), Elkhart’s streets are lined with empty storefronts and closed up shops.

Judging by what we have seen since we’ve been here, the news of Elkhart’s death has been greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase the great orator Mark Twain.

While we were out running some errands yesterday, we drove many of the streets we are familiar with, and we saw two storefronts that have closed since we were here last year. One was a truck and van accessory shop, in a building where we have seen small many businesses come and go over the years, and the other was a showroom that last had a small independent RV dealership as a tenant.

Meanwhile, we saw two or three new businesses that have opened since we left last September, and the established businesses we drove past all had busy parking lots. Elkhart Campground seems just as busy as always, and owner Bob Patel told me that they have not seen a dramatic downturn. So if you are coming through the area, stop in and stay a while. Elkhart is alive and well.  

Yesterday Terry was still not feeling much better, so we went to the MedPoint Express care center at one of the Martins Supermarkets here in Elkhart. The MedPoint Express centers have a nurse practioner on duty for non-emergency medical issues such as colds, flu, and such. After examining Terry, the nurse practioneer told her she has a serious ear and upper respiratory infection along with the flu, and prescribed amoxicillin for the ear infection and a cough suppressant. We were impressed to learn that the pharmacy at Martins does not charge for antibiotics if a customer has one of their free customer courtesy cards. 

As proof that paybacks will get you every time, it seems like the cold I had at Escapade and gave to Terry has come full circle and nailed me again. I spent most of yesterday coughing and sucking on Ricola throat lozenges.

Back at the bus, I gave a telephone interview to a very nice young woman from Pineapple Publications. She is writing a book on self-publishing on a budget and will be using some articles I have on my Publishing4Profit website. We covered everything from blogging to why I concentrate on writing and self-publishing non-fiction instead of fiction.

Actually, I wrote a couple of mystery novels back in the late 1970s that were published. By the time I wrote and re-wrote them to meet the publisher’s demands, and my agent got her slice, I made almost half of what I would have if I had put the same time into working behind the counter at a fast food restaurant.

I’ve got a couple of other mysteries sitting on my computer’s hard drive that I wrote a few years back, just for fun, but they’ll probably never see the light of day. Unless you get very, very lucky, you’re not going to become the next Stephen King or John Grisham, and I know I’m darned sure never going to be that lucky. I’ll stick with being a hack and doing what I do best.

Thought For The Day – Old age is when former classmates are so gray and wrinkled and bald they don’t recognize you.

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