Terry and I broke the cycle of getting up early that we had recently fallen into, and slept in yesterday morning. Now that was nice! Somebody chastised me the other day because I said we like sleeping late, but you have to keep in mind that I do most of my serious writing after 9 p.m., and we seldom get to bed before 1 or 2 a.m. So we still only get seven or eight hours of sleep a night, like most people. It’s just the schedule that works for us.

We had a relaxing day, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get a lot accomplished. Terry tackled a backlog of paperwork that had begun to accumulate since we left Texas last week, did some chores inside the motorhome, and got some laundry out of the way. Meanwhile, I worked on the schedule for our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma, as well as answering a lot of e-mail, and doing some research online.

I always enjoy a good laugh, and if you do too, check out this link that a blog reader e-mailed me about the honey wagon. But set down your coffee cup first, I don’t want you giggling and spilling anything on yourself. I’m not McDonalds, and you won’t get anything if you burn yourself and sue me anyway.     http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/story?id=3515749

If you like good music, I know you’re going to enjoy the evening entertainment we have lined up for the rally. Michael Hargis will be presenting his excellent Rolling With The Flow concert, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Late in the afternoon we went to Terry’s mom and dad’s for a while, and then took them out to dinner. It was nice to have time with them, telling them about our most recent RV adventures, and listening to stories of their own time as fulltime RVers several years ago. On our way to the restaurant, we stopped by our motorhome so Terry’s dad could see the Winnebago. I think he was ready to take it on a road trip right then!

Today we have more of the same planned. I want to wash the motorhome, we have some orders to put together so we can mail them out Monday, and I just may take an afternoon nap, if the spirit moves me. Of course, we may scrap those plans and do something entirely different that comes up on the spur of the moment. Then again, there’s something to be said for just sitting outside and soaking up some of this Arizona sunshine, and feeling sorry for all of our friends who are stuck someplace cold right now.

Bad Nick has been kind of lazy lately, but yesterday he got off his rear and wrote a new Bad Nick Blog post titled Every Kid Should Go. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying “I will try again tomorrow.”

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I’m always amazed when I hear somebody say that they are bored. How can that be? I just don’t understand it. There is always something to do and something to learn. I never seem to have enough hours in a day to do all of the things I want to get done.

In addition to my regular writing and blogging duties, and researching things to write and blog about, I have a half dozen or more books in the writing process that I try to spend some time on every week.

Then there are the many hobbies and special interests that I try to find time for, from geocaching and kayaking, to reading, target shooting, genealogy, and surfing the internet.

While I have a Facebook account and try to post something on there fairly regularly, I have purposely avoided even looking at the many games and other fun stuff there, such as Farmtown. I just don’t have the time to even allow myself to get interested. At one time I got hooked on the computer simulation game Sim City, and had to give it up when I found myself spending way too many hours building my own little virtual worlds.    

Sometimes I find myself wasting time just watching something that catches my eye. I once sat on a beach in Washington State for over three hours just watching as some freak occurrence drove thousands of small fish into the surf line, where the birds swarmed in and dove down again and again, grabbing an easy dinner.

When I lived on the Northwest coast, I loved watching the storms roll in off the ocean, sending huge waves crashing onto the beach and jetty. After the storm would clear, I’d go for long walks, picking up odd pieces of driftwood and flotsam, and once even a round glass ball used as a fishing float.

Yesterday was a good example of just stumbling upon something interesting and finding a way to pass the time.

There are quite a few huge old oak trees here at the Mercer County Fairgrounds in Celina, Ohio, and yesterday afternoon a large limb on one of the trees cracked with a loud noise and sagged down onto an electric line, pulling a nearby power pole off center at an angle.

The County Public Works garage is here at the fairgrounds, and a crew of men and a boom truck quickly arrived to cut down the limb before it came down on some unsuspecting passerby or vehicle.

A project like this is pretty far removed from my usual day, so I sat down at a picnic table and watched as a worker climbed into the boom bucket, raised himself into the tree, and used a chain saw to cut away branches and smaller limbs until he could get to the broken limb.

As the close up photo shows, the offending limb was probably eighteen inches in diameter, and certainly weighed several hundred pounds, so the trimming job required a lot of caution. I sure was glad our motorhome wasn’t under it when that thing let go!

Thought For The Day – It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.

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Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person. Never have been, never will be. I used to do a lot of hunting and fishing, but I never subscribed to the theory that you have to roll out of bed at O-Dark-30 just to ambush a bunny rabbit or hook a trout. Those critters are still out there at noon.

I usually do bookwork and research during the day, start writing about 9 p.m., and work until 1 or 2 a.m. before I call it a day. So I seldom get into an upright position before 9 a.m. That’s just what works best for me.

But the last few days I have been up way too early. We had company over the weekend, and Miss Terry said I had to get up and be a good host. Then yesterday I had to have my van in a shop just after 8 a.m. to have some work done on it. And this morning we are taking the Winnebago to Carlyle Lehman at Focal Wood Products in Nappanee to have our custom desks/workstations installed. Carlyle is an excellent Amish craftsman, but those people sure do get up early in the morning! Did I mention that I’m not a morning person?

We’re slowly getting settled into the new motorhome, and once we get the new work stations installed today, we’ll start feeling more organized and at home. It is amazing that our bus was 40 feet long, just like the Winnebago, but the motorhome is six inches wider, and with the living room and bedroom slides, it seems so much bigger inside.

We’ll be here in Elkhart until about the 20^th, then we’ll head over to Celina, Ohio to start getting things set up for our Gypsy Gathering rally. We have had a lot of people offer to volunteer to help out at the rally, but one of the jobs we really need done is someone to come in early and canvass the local businesses soliciting door prizes. Last year the business community in Celina was very welcoming and receptive, but the folks who collected door prizes can’t make it this time around. Anyone feel like pounding the pavement?

I have to make a decision soon about my Today’s Hero Blog. When I came up with the idea, I hoped to be able to showcase the unsung heroes in our world who give of themselves to help others. It’s something I really believe in, but I have been receiving very few submissions in the last month or so, and without input from our readers, it can’t continue. If there is someone special in your life that you think deserves recognition for their good deeds, send me an e-mail and let’s share their story with the rest of the world.

Thought For The Day – It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

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Do you have any idea how early in the morning 7 o’clock comes around? Who the heck came up with that idea?

We’re night owls. I usually don’t start any serious writing until about 9 p.m. and usually get to bed between 1 and 2 a.m. But here at the FMCA rally we have to be in our vendor booth by 8 a.m., which has my body’s internal time clock all messed up. And since I still have to post my blog at midnight local time, by the time I get that done, shower, and get to bed, it makes for a short night’s sleep.

Sales the first day at the rally were mediocre, although that is not uncommon at a rally. Unfortunately we did have something happen that was a first for us, someone came by and shoplifted one of our books right from under our noses while we were talking to other customers. One minute it was there and the next it was gone. It’s not going to change our lifestyle or put us in the poorhouse, but it was darned aggravating. In ten years of fulltime RVing and vending at RV rallies, we have never had a theft before.

I know I’ve said it before, but some of the folks at FMCA events are total snobs. There is a certain elitist attitude that too many of them have that really rubs me the wrong way. One clown came by and wanted to tell us all of the things we are doing wrong and why he would never read a “cheap” publication that wasn’t printed on slick paper with full color photographs. He wouldn’t take a sample copy, didn’t want to buy anything, he just wanted expound on his vast knowledge, while interrupting us as we tried to talk to other customers. A lot of others won’t even say hello or acknowledge you as they pass by. They could sure take a lesson or two from the Escapees when it comes to attitude. I had to jerk hard on Bad Nick’s leash and threaten to put him back in his cage a time or two.

I keep telling Miss Terry that I’m going to start a brand new blog called the Bad Nick Blog where he can climb up on his soapbox and spout off about whatever moves him. What do you think? Should I let him have access to a keyboard?

Several former students of ours from Life on Wheels (LOW) stopped by to say hello, and to tell us how much the things they learned at LOW have made their RVing easier. It’s sad that LOW is gone, but the opportunity to learn is still available at the new RVSEF educational clinic in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania September 13-16. Click the link above to learn more about this great new program. We’ll be teaching there, and I hope we see you there too.

Thought For The Day – Have you ever noticed that the people who tell you to calm down are usually the ones that got you mad in the first place?

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