Life Is Never Dull

After reading yesterday’s blog, longtime reader Gene Teggatz suggested that maybe I need to consider having a sign made that says “Visitors Welcome Today” and a second sign that says “Visitors Not Welcome Today,” or perhaps a more diplomatic one saying “Please let me get some work done today.” Really, we don’t mind visitors dropping in, we’re pretty spontaneous and love to visit with folks most of the time.

Of course, there are those occasional few who would abuse even Saint Peter’s hospitality, and there has been a time or two, after somebody sat here for hours droning on and on, where I wished I had a sign that just said “Go Away!” But that doesn’t happen very often.

Yesterday morning started with an interesting e-mail seeking advice from a couple who will become fulltime RVers very soon. I get a lot of e-mails like this, and I’m always happy to offer whatever insight I can. But I had to demur on this one.

They plan to leave Chadron, Nebraska September 15^th, and head directly for Livingston, Texas to become official Texans. From there they want to go to New Orleans to see the French Quarter, and then on to Florida, where they hope to bounce around for the winter. They included an itinerary by date of where they hope to be and wanted me to tell them which RV parks to stay at for every stop, where were the best places to eat, what to see and do, and where to buy fuel along their route between now and next April.

I wrote back to tell them that while we have done a lot of traveling in our ten years as fulltime RVers, we haven’t been everywhere yet, so there was no way I could plan their entire lives for eight months! Heck, I most of the time I don’t even know where I’ll be next week myself!

By the time I finished with that e-mail, Dan and Karen Silverwood were at our door for a visit before they pulled out of Elkhart Campground headed for Ohio. They left about noon, and I decided to walk over to the campground office to see if any mail had arrived for us yet. There was a package from our mail service, along with a package for Ron and Brenda Speidel that they had asked me to watch out for, so I took it to keep at the bus until they arrive next week sometime.

On my way back to our bus conversion, I saw John and Alice Clark, the visitors whose names I could not remember in yesterday’s blog. They were very gracious about my social faux pas, and John even gave me a tour of their absolutely beautiful Newmar Ventana motorhome. I was so impressed with the coach that I went right back to the bus and brought Miss Terry back to see it for herself. Wow, what a rig!

Back at our bus, while Terry was doing bookwork, I worked on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal for a few hours, and then waded through a bunch of e-mails that had come in. No, I don’t want to meet hot college coeds; yes, we still have vendor openings for our Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally; no, I don’t want to send my banking information to that nice man in Nigeria who wants to deposit $10 million in my bank account; yes, we’re still looking for a motorhome, but not a two year old Prevost, thank you very much; no, I don’t want to meet any bored and lonely housewives; yes, the price of the vendor spaces at the Ohio rally includes all camping and rally fees; no, I already have a good watch and I’m not interested in quality replica timepieces; no, I don’t want to correspond with beautiful Russian girls seeking permanent relationships; no, I… well, you get the idea.

About 5:30 we walked down to the site where Bill Joyce and Diane Melde are parked in their nice Dutch Star motorhome and piled into the backseat of their car to go and meet our friends Terry and Dale Pace for dinner at their favorite restaurant here in Elkhart, a place called Heinnie’s Back Barn. This was out first time there, and we were impressed. The food was excellent, our waitress was a lot of fun, and we had a good time chatting over dinner.

Back at Elkhart Campground, someone pointed out this neat old homemade camper trailer, and though the light was fading fast, I managed to get a couple of photographs. That bright glow you see at the front of the rig is my camera’s flash reflecting off the red and white safety tape the owner applied to the trailer’s tongue.

We got back to the bus just as darkness fell, and I still had a few hours to work before bedtime. I wrote the blog, edited the Todays Hero Blog offering for today, and handled even more e-mails while Terry filled a bunch of orders that had come in the new mail delivery. Our life is never dull. 

Thought For The Day – Save the planet, have fewer kids.

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