Laughing, Learning, And Loving

The title of this blog is what a Gypsy Gathering rally is all about. We do a lot of laughing and having fun, we learn more about the RV lifestyle, and we love being with our huge extended family of nomads.

I really started the day off with some laughter, and it wasn’t intended at all. Just as I was starting my new Cemetery Stories seminar, the little remote control I use to advance the PowerPoint slideshow stopped working. I checked the switch to be sure it was on, pushed the forward and back buttons a time or two, and said to the audience “Please bear with me, my little thingie isn’t working this morning for some reason.”

Now, I don’t have a dirty mind, but apparently everybody else in the room did, because it erupted in laughter! About then I realized what I had said, and they tell me my face turned about six shades of red. But the show still has to go on, so I grabbed my Blackberry and called Barbara Westerfield, who handles our technical equipment. I was holding the phone up to my ear with my left hand, and I had the microphone I use for my seminars in my right hand. When Barbara answered, I dropped my left hand away from my ear, put the microphone to my mouth and said “Barbara, I need you to come to my seminar room and fix my computer.” That brought another round of laughter from the crowd, because Barbara couldn’t hear me two buildings away over the microphone.

When I began developing our rallies, I wanted them to be a combination of fun and fellowship, mixed with some pretty serious educational seminars. Sort of a hybrid between a regular RV rally and Life on Wheels, and I think we have accomplished that. We had an excellent lineup of seminars here, including many by our vendors. Mac McCoy, who was also a Life on Wheels instructor, has been to every one of our rallies, presenting his excellent fire safety seminar.

Chris Yust, from Good Sam insurance, did a great seminar on the Pros & Cons Of RV Extended Warranties, and several attendees told me they learned a lot in her seminar yesterday.

 Daryl Lawrence, from Lawrence RV Accessories, is an expert on RV electrical systems, and he has has educated a lot of RVers on how their electrical systems are designed and how to get the most out of them. If you combine all of the knowledge and experience of our vendors and instructors, I don’t thnk there is any aspect of RVing and the RV lifestyle that they don’t know about. 

Socializing is always an important part of any RV rally, and everywhere you looked on the fairgrounds this week, there were small groups of friends old and new visiting, swapping lies, and planning their next RV adventures.

Yesterday Kellie Gunn had a birthday, and there was quite a party  for her. I’ve never had 300 people sing Happy Birthday to me, but Kellie sure seemed to enjoy it!

Of course, any time you put a bunch of RVers together, food is always going to be a priority, and last night’s pizza party was no exception. RVers were at their tables with hungry appetites, Miss Terry’s crew of dedicated servers were lined up and ready, Domino’s delivered two truckloads of piping hot pizza,  and we all stuffed ourselves.

I have no idea how she does it, but Miss Terry is able to organize things so well that her crew served hundreds of people in less than ten minutes! Did I ever tell you how much my wife amazes me?  

After everybody had finished eating, country singer Michael Hargis took to the stage for a fantastic concert that had everybody applauding. RV rallies are hard work, whether you’re the one organizing them, one of the volunteers who help make it all happen, or an attendee who is on the go every minute attending seminars, shopping the vendors, and meeting up with old friends. But even though everybody was tired by the end of the day, Michael’s show was so good that he had a lot of couples up and dancing. Thanks for the great show, Michael!

Today is the last full day of the rally, and we still have a lot of great seminars left to offer, and a lot of fun too! If you couldn’t make it to this rally, I hope we see you at one of our events soon.

Thought For The Day – Celebrate something today. Anything!