After driving 460 miles Tuesday, from Elkhart to Muskegon, Michigan, on to Traverse City to visit my cousin in the hospital there, and then back to Muskegon, we had just enough energy left to grab a bite to eat and watch a little TV, before crashing in Rocky and Berni Frees’ spare bedroom.
Yesterday morning, we left Muskegon a little after 10 a.m., headed back to Elkhart. We stopped for lunch in Holland, Michigan, famous for its tulips and genuine windmill from that other Holland, across the pond. I noticed that our waitress wasn’t wearing wooden shoes, and felt a little cheated. 🙁
It sure was good to pull into Elkhart Campground and see our Winnebago waiting for us! We are as comfortable with Berni and Rocky as we are with anyone in the world, and feel right at home in their apartment, but it is still their home, and I prefer my home! 🙂
We stopped at the office, and the Strongback Chairs that Ladd Lougee, the owner of Strongback, sent us for door prizes for our upcoming Gypsy Journal rallies had been delivered. We’ll be giving one chair away at our Ohio Rally next month, and another at our Arizona rally in March. Thanks for your generosity, Ladd!
We unloaded our bags, and Miss Terry got things put away, while I tackled a huge backlog of e-mail. How do you get the message across to people that you really don’t want them to forward you every conspiracy theory, political expose’, and message that is guaranteed to give you a warm fuzzy feeling that crosses their desk? After asking them not so send me forwards several times, I have blocked several people from my e-mail completely, and still the flow never stops.I don’t mean to sound snippy, but it gets old.
I had the same e-mail from SIX different people yesterday about a cynical old man’s encounter with a little girl with a balloon, who gave him a message of love that changed his whole life. I have seen it at least three times before. And there were two forwards about Ed Freeman, the 1st Cavalry helicopter pilot who won the Medal of Honor in Vietnam. I served in the Cav a few years after Major Freeman, and he was a legend even then. I think I have received the same forward about his heroism at the Ia Drang Valley at least 20 times. I also got the usual collection of forwards claiming that President Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton want my guns; that “new” evidence proves Obama is a Muslim, faked his birth certificate, and that I can run my car on pure water, but that the Big Oil companies won’t allow the technology to be released, on and on, ad nauseum.
Of course, there were a few from hot college girls and bored housewives who want my flabby body, and two different people who are the comptrollers of fortunes in Africa want to send me millions of dollars. Personally, I think I have a better chance with those coeds and horny housewives than I do of ever seeing a penny of the money.
In total, I had 139 e-mails, and exactly 37 actually were valid messages from readers and friends, or had to do with business matters. The other 102 were forwards and junk. Folks, you can write to compliment me, complain about something I did, to suggest places to visit, or even to tell me that I’m full of crap. But please, STOP sending me all of the junk forwards! (Well, except for the dirty jokes, those are okay! 🙂 )
Sometime around 5 p.m., our pals Greg and Jan White pulled into the RV site next to us, in their American Eagle motorhome, and it sure was good to see them! It’s been about two months since we parted company, out in Bremerton, Washington. They came over to say hello, and Jan was carrying a big container of her delicious homemade Crescent Wedding cookies, which she knows are my favorites, and a tuna macaroni salad for Terry. Thanks Jan!
Once they were hooked up, we all piled into the Explorer and drove to El Maguey, our favorite local Mexican restaurant. Greg and Jan will be here helping us handle a lot of last minute preparations for our Eastern Gypsy Journal Rally, and they’ll go to Celina with us a week or so before the rally starts, to collect door prizes and help with a hundred and one other chores that need done. I’m sure glad they work for a smile and a Thank You, because we could never afford to pay these two for all they do for us!
Thought For The Day – I live in my own little world, but it’s okay, because everyone knows me here.
Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!
Click Here To Register For The Geeks On Tour Computer Boot Camp Before Our Ohio Rally
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Nick – We got a set of the Strongback chairs. Small for the wife and a large for me. An other couple also has a set, same deal a large and a small (which we tried and liked so bought ours).
Mine broke the third time that it got sat in, when we got them, showing another friend, and then by the bonfire. Cec then contacted Strongback and we were given the choice of money back or replacement. Well, they are very comfortable chairs, replacement. It showed up the other day (Monday) and we will ‘test’ it out again this next 2 weeks. Of course, this whole ‘episode’ brought up the “if you lost 70 pounds, this would not happens …..”
Point of this is that they took care of the broken chair, no questions, no pictures, no dithering, just took care of it. Good company that handles the problem in a timely fashion (and a comfortable chair).
Sorry to miss the rally but we will be in Kansas at another rally during the same time. We really enjoyed the last one we went to and learned a lot. Sigh, maybe next year. Have a great time.
Nick, it sounds like you need to use the “spam” button more often. :>)
Happy to hear that Jan and Greg made it safely. We hope to see the four of you before we leave for Ohio. I know that you will find something for Greg to fix before to long and he will feel right at home. Love you guys.
Lydia and I are both enjoying our Strongbacks.
Did I miss something? Do you have a location for your March Rally?
Will lbe in Tucson in March and am interested….
It is amazing that some fairly intelligent people just do not get the fact that all the political BS, heart tugging sob stories, and pass along the good luck emails they are forwarding to their “friends” and acquaintances are SPAM, pure and simple. SPAM clogs the Internet in addition to trying their friends patience to no end. Junk spam goes right into my spam folder with no effort on my part but the stuff from friends is more difficult to deal with unless you can decide the person really is not a friend.
I’ve lost friends because of the emails you describe…especially the political ones. I feel if I respect their choices, they should respect mine…especially since I rarely talk politics with anyone in this day and age. I got tired of sending them Snopes reviews of emails that were years old but had more recent names inserted. However, a couple of my friends were so offended that I’ve never heard from them again. Sad, isn’t it?
Mark,
The March rally will be in Yuma, March 5-9
Nick – we totally agree with you about all those forwards. Once in a blue moon we will send something on, but it has to be a splendid and very humorous one, and we choose carefully who the recipients will be. There are a couple of people who frequently send us forwards that we really appreciate, but even those we don’t send on except in special cases. And then we apologize for sending them!
We love Terry’s recipes, but we will accept Jan White’s Crescent Wedding Cookie recipes, too….????