After fulltiming for fourteen years now, you’d think that we’d have this thing down to a science by now. But for whatever reason, after we have been sitting still for a while, Terry and I never sleep well the night before setting out on a trip. It’s not nerves, we love traveling in our RV and feel completely safe anywhere we go. I don’t know, maybe it’s anticipation. Do any of you go through the same thing?
At any rate, yesterday morning we were up before 8 and took our time getting ready to pull out of Three Flags RV Resort in Wildwood, Florida. We seldom get on the road until after 9, and it’s usually closer to 10. We check our e-mail, read a couple of our favorite blogs, and let all of those working folks get where they’re going first.
While I was walking over to the dumpster to drop some trash, a guy with a brand new Heartland fifth wheel and dually diesel truck stopped me to tell me that a friend of his had our 7-in-1 e-book of Free Campgrounds, Fairgrounds with RV Camping, Casino Camping, etc and he made a copy of it for himself. Then he proceeded to tell me he wasn’t impressed. “You list over 1,000 free campgrounds but none of them let you stay for over a week,” he said. "What good is that?" I asked him how long he expected to stay for free and he said a couple of months. I replied, "You made a bootleg copy of my CD because you were too cheap to buy one and now you’re bitching because a you can’t find anyplace to stay for weeks on end for free? Not only are you a cheap SOB, you’re an idiot." What a clod!
You might think this is an isolated case, but I can’t tell you how many times people have stopped by our booth at RV rallies and look at the CD, and then say right in front of us, “You buy it and I’ll pay you half and make a copy for myself.” I always feel like taking the CD away and saying, “Hello? This is stealing, you nitwit! At least have the decency to wait until you walk away to decide how you’ll rip us off.” Actually, I think I have said that to people a time or two.
At any rate, we left the campground a little after 10, after stopping at the office to check out and thank manager Joanne Caplice for her hospitality and to say goodbye. If Equity Lifestyle Properties, the corporation that owns Thousand Trails, wants to ensure their success, all they have to do is clone Joanne and put her in charge of every campground in the system. In all our years on the road, I’m not sure we’ve ever met a campground manager that is as accommodating and as dedicated to making sure things are as they should be. Joanne runs an excellent park, goes the extra mile, treats guests and employees right, and it shows.
After fueling up at the Pilot out at the interstate we got on the highway and took it north 108 miles to Interstate 10, where we turned west and followed it 170 miles to U.S. Highway 231. From there it was an easy 35 miles north to Dothan, Alabama. After a stop at Flying J to top off our fuel tank, we pulled into the Elks Lodge, where we parked for the night with strong 15 amp electric on a large paved lot behind the lodge. There was water too, but we didn’t need it. There is no charge to traveling Elks, though donations are welcome.
It was a windy trip, and a few times strong gusts took me by surprise, but we we made good time, stopping at rest areas a couple of times for potty breaks.
I do have to pick on Miss Terry for a moment, though. I think that at one time or another all of us who drive a motorhome and tow a car behind us have seen a vehicle just like ours going past on the highway and checked the backup camera to be sure we didn’t lose our toad. Well, yesterday somewhere around Lake City another Winnebago Ultimate Advantage diesel pusher with a nearly identical paint scheme to ours passed us, and Terry said, “For a second I panicked and thought that was our rig!”
It’s not her fault; like I said, we didn’t get much sleep the night before.
Thought For The Day – What if there is no conspiracy and the people running the government really are as stupid as they seem?
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Nick
Sadly, not all the IDIOTS are in Washington as we all know.
Eldy gets so wound up the night before for leaving a campground when we’ve sat for awhile, he doesn’t sleep well at all. Nervous is more like it. “Is the engine going to fire right up? Are the slides going to come in? Are the jacks going to retract ok?” He worries a LOT and is nervous about getting back on the road, too. Me, I guess I worry about remembering the procedure for the Honda even though I have it written down and committed it to memory.
what do you want to bet. That that IDIOT leaves big messes in Wal-Mart parking lots too… Stake em to a Ant Hill !!!!
People like that really need a wheelbarrow to carry their you-know-what around. You take the time to put together a useful product and make a little bread from it and he throws it back in your face. I would have been tempted to throw HIM on his face!
Keep up the good work, Nick. Oh yeah. And the same goes for the bad guy, too.
Gene @ Quartzsite
We agree with Dave if the guy is that cheap he probably sets up camp at Walmart with the awning out, chairs and barbecue all set up and then complains when he’s told to leave.
Kathy and I very seldom have a decent night of sleep before hitting the road. Mind you we’re not Fulltimers but do it so often you’d think we’d be over it by now.
We also want to say Thanks for the Sea-Eagle Kayak we won back in Celine Ohio in 2011. It finally got used in Crystal River Florida on Tuesday. We do guarantee that won’t be the last time.
The answer to your question ju jour — Yes. Honda makes a motor home? That story about Terry seeing a twin rig made my day. That happened to me, only we were in California at the time.
Write all these idiotic episodes down…….I’ll buy your book.
Keep enjoying the other 97% of the wonderful RVers on the road.
Rose & Ray Williams at a Q-rv pk can match the hospitality of Joanne Caplice.
Send the jerk to Quartzite, AZ and he can stay free during Jun-Jul-Aug and maybe, just maybe, the HEAT will get to his brain and fix the problem!
Nick, I once believed most of what you said, then I wised up! You said you liked guns and the idea that we should be able to carry and protect ourselves. But you no longer support the NRA ? Just think about that ,no NRA no carry or on guns ! You people had better wise up They want all our arms and ammo and the gov.is in the process of getting them NOW! They are trying to form an army of their own that will do what they tell them to do ! Hell, only yesterday they let over 5000 illegels out of prison where do you think most of them will end up? They won’t tell the states who they are or what they did! Think about this-The gun grabbers with money from the likes of george sores and friends have been buying up gun and ammo companys and shutting them down! that will make it a little harder for us to defend ourselves. Wise up or the days of fun and rving will be just a memory !
I get the same way the night before. I had hoped it was because it’s only been ten months full-timing and it would get better, but apparently that’s not a given. We have your 7-in-1 CD also and can’t believe someone would be so cheap as to do what that man did. Well, actually I can…it’s amazing how stupid people can be.
What a stupid ahole, I’ve purchased several of your publications and will continue to do so. We also don’t sleep that well the night before, hitch itch gets us excited, especially after 5 or 6 months of workamping.
Sure wish we had Joanne here at the Voyager Resort in Tucson, also an Encore Resort owned by Equity Lifestyle. What a bunch of clods, they announced they were having a party to announce the rates for the 2013-2014 season, then quietly canceled the party and started taking reservations. They rented sites out from under people that had been coming here for years. They also took reservations from people, then called them to say their site would be a transient site next year and they have to find a new site to rent for the winter (almost a month after they started taking reservations and all the “good” sites are rented). Lots of people are mad but the resort nor customer service at Equity Lifestyle seems to care. I’m sure they have a percentage of sites they have to rent to make a profit and who cares who is on the site. Good facilities at the resort but what a hassle to come back. This is our first year, there are people that have been coming for 16 years, you would think there would be some loyalty to them.
Uh, Ken, the government has had an army all along. Its called the Army. Wow, they have a Navy, Air force and Marine Corps too. Tell me what gun or ammo company has been bought out and closed down.
The problem with folks like you is that you see everything in the freaking world as a conspiracy. Guess what, sometimes shit just happens and its NOT a conspiracy. This from a 65 year old gun owner and lifetime member of the NRA, before you start telling me I’ve been hoodwinked too. Turn off you stupid computer and stop listening to Rush and go take a walk in the fresh air. It may clear the fecal matter out of your ears.
Jim; While you have been sleeping at the wheel they have been sneeking up on us! From one NRA lifer to another you might want to look at ( thedailybell.com/3327/wallstreet-buys-up-guns ) Just one of the places you can get an idea of what they are up to!!!!!!!! I would say companies like bushmaster,marlin,remington,drms,dakota arms and H&R are some pretty big ones. Lets hope this isn’t true but it’s out there !