Happy Birthday America! Isn’t it wonderful to live free in the greatest country the world has ever known? I don’t know about you, but as the old Lee Greenwood song proclaims, I truly am proud to be an American.
Today is the last day of the Escapees RV Club Escapade rally, and following a catered banquet to celebrate the Escapees’ 35th birthday tonight and then Fourth of July fireworks, tomorrow morning folks will start leaving Gillette, headed for every point on the compass.
Yesterday was the last day for the vendors to be open, and though our sales were not staggering by any means, they were okay and we got to introduce a lot of new folks to the Gypsy Journal. It’s been our experience that a couple of weeks to a month after a rally we see a spurt of sales as people who picked up sample copies get around to reading them, and then subscribe.
After showing you so many pictures of vendors at the rally in yesterday’s blog, an unnamed source suggested that maybe you all would like to see another side of my friend Daryl Lawrence from Lawrence RV Accessories. Daryl can come across as gruff at times, but he really does have a softer side too, as you can see here with him sharing a tender moment with… something. Is that inflatable, Daryl?
Being night owls, Terry and I don’t like getting up early in the morning like we’ve done the last few days and our bodies were protesting the change in our schedule. We were pretty well worn out by the time we closed down our vendor booth yesterday afternoon, packed everything up, and hauled it out to the Explorer.
Once we got it all back inside the motorhome and had a few minutes to catch our breath, we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in town with Greg and Jan, and then made a quick stop at WalMart before heading back to the campground at the Cam-Plex. I’m afraid I wasn’t much company, and even nodded off for a moment or two a couple of times.
With the rally over, a lot of RVs will be heading out, but we are going to hang around here until the holiday weekend is over. We need the time to recharge a little bit and we still have a business to run even when we’re busy at an RV rally. We have some orders to fill and get mailed out and Terry has a lot of paperwork to catch up on.
While we were busy with the rally, the nice folks at Audible.com have been busy putting the last touches on the audiobook version of Big Lake, the first book in my mystery series. Yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail informing me that it is now live and available for download at this link. I’m excited to enter this new arena of publishing and see where it will go.
Thought For The Day – I didn’t get to where I am by thinking about it or dreaming about it. I got there by doing it. – Estee Lauder
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Nick Russell
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Happy Fourth of July to you and Terry happy to hear that the Escapade went well for you. This is the greatest country on earth and Mike and I are so proud to be part of it. Right now we are in Branson Missouri at a park we have been to several time. It is under new ownership and he has great plan for the place. We had to travel today but the traffic was light on the back roads. We plan on going out to dinner with Ali and Ron and the watch the firework show. Stay safe and be happy
It was nice to have the chance to say hello to you two at Escapade (and subscribe to the Journal). You made our blog http://boonedocksllc.blogspot.com/2013/07/legends-of-full-time-rving.html