Rest In Peace, Mac

 Posted by at 1:31 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 162023
 

My world is emptier today because I got news that our dear friend Mac McCoy has passed away. Legions of RVers knew him as Mac the Fire Guy from the fire safety classes he taught at RV rallies and at Life on Wheels from coast to coast for so many years. It is hard to […]

August Q&A

 Posted by at 12:57 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 082023
 

I’m back with more questions from blog readers about RVing, my writing activities, what’s happening in our lives since we hung up the keys, and all kinds of other things. While I try to answer all questions individually, I also share some here occasionally. Q. I know your new place is keeping you busy, but […]

Friends Old And New

 Posted by at 1:12 am  Nick's Blog
Jul 082023
 

We started the day yesterday by driving into Northport with the cargo trailer to pick up woven wire cattle panels that Travis and Terry both needed for gardening projects from Tractor Supply. The panels were 16 feet long by 40 inches wide, and the trailer is only 14 feet long, but I had looked at […]

Sammy Has A Home

 Posted by at 12:25 am  Nick's Blog
Mar 112023
 

We met Bob and Lynn Throckmorton from Hemet, California during our first month on the road as fulltime RVers, when we were all students at Life on Wheels in Moscow, Idaho. They were the very first subscribers to our Gypsy Journal RV Travel Newspaper, and we struck up a friendship that has stood the test […]

Feb 202023
 

After reading yesterday’s blog, several readers e-mailed me to ask about the fate of the injured coyote I wrote about. I don’t know because when I went out back to look yesterday, I could not find it. I hope it has succumbed to its injuries and is not lying out there in the woods suffering. […]

Oct 252019
 

Before I do anything else, I want to wish our dear friend Jan White a happy birthday. When we were fulltime RVers we had many adventures with Jan and her husband Greg from coast to coast. And they were very instrumental in making our Gypsy Journal rallies a success. Whatever needed doing, anything from collecting […]

Holiday Q&A

 Posted by at 12:48 am  Nick's Blog
Dec 162018
 

I’m back with more questions from blog readers about RVing, what’s happening in our lives since we hung up the keys, and all kinds of other things. While I try to answer all questions individually, I also share some here occasionally. Q. I know that you and Terry taught for Life on Wheels for many […]

Gypsy Journal FAQs

 Posted by at 12:57 am  Nick's Blog
Mar 252015
 

Five years ago I wrote a blog on frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Gypsy Journal. We get some questions over and over about how we produce the paper, and why we do things the way we do. So I thought I’d update it and give it another shot. Here are some of our most […]

I Broke Florida

 Posted by at 12:02 am  Nick's Blog
Nov 232014
 

I have a not undeserved reputation for bringing bad weather with me wherever I go. Did you ever see that old movie The Rainmaker? Burt Lancaster was conning drought-stricken farmers, promising to make it rain, a promise he could not deliver on. I don’t charge a penny, but I’m starting to think maybe I could […]

Pitt Bulls Prohibited

 Posted by at 12:02 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 052014
 

There is an ongoing thread in the Living The RV Dream Facebook group about RV parks that do not allow pitt bulls, Rottweilers, and other dog breeds that are considered aggressive. I wasn’t surprised that the thread got a lot of comments and raised a lot of emotions, but it also revealed just how short-sighted […]

We Had To Go Back

 Posted by at 2:01 am  Nick's Blog
Feb 022014
 

I want to start today’s blog by wishing my mother-in-law Bess a happy birthday. I’m sorry we can’t be there with you on your special day, Bess, but we’ll see you soon. In the meantime, we’re sending you lots of love and virtual hugs. Sometimes when we are working we just seem to lose all […]

Jan 272014
 

Congratulations to Jim Hamm, this week’s winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Birdsongs, by Jason Deas. We had 164 entries this time around, and stay tuned, because a new contest starts Wednesday! They say time speeds up as you get older and if that’s true I must be around a thousand years old […]

I Broke Yuma (Again)

 Posted by at 2:40 am  Nick's Blog
Jan 252014
 

I have a reputation for bringing bad weather with me wherever I go, and I’ve done it again. I broke Yuma. And this isn’t the first time I’ve done it. A couple of years ago we were holding one of our Gypsy Journal rallies at the fairgrounds here, and the city got more than its […]

Jan 092014
 

Since we only had a few miles to go, we were in no hurry yesterday morning. We checked e-mail, read our usual blogs, and puttered around for a while, then I went outside to dump our holding tanks and unplug our campground utilities. We hooked the Explorer to our Blue Ox tow bar and left […]

Never Forget

 Posted by at 3:01 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 112013
 

I don’t think any of us need reminding that today is the twelfth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our country. It was a defining day in our history and I think all of us can remember where we were and what we were doing when we realized what was happening. It’s important that […]

7 Directions At Once

 Posted by at 12:02 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 052012
 

It feels like Terry and I have been going in seven directions at once, greeting and visiting with rally attendees and doing everything else that is involved in running an RV rally. Yesterday Terry was up at 5 AM and out the door an hour later to get the coffee made and get her donut […]

Sep 012011
 

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, […]

And The Thunder Rolled

 Posted by at 12:26 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 242011
 

Miss Terry has been working in a mad frenzy, stuffing envelopes as fast as I can lug bundles of papers into the motorhome and carry the filled mailing tubs back out to the Explorer. I tell you, that girl never stops! I get tired just watching her work! We had visitors yesterday afternoon, and I […]

Jun 162011
 

We spent yesterday walking the waterfront here in Newport, poking our heads into shops, watching the fishing boats coming and going, and people watching. Newport is one of my favorite towns along the Oregon coast, the perfect cross of working fishing port and tourist destination, not too commercialized, laid back, and friendly. Years ago, when […]