The Rally, Affinity’s annual big blowout RV event ends today, and not a moment too soon for us. While we have really enjoyed being with so many of our RV friends, the rally itself hasn’t been much fun at all, and sales were very poor for so large a gathering.

We may attend another one of these events someday, but it won’t be at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds, or anywhere else where the rally attendees are not parked on the rally grounds. Yesterday the vending buildings closed at 5 p.m., but from about 2 p.m. on I don’t think we had more than one or two people stop by the booth. That makes it darned hard for a vendor who is paying over $1,000 for a rally booth and camping, not to mention the cost of traveling to Albuquerque.

Still, there have been some positive things happen to us while we’ve been here. We’ve made some very good contacts among the other vendors, and we’ve introduced a lot of new people to the Gypsy Journal. Hopefully some of them will turn into subscribers in the future.

One good thing that has happened while we were here, thanks to my good friend Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour recommending me, is that I have been asked to write a blog for the RV.net blog network. This is something I have been interested in for a long time.

It will be a separate blog from this one or my Todays Hero Blog, and I won’t be posting on a daily basis like I do here. I’ll probably be posting a lot of travel stories we have used in the Gypsy Journal in the past, as well as some new RV lifestyle pieces.  

I can hear a lot of you asking why I’d take on another obligation, with so much already on my plate. It all comes down to selfishness on my part. I have found that blogging is an excellent tool to market the Gypsy Journal and the books, camping guides, and CDs we produce. With hundreds of thousands of readers a month, the exposure from being associated with RV.net is tremendous, and hopefully it will bring us a new reader now and then.

On another topic, have you ever heard that old saying that timing is everything? Well, it’s true. As you probably already know, we are looking for a new rig, and wondering how we can make that happen. One problem is that to help pay for a new (to us) RV, we need to sell our MCI bus conversion. Yesterday a couple here at the rally took a tour of the bus and wanted to buy it, for a price we were comfortable with, right now. The only problem is that we’d still have a shortfall between what we’d get from the bus and what we have put away, and the price of an RV to replace it with.

If it were a few months down the road, after we had a few more rallies under our belt and a little more in the bank, we’d have accepted their offer. But they came here to buy a bus, and they (understandably) don’t want to wait to get into one.

As they say, timing is everything, and the timing just was not right.

Thought For The Day – Illegal aliens have always been a problem in this country.  Just ask any Indian.

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At least the weather cleared up here in Albuquerque, and though it wasn’t exactly warm yesterday, it wasn’t snowing either.

We had a busy day helping out in the RV Hall of Fame Museum booth, and managed to pass out a lot of copies of the Gypsy Journal, and to make a sale or two along the way. I think most vendors had a better day yesterday, mainly because the weather was better and more folks were out, and also because after the fiasco Friday with the bus schedules, a lot of people drove their cars to the fairgrounds.

The folks in charge of the rally also brought more buses in yesterday, and we didn’t see the long lines of people waiting for their ride back to the Balloon Fiesta Park.

Some local people who have vintage cars and travel trailers brought them by the fairgrounds to put them on display yesterday, and they drew an admiring crowd. What neat old rigs!

For Terry and I, the opportunity to see so many of our RVing friends makes any rally a special event. I can’t keep track of everybody who came by to visit with us, but there sure were a bunch of folks.

Dick and Gaye La Vigne, who were at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally are helping out in a friend’s vendor booth, and have stopped by several times, as have Bob and Clara Lee. Now I have to tell you, Bob is a real character. He’s older than dirt, and his jokes were worn out the first time he heard them on the school playground, but he’s such a nice fellow and Clara is such a sweetheart, that we look forward to seeing them over and over again.

Another good friend who stopped by is Michael Chang, whom we first met when he was a student at several Life on Wheels sessions, and who also joined us for our Ohio Gypsy Gathering rally last September.

We also got to visit with Jeff and Barb Franz. I owe Jeff a big thank you, because while we were at Life on Wheels in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania last year, I started seeing an alarming number of floaters in my left eye. When I reported it in the blog, Jeff, who is an optician, immediately contacted me and urged me to get immediate medical care because he said it was very possibly a torn retina. Based upon his warning, we got it taken care of that very morning, before things got out of hand. 

There were a lot of other people who have taken the time to stop by, and I’m sorry that I can’t remember everybody’s name, but even if I could, I don’t think we’d have room here for a roll call. But we sure enjoyed seeing all of you.

I don’t want to be a complete jerk, but I have to address something here. I upset a few readers when I did not post their replies to my blog about the wacko who felt it was his duty to tell me the current administration is rounding up Vietnam vets for transport to a concentration camp.

The point of that post was to demonstrate how far out in left (or right) field people can get. As I closed that post, I asked people not to start sending me all of their political viewpoints, and joked that I have a delete button. This is supposed to be an RV blog, and overall I try to stay focused on the RV lifestyle, though I may exercise my editorial privilege and wander off track a bit now and then.

Still, some readers sent comments that were getting into the realm of a political debate, and I did not post them. In response, one writer accused me of censorship. Yeah, I guess you can call it that, if you want. It’s my blog, and I reserve the right to moderate the posts and comments.

Another reader demanded I allow him his freedom of the press. No way would I step on that basic American right. But you have to understand something. Freedom of the press is not guaranteed to everybody. Freedom of the press is guaranteed to anyone who owns a press. No newspaper has an obligation to print a reader’s letter or comment that they choose not to. Nor does a blog.

I certainly encourage anyone who wants to express their political (or any other) viewpoints to start their own newspaper, or their own blog. Just log onto www.wordpress.com and have at it. It’s even free, and if you send me a link, I’ll read it at least once.

Thought For The Day – We need each other more than we need stuff.

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Yesterday was the first vending day at The Rally, and while vendors in the past have told me they did gangbuster business at earlier events, so far I don’t think anyone here in Albuquerque is setting any sales records.

That may be partly due to the fact that the rally attendees are parked at the Balloon Fiesta Park, and all of the vendors and seminars are here at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. Those two locations are thirteen miles apart, so the attendees have to stand in line to ride buses to the fairgrounds and then stand in line again to ride a bus back to their RV at the end of the day.

A lot of people seem to be very unhappy about that. Throw in the fact that yesterday we had a mixture of rain and snow all day and all evening, and the wait for the buses was over an hour, and it wasn’t a recipe for success. I heard several people say they were not buying anything because they didn’t want to carry it around with them all day long, and then have to hold it while they stood in line for the bus, and then try to figure out how to get it on the bus. I guess if you were buying a book or a pocket tool, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but it you bought something like a lawn chair or a TV dish, you’d really have a transportation problem. I told Terry a guy with a van could make a few bucks just delivering things from the vendors out to the buyers’ RVs at the Balloon Park.

I’m sure glad we’re parked here on the grounds. When the vendor area closed at 5 p.m. yesterday, the line waiting in the cold rain for the bus was over two blocks long! We had considered going to the Neil Sedaka concert last night, until we discovered that it was at the Balloon Park, and was being held in a tent! No way were we going to drive that far in the rain to sit in a tent in this weather! Instead we had dinner with Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour and Al Hesselbart from the RV Hall of Fame Museum, returned to the bus, and spent the evening returning e-mail and listening to music from the iPod, played thorough our Bose SoundDock.

Even though we didn’t do much business yesterday, it was nice to be able to help out Al Hesselbart at the RV Hall of Fame Museum’s booth. Al did his seminar on The History of RVs during the morning, and we knew when he was finished, because we got slammed with people coming by the booth to pick up a museum brochure or for more information.

It was also nice to take a break from the booth and wander around checking out the vendors. I finally had the opportunity to met Alex from the 3G Store, where I purchased our Cradlepoint wireless router, Wilson antenna and Wilson amplifier for our internet connection back when we switched to a Verizon air card from our old HughesNet internet dish. Alex and I have exchanged e-mails for a long time, and he really helped me out when I had some technical problems a while back, so it was nice to put a face with a name. I also got to meet the president of 3G Store, Michael Ginsberg, and we spent quite a bit of time visiting. He showed me some new stuff coming down the technological highway that I think are really going to excite RVers once they hit the market.

Another person I was happy to finally meet was Lance Kropf, from Guaranty RV Super Center in Junction City, Oregon. Quite a few RVers I know have had good purchasing experiences when dealing with Lance and his company, and he’s a good buddy of my pal Mac McCoy, which gives him several extra stars next to his name in my book.

Speaking of Mac McCoy, somebody asked if I wasn’t afraid that Mac would be offended by the way I picked on him in yesterday’s blog. Heck no, Mac has a great sense of humor and loves to have fun, and anybody who is going to hang around me knows that they’re fair game. (Besides, if I don’t put pictures in a blog post, Mac doesn’t look at it anyway. Anything more than a two syllable word gives him a migraine.)

Thought For The Day – How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

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Yesterday we were running around in short sleeve shirts, but that didn’t last long! By evening it had turned downright chilly here in Albuquerque, and today’s high is only supposed to be 53 degrees!

We spent most of yesterday printing off copies of our various RV guides and making CDs to sell during the rally. This is our first Affinity rally, and while we have been to some big RV events over the years, I don’t think we’ve ever been to one single venue with so many vendors.

If you were looking for anything from a Fantastic Fan for your ceiling or a rooftop satellite TV dome, all the way down to wheel covers and tire pressure monitors; from headlights and auxiliary running lights to mud flaps and ladders for the back of your RV, they’ve got you covered from top to bottom and back to front. A shopaholic would be in heaven here.

The rally has some excellent seminars on all aspects of RVing, as well as some top notch entertainment lined up. Tonight legendary singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka will be performing, and tomorrow night Rita Coolidge will be the star attraction. On Sunday evening the Osmonds take the stage. I think it’s going to be a fun rally.

I try to stay out of politics and such, because I really just am not at all interested. I prefer to just live my life, roll with the flow, and try to stay under the radar. I have several people who constantly send me forwarded e-mails that would have you believe that President Obama is the devil incarnate, and just as many people forwarding me stuff about how those darned Republicans are the scourge of the earth, and I just delete them all without opening them. I think they all need bumper stickers on their cars that say “My Conspiracy Theory Can Beat Up Your Conspiracy Theory.”

In my little world, it’s all about me, and it really doesn’t matter who is in the White House, because none of them yet have offered to buy me a new bus or give me a cushy political appointment.

Extremists turn me off. My definition of an extremist is anybody who insists on sharing with me his views on religion or politics once I’ve politely said I’m not interested. Usually when people start spouting off about their political or religious opinions, I just nod my head, tune them out, and take a mental trip to Margaritaville with Jimmy Buffet.

That being said, I just had to respond to a guy yesterday. We had a couple of orders to mail out, and the fellow in line in front of me at the post office looked me over and said “You look old enough to be a Vietnam vet. Are you?”

I allowed as to how my Uncle Sam had given me an extended jungle camping trip as my high school graduation present.

“Did you hear what Obama just did?” he asked.

Now, it’s bad enough when my friends start sharing their agendas with me, but when it’s a complete stranger, I immediately start hearing Jimmy singing about shrimp boiling as we waste away in Margaritaville. So I didn’t answer him, just looked toward the counter, in the hope that the line would move quicker.

But he continued by saying “Today Obama and the Department of Homeland Security declared that all white Vietnam veterans are a national threat and he has ordered that they all be rounded up and put into concentration camps by the end of the month, along with their families.”

I tried, but even I couldn’t ignore this! Jimmy was stroking his six string and hit a sour note, and I said “What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s true.” He insisted, “The mainstream media is keeping it a secret, but it’s all over the internet if you know where to look!”

I know I should have ignored him, but sometimes I just have to say something.

“Are you really stupid enough to believe that?” I asked him. “Do you really think that could happen? And that not one radio or television station or newspaper would report the fact that millions of Americans are headed for a concentration camp? And do you really think we’d all just go along quietly? Have you even considered the logistics of it? How could they make it happen in less than two weeks?”

“It happened to the Jews in World War II,” he insisted. “You just wait and see! I’ll be waving to you from outside the fence when they take you to the gas chamber!”

Now, I’m not going to lose any sleep over his dire predictions. I’ve ridden in Mac McCoy’s van with the windows rolled up on the drive home from the Golden Corral buffet, so I know all about gas chambers. But what really concerns me is that people that dumb are allowed to drive cars and procreate!

(And please, don’t start replying with your political viewpoints, okay? Remember, I have a delete button, and I’m not afraid to use it!)

Thought For The Day – I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

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For whatever reason, once we were parked at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds Tuesday after driving to Albuquerque from Show Low, Arizona, I just could not get to sleep. I tossed and turned all night long, and I think I managed about two or three hours of sleep at the most.

Since we arrived at the fairgrounds after normal parking hours and dry camped in the parking lot, we had to be up early yesterday morning, because the fellow in charge of the parking crew had said he’d be at our rig bright and early to get us moved into our assigned space.

So I rolled out of bed a little after 7:30 a.m., which is long before my normal time, and then you have to consider that our bodies are still on Arizona time, which is an hour later. Needles to say, I was kind of fuzzy headed most of the day yesterday. Yes, even more so than usual!

This place is filling up fast as people arrive for the Affinity rally, and we have run into several people we know, including Tim and Crystal Ryerson, from Inflatable Boats 4 Less, as well as Tim and Sue Daugherty from Sky Med, and Chris and Charles Yust, who represent Good Sam’s Roadside Assistance plan. All of these folks have been vendors at our Gypsy Gathering rallies, as well as Gary and Cheryl Green, who are also parked nearby. Cheryl is a representative for Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies. It was fun visiting with everybody, and just to make the party merrier, Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour arrived and are parked right behind us! We’re all just one big happy family out here on the road.

We have made so many wonderful friendships among the RVing community, and if it is possible, even closer relationships among some of the vendors we see at rallies all over the country.

Another vendor couple we have been close with for years is also here, Jack and Doreen Ingle, from AON Recreational Insurance, which has just undergone a name change and is now called PoliSeek Recreational Insurance. We met Jack and Doreen at our very first RV rally, an Escapade in Lancaster, California, during our first few weeks on the road, and we’ve been pals ever since. Like I said, one big happy family.

Since we’ve been at an RV site with just electric power for the last couple of weeks, with no water or sewer connection, our laundry had piled up. Miss Terry said it was time to either go shopping for a new wardrobe, or wash the ones we have now. So after we were parked in our designated site, we checked out the vending area, and then found a nearby laundromat. Terry much prefers to use the apartment size washer and dryer we have in our bus instead of going out to do this chore, but sometimes that doesn’t work out. We were lucky and found a very clean laundromat where all of the washers and dryers worked, which isn’t always the case.

Back at the fairgrounds, several of us got together for dinner at a Chinese buffet somebody had located, and when we returned from dinner, Jim and Chris Guld came over so Jim could resolve some issues Terry was having with her computer. I don’t know what we ever did without our mobile computer geek buddies! Chris has helped me with getting my two blogs up and running, and whenever I have a hardware issue, I call Jim. If you have not been to one of their seminars yet, be sure you do at your next RV rally. They really know their stuff, and make learning complex things easy and fun.

By the time Jim had things taken care of on Terry’s computer, it was 10:30 p.m. and we were both tired. But we still had to make the bed, and I had to get this blog and the Todays Hero Blog posts ready to go. I’ll tell you what, the bed sure looked nice by the time we were finally ready to turn in!

Thought For The Day – If raising children was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor!

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