We spent yesterday exploring cowboy country. Back in the years following the Civil War, western Kansas was the Wild West, and it was here that some of the best known characters of the time made names for themselves.

Meade, Kansas, where we are staying at the city park’s free “Tourist Camp” is the home of the Dalton Gang Hideout, complete with an escape tunnel that led from the outlaw gang’s sister’s house to a barn down the hill.  Marc Ferguson, manager of the Hideout, had invited us to come by and check it out.

Marc is a great storyteller, and he gave us a brief history of the Dalton brothers and their fall from grace, starting out as Deputy U.S. Marshal’s and ending up shot down in the streets of Coffeyville, Kansas in a bank robbery gone bad.

We were impressed with the tunnel, and displays in the neat little museum upstairs of the gift shop, which included everything from old guns and barbed wire to a stuffed two-headed calf.

We left the bus in Meade and drove the van about 40 miles to Dodge City, which was known as the Queen of the Cow Towns and one of the wickedest towns on earth. It was here that cattle drives from Texas reached trail’s end, and an army of saloon keepers, card sharks, shady ladies, and outlaws waited to separate the hardworking Texas cowboys from their pay.

Killings were routine business in old Dodge City, and it took hard lawmen like Bill Tilghman, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson to bring peace. Plenty of outlaws and wild cowboys found their final resting place at Boot Hill, and the legends have only grown over the years.

Today Dodge City is a friendly town of some 25,000 people, and still makes its living off the cattle industry. Two large meat packing plants are the main employers, though tourism plays an important role in the local economy.

Jan Stevens, director of the Dodge City Convention and Visitors Bureau, met us and took us to lunch, while she gave us a very good overview of the town’s history and how things are today. We deal with a lot of public relations and media representatives in our work, and I have to tell you, if they were all half as good as Jan, we’d have an easy job. She spent a long time with us, answered all of our questions, gave us a ton of excellent reference material, and then arranged a tour of Boot Hill and the re-created Front Street, once the centerpiece of the wild cow town.

Jan also arranged for local historian Charlie Meade to give us a walking tour of Dodge City, which included all of the historically important places, as well as this neat statue of Wyatt Earp.

Charlie is a real treasure, and it was wonderful to spend the afternoon with him. A retired Deputy Marshal, and recently appointed as a Special Deputy United States Marshal, at 74 years young, Charlie is a walking encyclopedia of Old West history and lore.

We were great friends by the end of our time together, and Miss Terry posed for a picture with our new pal. Charlie was only too happy to do so, saying he never passes up an opportunity to get close to a pretty lady. I can’t say that I blame him.

Thought For The Day – I suffer occasional delusions of adequacy.

We spent Wednesday night dry camping in the designated RV parking area at the Route 66 Casino, and thought we might have a problem with our Onan 5500 generator.

We fired it up to run our rooftop air conditioner and all was going along fine, with the generator putting out 123 volts according to the meter on our Progressive Industries EMS system. Suddenly the voltage dropped to 104 volts and the EMS cut out, as it is designed to do in low voltage situations. We turned off the air conditioner and the reading was still 104 volts. With the EMS not engaged, which allows no power to come through, and thus no load on the genset, we were still reading 104 volts.

I let the generator sit for about an hour and fired it up, and it was putting out 123 volts again. But soon it did the same thing, dropping to 104 volts and staying. The AC was not on this time, and all we were using was 9 amps according to the EMS. We had last used the genset about three weeks ago and it was working fine then.

Yesterday morning we left the casino about 9:30 a.m., after waiting for rush hour traffic in Albuquerque to calm down, and headed east on Interstate 40. I think rush hour is actually 24/7 in Albuquerque, and construction zones with lane closures are just a fact of life there, but we managed to thread our way through it all and began to long uphill climb out of the valley. We were in the right hand lane, radiator misters going and moving slow, but we made it okay.

Terry fired the generator up again and we ran the rooftop air conditioner for about four hours with no problems, so I guess the gremlins who were causing problems the night before were taking the day off.

We traveled 190 miles to Tucumcari, where we left the interstate and took U.S. Highway 54 northeast. Add the depressing little town of Logan, New Mexico to your list of places to avoid. There were signs posted  all along the highway through the rundown downtown (what there is of it) saying “No Overnight Parking” and one sad looking RV park next to the railroad tracks. As we were coming into town a group of about nine young men were in an altercation alongside the road that looked like it was going to get violent very quickly.

We crossed into Texas, and tried to hold our breath as we drove past the huge cattle feeding operations near Dalhart. I like the aroma of beef sizzling on the grill a lot more than I do when it’s on the hoof in the muck.

I was looking forward to passing through Hooker, Oklahoma, home of the Hooker Horny Toads ball team. The last time we visited Hooker, I got a giggle out of the sign in front of a building identified as the Hooker Chamber of Commerce. I had no idea they were that organized!

There was a lot of road construction in Hooker, and one sign I really wanted to stop and get a picture of said “We’re building a better Hooker for you” but there was no place to pull over. I wonder if they take custom orders…..?

Before long we crossed into Kansas at Liberal, home of the fantastic Mid-America Air Museum, which we did a feature on a few years ago. Liberal is also home of the Dorothy’s House Museum and an annual Wizard of Oz celebration.

I knew that one of my ex-wives was back in Arizona, but that left one still unaccounted for, so I kept a sharp eye out for witches until we were out of town. One can’t be too careful.

A half hour or so after we left Liberal, we came to Meade, home of the Dalton Gang Hideout, which we will visit tomorrow. We are parked for the night in the Meade city park, which allows free RV parking. There are a few water bibs scattered about, and the park has a dump station. We are sharing the park with a couple from South Dakota in a small fifth wheel, who stopped by to say hello, and a tiny Toyota camper from California.

We covered 456 miles yesterday, which was more than we had planned to drive, but it was a good day, the bus was running smooth, and traffic was light, so we just kept on rolling. It’s good to be back on the road again!

Thought For The Day – No one ever achieved worthwhile success who did not find themselves with at least one foot hanging over the brink of failure.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

Never underestimate the power of the Internet! When it was announced a few days ago that Maine state legislature was sneaking through a bill that would prohibit overnight RV parking in any commercial parking lot, such as a Wal-Mart or truck stop, that was being promoted by campground owners, RVers sent a flood of e-mails protesting the measure and promising to take their vacation dollars elsewhere. The folks in Augusta quickly got the message and backpedaled, canceling the bill.

I bet all of those other businesses in the great state of Maine who stood to lose the revenue they make from RVers appreciate their elected officials realizing that this was a bad business move.

Now if bankers had half as much sense. As most of you know, we are shopping for a different coach to replace our aging bus. The other day I talked to a lady in Texas who has a very nice rig she needs to unload. Her husband passed away, and she has been making the payments on it for almost a year, and her finances are depleted. She just flat out does not have another dime to give the bank.

She has had the rig for sale, and one dealer offered her about 75% of the balance due. She tried to get the bank to accept that and work with her on the balance, but no dice. Their attitude is “either we get all that you owe, or we’ll repo it, sell it at auction at a loss, and come after you for the balance.” She has tried to explain to them that she is 72 years old, and between her husband’s death and her own serious medical problems, the piggy bank is empty. There is no more!

She would love to have someone take over the payments for the full amount due, which we could easily do, as could some other people she has talked to. But the bank has put one roadblock after another in her way. I guess they have all of that Federal bailout money to work with, so who cares if they actually make a profit?

It’s good to be back on the road. We left the Show Low Elks Lodge Campground at 10:45 a.m. yesterday and pulled into the Route 66 Casino on Interstate 40 just west of Albuquerque, a distance of 262 miles, almost exactly five hours later. It was an easy run, and even though the outside temperature was almost 90 degrees, I only had to use the radiator misters a couple of times. But we did get slowed way down on a couple of hills.

In yesterday’s blog I wrote that the Route 66 Casino has free RV parking, and a good buffet. Well, don’t believe everything you read! I don’t know what went wrong since our last visit, but our dinner was a real disappointment. As Miss Terry said back at the bus, we didn’t really buy that food, we just rented it on a very short term basis!

While we were inside getting ill, Ken and Sue Pace stopped by the bus and left us a note as they were passing through. Sue did her geocaching seminar at our rally in Casa Grande in February, and we were sorry we missed them. Hopefully we’ll catch up with them at Escapade.

Before I close, I want to give a quick plug to the RV Lifestyle, Education, & Safety clinic that RVSEF is putting on in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania September 13-16. For those of you who never got to go to a Life on Wheels session, this is a “must not miss” opportunity to learn all about RVing from some of the best known experts in the field. Here is a link to the classes being offered, and whether you are a wannabe, a newbie, or a seasoned veteran, I guarantee you’ll learn a lot! Check it out!   

Thought For The Day – Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

I have to admit that I am very pleasantly surprised at the reaction to our new Digital Edition of the Gypsy Journal. In the first 24 hours after I wrote in yesterday’s blog that subscriptions were available, we received 30 orders. I can see my pal Chris Guld over at Geeks on Tour just simpering and saying “I told you so!” I just hate it when she’s right.

Overall, the feedback we’ve received has been great, but we can’t please everybody. If you read yesterday’s blog comments, you will see that a couple of readers don’t see the value, and that’s just fine. As I’ve said before, nobody has to spend a penny with us to be able to read the blog and our regular website.

But I did find it interesting that one person seems to think that not only what we do is worthless, but that we seem to be rolling in money. This same person has asked for a discounted subscription price several times in the past, because he’s on a fixed income. I wish somebody would fix my income, because the darned thing is broken! It never seems to stretch far enough!

Folks, I know that some of you have heard me say this before, but I’m going to say it again. Yes, we make a profit. No, I don’t apologize for that. We are a business. We do not have a retirement income or investments we live off of. Everything we earn is from the products and services we create and from my speaking gigs. We’re not getting rich, but we’re paying the bills and having a lot of fun in the process.

I write and publish nonfiction information. There are only a certain number of free campgrounds, or dump stations, or whatever in the country. There is going to be duplication in the information that we, or the folks who produce Day’s End, or Don Wright from Cottage Publications sell. Yes, you can find a lot of the same info we produce online, if you put in enough time to research it. Or, you could be out RVing instead!

Okay, enough of that nonsense, let’s move on.

We’re leaving Show Low, Arizona today headed east. We’ll take Interstate 40 across northern Arizona and New Mexico, and we’ll probably stop for the night at one of the casinos near Albuquerque. The Route 66 Casino at mile marker 140 has a pretty good buffet, and is usually our first choice when we’re traveling in that part of New Mexico.  

Goodbyes are always hard, and it’s going to be very hard to say goodbye to my daughter Tiffany, as it always is. I have to admit that I feel guilty when I see the pain in my little girl’s eyes when we leave, and I always have a lump in my throat for the first few hundred miles, and I want to turn this big old bus around and go back for one more long hug.

But Tiffany knows her old man is an unconventional guy with a bad case of hitch itch that needs to be scratched. (She actually suggested that maybe if I put cream or ointment on it, it might get better!) And I thank her for allowing me to fulfill this wanderlust that I was born with, and not putting me on a guilt trip every time we depart.

The good news is that the road runs both ways, and we can (and will) always come back again.  

Thought For The Day – In a lunatic world, the mad are better equipped than the sane.

 Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally

This is our last day here in Show Low, Arizona, so today we’ll be taking care of some last minute details like filling the gas tank for our generator, saying goodbye to our friends here, and mailing out some orders that just came in.

We have really enjoyed our time here in our old hometown, and we know there will be a lot of tears all around when we say goodbye to my daughter Tiffany and her family. Leaving the people we love is always the hardest part of the fulltime RV lifestyle. I know Tiffany would love to have us stay here forever, but she understands how much we love our life on the road, and how much we long to be on the move again.

We have found over the years that sitting still is always expensive for us. Not just in terms of camping costs, but also in terms of lost revenue. When we are moving around the country, vending at RV rallies, and dropping off bundles of sample issues of the Gypsy Journal at RV parks, we see a steady flow of orders coming in for new subscriptions, books, CDs, etc. But when we stay in any one place for a while, that drops off significantly.

We’ve been in Arizona since January, pretty much in three places all of that time, and while our subscription renewals are steady, orders for new subscriptions and our other products have suffered.

Speaking of subscriptions, here is the announcement many of you have been waiting for. We are now offering the Gypsy Journal online, as many of you have requested.

As you know, we have been experimenting with several different options to make this work, and thanks to my pal Chris Guld (who from this day forward shall be known as Mama Geek) of Geeks on Tour, we finally have a solution that will work.

The full paper, in PDF format, will be available online, and you can either read it online or download it to your computer for later reading at your convenience. Readers who subscribe to the online edition will be e-mailed a user name and password when a new issue is uploaded, and a link to the new issue. Readers can search for keywords, and zoom in and out to read a page easily. I’m excited about this new option for our readers, and I know many of you will be, too.

If you are already a Gypsy Journal subscriber, and would like to convert your subscription to the digital edition, just send me an e-mail at editor@gypsyjournal.net and I’ll make the necessary changes in our records. If you are not already a subscriber and would like to subscribe to the digital edition, you can click this link Digital Subscription. A one year subscription is $20, and a two year subscription is $35. New subscriptions to the digital edition will begin with the next issue of the Gypsy Journal.

Someone asked how we can control readers who would share their user name and password with others to cheat us out of subscription costs. We can’t, but I believe that most people are basically honest, and I have too many real things to worry about in life to lose much sleep over the few bad apples that may exist.

To see how the new digital edition will look, go to the top right side of this page and you will see a tab that says Digital Edition. Click it and follow the instructions provided.

And for our readers who do not want to go digital, don’t worry, this WILL NOT replace our normal printed edition of the Gypsy Journal. For you, everything will remain the same.

Thought For The Day – Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway!

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally