The wind has not let up a bit here in northern Arizona, and as predicted, a cold front has moved in and dropped the temperatures quite a bit. The sky is very gray, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it starts snowing!

I talked to my buddy Mac McCoy from Fire and Life Safety yesterday. Mac is in Goshen, Indiana running around in shorts, and I’m freezing my butt off here in Arizona. Life is not fair!

Since it’s been too nasty to go anywhere, Terry and I have been getting a lot done at home. Most of yesterday was spent working on our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, which will be held August 30 to September 3 at Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana.

I have started putting together the seminar schedule, and early indications are that we’ll have an excellent lineup once again. Mac McCoy will be presenting his RV Fire Safety seminar, the folks from Recreational Vehicle Safety and Education Foundation will be doing seminars on RV Weight Safety and RV Tire Safety, the Geeks on Tour have a great selection of computer seminars, I’ll be doing my two new seminars, Cemetery Stories and 100 Miles From Here. Orv Hazelton will present a seminar on Understanding RV Continued Service Plans, and there will also be seminars on bloggng, RV insurance, accessing the internet on the road, RV history, digital photos, RV maintenance, and lots more.

We already have several great vendors signed up, including AGS (recruiting RVers to sell advertising on campground maps) , Lawrence RV Accessories (Tire Traker tire pressure monitoring systems and Progressive Industries electrical management systems), Techno RV (computer accessories), Tastefully Simple (gourmet food mixes), Coyote Sales (Wilson antennas, cell phone accessories and PressurePro tire monitoring systems, Uniquely RV (solar lights), Good Sam Extended Warranty Service, Fire and Life Safety (fire extinguishers and fire alarms), Flags Galore & More (flags and flagpoles), Too Crazy Ladies (custom name tags), M&B Enterprises (diesel engine filters and supplies), Passport America (discount campground memberships), Geeks on Tour (computer education DVDs), MOR/ryde (suspension systems) and Precise Satellite and RV Electric (MotoSat dishes), to name just a few, and we have more vendors signing up every week.

RV sites are going fast for the rally. We only have 27 of our 50 amp full hookup sites left,  and we have 12 of the 30 amp full hookup sites available, and 23 of the 30 amp water & electric sites.  We also have quite a few sites available with 20 amp electric and water. To reserve your site, visit our Rally Registration Page. We’re looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends at the rally, and making some new friends too!

Thought For The Day – Earth First! We’ll strip mine the other planets later.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally! 

It’s windy again here in Northern Arizona, go figure. Yesterday,  for the fourth time in four weeks, Interstate 40 east of Flagstaff was closed due to high wind and blowing dust. Will it ever stop?

The wind blew hard all day yesterday, with gusts over 60 miles per hour. It never let up all night long,and today we have more of the same. The weather report says we can expect sustained winds at 25 to 40 miles per hour, and gusts over 60 miles per hour. I think I know what the Oakies in the Dust Bowl must have felt like.

The storm system is also bringing more cold weather, with highs in the upper 40s and low 50s the next couple of days, and Friday night it is supposed to get down to 29 degrees! This sucks. I love visiting with my daughter and her family, but I’m already looking forward to getting someplace warmer. Hopefully someplace where I can open the motorhome door without the wind trying to rip it off its hinges.

I spent yesterday loading a new version of QuickBooks Pro into my computer, and then setting it up for our bookkeeping.

Then I loaded Family Tree Maker 2010. I have been using Ancestry.com for my genealogy research, and since this is an Ancestry product, I was looking forward to adding its capabilities to my family tree search. To be honest, so far it hasn’t really impressed me. I don’t see what I can do with it that I couldn’t already do just with my Ancestry.com subscription. Time will tell.

The new 3G Apple iPads are scheduled to hit the stores on Friday, and I really, really wish there was a Best Buy or Apple store nearby. The closest Best Buy is in Flagstaff, and the closet Apple store is in Gilbert, Arizona. Hmmm…. road trip time? I know I could order one online and have it delivered, but I’d prefer to purchase it from a store and have the techno-geeks there set it up for me so it’s done right.

While I was doing my thing yesterday, Miss Terry caught up on a bunch of paperwork, and logged in some new registrations for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally. In the evening she made a wonderful supper of fried chicken and wild rice. It sure is nice being married to a woman who is beautiful, smart, and a great cook too! How’d I get so lucky?

Bad Nick doesn’t like the wind either, so he stayed inside and posted a new Bad Nick Blog titled It’s Working Already! Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally! 

After the whirlwind activity of getting the new issue of the Gypsy Journal finished, printed, and mailed, it was nice to have a day when we didn’t have to do anything. Yesterday we slept in, and when we got up, Miss Terry made a delicious brunch of crepes. Yummy!

We spent some time checking e-mail and visiting some of our favorite websites, and handling a few little chores around the motorhome. Miss Terry did a couple of loads of laundry, and I dumped our black tank. Then we prepared a few orders we needed to mail out.

Eventually we got ourselves in gear and drove 26 miles into Pinetop-Lakeside, where we stopped at the post office to mail out the orders. Then we stopped at a yarn shop, where Miss Terry looked for some yarn she needs for a crochet project, but they didn’t have anything she wanted.

From there, we drove to my friend Jim Lewis’ Pinetop Book Exchange. Jim and I go back about 25 years, and he is one of the treasures in my life. Soon after we arrived, Jim’s lovely wife Shar showed up, and we swapped lies and told stories for a couple of hours, until it was time for Jim to close up shop for the day.

Then we all walked a few doors down to El Rancho, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, and one we never miss when we’re back in our old hometown area. The food was delicious, and the easy conversation among old friends was comfortable and fun.

When we left Jim and Shar, we stopped at the Lowes in Show Low, to pick up the new wooden Levolor window blinds we had ordered to replace the day/night shades in our Winnebago.

With them loaded into the van, our next stop was at my daughter Tiffany’s house. Seven year old Hailey wanted to show us her brand new cast, and Grandpa and Grandma Terry got to sign it. Thanks to everybody who wrote and expressed concern over Hailey’s injury. At first there was some concern that she might need surgery to repair the damage, but her doctor said he expects a full recovery, with no complications.

It was getting close to the kids’ bedtime, so we didn’t stay too long. Our final stop for the day was at Wal-Mart, where Miss Terry looked again for the yarn for her project. They didn’t have what she needed, so we headed back to the motorhome at Juniper Ridge RV Resort.

Starting tomorrow, we have more bad weather headed our way, with wind tomorrow, then low temperatures and thunderstorms for the next few days after that.  We’ll probably stay close to home and piddle around, except for an occasional trip into town to see Tiffany and her family. I have quite a bit of computer work to catch up on, and Terry needs some time to wade through a backlog of paperwork, so we have plenty to keep us busy.

Bad Nick has already been busy, posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled An Uproar In Arizona. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day -  A clear conscience is a soft pillow.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally! 

In a blog last week, I took you on a tour of Two Guns, Arizona, a relic of the glory days of historic Route 66.

Across the highway from Two Guns, and three miles up a gravel road, lies what is left of the ghost town of Canyon Diablo. You have probably never heard of this long ago Old West town, but at one time it was bigger than Flagstaff, and wilder than Tombstone or Dodge City. The term hellhole was a perfect description of Canyon Diablo.

The town sprang up out of nowhere about 1882, when construction of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad came to a sudden halt when it reached the edge of steep-sided Canyon Diablo.

It took months to order and have the materials sufficient to span the deep canyon sent from back east, and the railroad workers spent their time carousing in the ramshackle town that took its name from the neighboring canyon.

Anywhere there was a railroad payroll, saloonkeepers, gamblers, prostitutes, and outlaws were sure to follow, lured by the scent of easy money. Before long, over a dozen saloons, two dance halls, ten gambling dens, and four brothels lined both sides of the town’s one street, known as Hell Street.

Canyon Diablo’s saloons, gambling halls, and brothels were open and busy 24 hours a day. Before long, the population had swelled to over 2,000 people, bigger than Flagstaff, located 40 miles to the west. Twice weekly stagecoach service operated between Canyon Diablo and Flagstaff, and robbing the stagecoach was a popular pastime for the local outlaws. With no town marshal, the criminal element was free to do whatever it wanted, and shootouts and knifings were commonplace.

Finally the need for law enforcement was too great to overlook, and a marshal was hired. The job would require a courageous man, but courage alone was not enough. The town’s first lawman pinned on his badge at 3 p.m., and they buried him in Canyon Diablo’s fast-growing Boot Hill at 8 p.m. the same night! Five more brave, or foolhardy, men took on the job, and all five were promptly killed in the line of duty. The longest survived a month before they planted him too, in Boot Hill.

All told, 36 men would end up in Boot Hill, and all but one met violent deaths. Finally the U.S. Army had to come in and take over Canyon Diablo to quell the criminal activity there.

Canyon Diablo died just as quickly as it was born. Once the railroad bridge spanned the canyon, the workers moved on westward with the tracks, and the whores, thieves, and killers followed them. A few die hard hooligans lingered for a while, but things calmed down pretty fast.

For several years a German named Hermann Wolf operated a trading post at Canyon Diablo, and when Wolf died in 1899, he was the only man buried at Boot Hill who died peacefully.

Today there isn’t much left of Canyon Diablo except a stone wall of Herman Wolf’s trading post and a few small stone ruins quietly melting back into the high desert.

The only evidence of the infamous Boot Hill is Hermann Wolf’s lonely grave, surrounded by a falling down pipe fence. Local lore says that sometime after World War II, a relative of Wolf’s came from Germany and replaced his original wooden grave marker with the current headstone.

None of the other grave markers have survived, though there is a noticeable depression in the earth next to Wolf’s grave that could very well be a sunken gravesite.

Canyon Diablo is located three miles north of Interstate 40, Exit 230. From the north side of the highway, follow the paved roadway west a few hundred feet to where it curves to the right and turns to gravel, then continue north three miles to the railroad tracks. The tracks are blocked, but you can park your vehicle and walk about ½ mile west to the town’s ruins, which are on the north side of the tracks. Hermann Wolf’s grave is south of the railroad tracks, and about 1/8 mile west of the road you drive in on.

In good weather, the rough road is suitable for a high clearance vehicle, but a passenger car would have considerable difficulty. Be careful of rattlesnakes! Wear boots, and watch where you put your hands and feet. Please be respectful of the gravesite and ruins – take only pictures and leave only tracks.

Thought For The Day – All that truly matters in the end is that you loved and were loved.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally! 

I received an e-mail yesterday from a fellow who attended several of my classes at Life on Wheels, informing me that he is getting out of the RV lifestyle after two years on the road.

That happens sometimes. This fulltime RVing isn’t for everybody. Some folks try it and find that they miss the family and friends, and usually the grandkids, that they left back in their hometown. Others find a place they really love and decide to settle down there permanently. Sometimes a couple discover that while they do okay in a house or apartment, living in the close confines of a motorhome or fifth wheel trailer is just too much “togetherness.” There are also those who just don’t adapt well to the mobile lifestyle, and once in a while we hear from people who say they just cannot afford the RV lifestyle.

In this gentleman’s case however, his reason was that he is just, in his words, “tired of throwing money at this damned RV to keep it running.” We know what it’s like to have a lemon RV; our first motorhome was a Fleetwood Pace Arrow Vision that just disintegrated going down the highway. After eighteen months on the road, we finally dumped it and bought the MCI bus that we converted and lived in for over eight years.

However, after reading more of his long e-mail, I quickly realized that this fellow is unrealistic in his expectations for any RV, or any other vehicle, for that matter. Here is his explanation of the money he was “throwing” at his RV to “keep it running,” cut and pasted from his e-mail:

We’ve had this ’98 American Dream for two years now, and it had 82,000 miles on it when we bought it. We have put another 17,000 miles on it since we started fulltiming. In that time I have had to have the windshield wipers and arms replaced, for $75, replaced the switch for the automatic step for $49, replaced the water pump for $149, oil change and filter for $199, generator oil change $99, replaced two steer tires $800, and replaced original TV with LCD flat screen $500. And that doesn’t include fuel or campground fees!”

Now, I was never very good in math class, but according to my trusty calculator, the above comes to $1871. That’s not bad for two years of fulltiming in a twelve year old motorhome with almost 100,000 miles on it!

I would assume that the tires were probably the original ones, and if they were, they definitely needed replacing. We just replaced all six of our original tires, with less than 40,000 miles on them. The tread was still excellent, and the sidewalls looked fine, but I considered it an investment in our safety.

I do not see the windshield wipers, step switch, or water pump as extraordinary replacement items. Things do wear out and break down once in a while. As for the oil changes on the motor and generator, those are maintenance items, and  a part of owning any vehicle, whether it be an RV or a passenger car.

I’m not sure if the final item he listed, the TV, was a replacement or an upgrade, so I won’t comment on that. The original TV in the front of our Winnebago motorhome just gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago and we had to replace it. Again, things do break down once in a while.

Anyone expecting to buy an RV and never having to spend any money on its upkeep is just not going to happen. Especially an RV that experiences the wear and tear of fulltiming, instead of just being a carport queen that is only used for an annual vacation and an occasional weekend at the lake. When you factor in that this fellow bought an older RV with a considerable number of miles on it, I would be amazed if he didn’t have to spend some money on it.

I’m curious, how many of you fulltimers or extended time travelers  have an annual budget for maintenance and repairs, or have an idea of what you spend in a year for upkeep. Care to share?

Bad Nick doesn’t have an RV to take care of, so he spent his time yesterday posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled Shake And Bake Celebrities. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – My mind works like lightning, one brilliant flash and it’s gone.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!