As I reported in yesterday’s blog, firefighters were hoping the wind would hold off and not make battling the Eagle Rock forest fire that is burning northeast of Williams, Arizona any more difficult.

But Friday evening, the wind began blowing and it still hasn’t stopped. Yesterday the winds were steady at 35 mph, with gusts over 45, and today doesn’t look any better. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, a 400 acre fire is now burning just south of the Little America Resort, right off of Interstate 40 in Flagstaff. The news says this fire was man-caused, and police are interviewing a person of interest.

Sitting here on top of an open hill at Canyon Gateway RV Park in Williams, we can really feel the wind. We have a view of Interstate 40 down the hill through our windshield, and in spite of the high winds, we saw quite a few big RVs on the road battling the wind. It makes me wonder where they have to be so badly that they’d drive in those conditions.

I want to thank my son-in-law, Jim Robinson, and my granddaughters Hailey and Destiny for the unforgettable Father’s Day gift they gave me. Just before we left Show Low, they all came down with the stomach flu, and Friday night it nailed me big time. I’d have to feel 200% better just to die.

Poor Miss Terry worked hard all day yesterday stuffing envelopes with the new issue, while I napped off and on, drank ginger ale, and sniveled. I feel guilty because she wouldn’t even let me carry the finished plastic bins of envelopes out to the van. Those things are pretty heavy, and I just didn’t have the strength to even lift one.

I had no appetite all day long, but finally about 8 p.m. Terry talked me into eating some Jello. I’m usually up until at least 2 a.m., but as soon as I post this blog entry, I’m headed for bed. I’m sorry there isn’t much of a blog today, my brain is so foggy I can’t even type.

Before I close, I hope you take some time today to call your dad and wish him happy Father’s Day. It’s the best gift you can give him.  And if your father has passed on, take a moment or two to remember him. I think he’ll know. And to my own dad, I think of you often, and miss you every day of my life. If my own kids look back someday and think of me with even half of the love and respect that I do you, I will consider my life a success.

Thought For The Day – Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad.

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We pulled out of our RV site at the Show Low Elks campground just before 9:30 a.m. yesterday morning, stopped in the lodge’s large dirt parking lot long enough to hook up our Blue Ox tow bar to our Ford van, did a light check, and put our old hometown in our rear view mirror.

We drove north 50 miles on State Route 77 to Holbrook, and then got onto Interstate 40 headed west. 30 miles later we stopped for fuel at the Flying J in Winslow. We still had just under half a tank of diesel, but I like to run on the top half of my tank whenever I can. It gives me more margin for error for whatever unexpected change in plans may lie ahead.

As it turns out, our fuel stop had an extra benefit; my daughter Tiffany was in Winslow for her job, and met us at Flying J for one last quick visit, a final hug or three, and then she was headed back home to Show Low, while we were back on the highway headed west.

We passed Meteor Crater, then started to see the San Francisco Peaks that tower over Flagstaff off in the distance. There was still snow on the tops of those high mountains.

A few miles past Flagstaff, Miss Terry pointed out a dozen or so cow elk standing in the forest’s edge right alongside the road. A mile or so later we saw a dead elk on the shoulder of the highway, and were glad we weren’t the ones who hit it. Those critters are as big as a horse, and hitting one can really do a lot of damage.

About the time we put the elk behind us, we started to see smoke from the Eagle Rock forest fire, which has burned 3,400 acres of ponderosa pines some eleven miles northeast of Williams. A news report I read later in the evening said that as of nightfall, the fire was 30 percent contained, but that fire crews were concerned that the winds might pick up and expand the wildfire. Sure enough, the wind kicked up, and is expected to be strong for the next two or three days.

Thirty miles west of Flagstaff, we pulled into Canyon Gateway RV Park in Williams, a Passport America affiliate located just off Interstate 40.  This is typical of many Passport America parks, nothing fancy, but clean and friendly, and a good value at $24 a night, tax included, for a level, 50 amp full hookup RV site. Some other RV parks here in Williams charge twice that.

The campground has gravel roads and sites, and small trees at every site. There are a few older rigs that look like they are permanents, but there is nothing wrong with that. Not everybody is made to live in a sticks and bricks house.

Here is our Winnebago, all leveled out and hooked up.

We had covered 175 miles since leaving Show Low, but we weren’t done yet. As soon as we had the RV parked and hooked up, Terry drove us back to Flagstaff in the van, where we stopped at the Arizona Daily Sun newspaper to pick up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, and then we stopped at Sam’s Club and Office Max for some mailing supplies.

We have been craving a good Chinese buffet for weeks now, and I had always wanted to try the Mandarin Super Buffet in Flagstaff, so we stopped there before heading back to Williams. I had not been feeling well for a couple of hours, so I don’t know if the food wasn’t all that good, or if I just couldn’t appreciate it. But I really did not enjoy the meal, which seldom happens. I drowsed most of the way back to Williams, and once back at the motorhome, I laid down for a while, which seemed to help.

By dark the wind had really picked up, and I’m glad it is blowing from the southwest, which means if it does spread the fire, at least it will be burning in the opposite direction of town. Hopefully the fire crews can knock it down before it gets any larger, or does any more damage.

We’ll be here for the next four days, while we get the new issue of the Gypsy Journal ready to mail out on Monday. We have excellent Verizon service, a  clear aim at the sky for our satellite TV dish, and Williams has a couple of good restaurants if Miss Terry wants to take a break and not cook. It’s good to be on the road again!

Before I close, one last thing. Several blog readers wanted to know if our new Levolor window blinds rattle or make any noise going down the highway. Now that we have actually driven the RV with them, I can report that they don’t make a sound, which is exactly what we expected.

Thought For The Day – I love to give homemade gifts, which one of my kids do you want?

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I’ve said many times before that saying goodbye is the hardest part of the fulltime RV lifestyle. Yesterday evening when we took our leave from my daughter Tiffany and her family, we all had tears in our eyes. Seven year old granddaughter Hailey clung to us until we almost had to pry her arms loose, and we promised her that we will be back again, and that we’ll send her postcards and call her from the road. I love my family, and I always feel terrible for leaving them, but I know, as does Tiffany, that I’d be miserable living in one place all the time.

Today we will leave Show Low, where we’ve been for over two months, and travel 170 miles to Williams, Arizona, where we’ll hang out for a few days getting the new issue of the Gypsy Journal ready to mail out. As soon as that’s done, we’re headed for the California coast. We have enjoyed our time here in our old hometown, but we stayed longer than we planned to, and we are really looking foreyard to seeing some new territory.

Except for winds predicted at 15 to 25 miles per hour, we should have an easy drive today. But in northern Arizona, that’s not really windy, it’s just a breeze. We have to pick the new issue of the paper up from our printer in Flagstaff, which is 30 miles east of Williams, but we’ll probably go on to Williams first and get the motorhome parked, then drive back in the van. I don’t like driving a big rig in Flagstaff, and besides, there is a Chinese buffet there that I’ve wanted to try for years.

I have had several people ask us if we will have rally T-shirts available at our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally in Elkhart, Indiana. Yes, we will, and it would really help us plan our order if you reserved your shirts before the rally. Cost is $15 per shirt, and 2x and 3x sizes are $17. You don’t need to pay us right now, but knowing who wants what helps us make sure we get enough shirts in the right sizes, and that we reserve shirts for those who ordered in advance.

I was contacted by longtime readers Ray and Nancy Fassbender yesterday, asking if I could reach out to blog readers to help them with a problem. They have been stuck for several days while a repair shop tries to diagnose a problem with their 2001 Serengeti Safari motorhome, built on a 2000 Magnum Chassis with a Cummins diesel engine.

If anybody out there has an electrical wiring schematic for a coach like this, please contact these folks at 520-280-4715  or e-mail them at nfass@earthlink.net. Neither they nor the shop has the wiring diagrams, and they are at a standstill. Please contact them directly, not me, because we’ll be on the road, and it will only delay matters for them. RVers are the nicest folks there are, and I know if anybody can help them, it will be my blog readers.

I promised Bad Nick that I would let him play with the computer, now that I have the new issue of the paper finished, and he jumped right on it, posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled I’m Sorry, BP. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.

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We had dinner with our friends Jim and Shar Lewis yesterday, and since they have been bitten by the RVing bug, most of our conversation was about our lifestyle, and specifically what kind of RV they should be looking at, a motorhome or a fifth wheel trailer.

This is a subject that is always good for a spirited debate among RVers. They have never built a “perfect” RV and never will. Each type of unit has its advantages and disadvantages.

While we prefer diesel pusher motorhomes, we have seen some great fifth wheels that we admired. But for us, a truck and trailer combination would not fit our needs or lifestyle. We carry a lot of stuff with us, we do a lot of overnight stops at WalMarts and truck stops, and for us, a motorhome is the best choice. However, as we told Jim and Shar, everybody is different, and when it comes to RVs, there is no “one size fits all.”

I have heard it said that while motorhomes typically give you more cargo space in the bays, fifth wheels give you more living space, because they don’t have a steering wheel and cockpit.

My friend, the late Gaylord  Maxwell, founder of Life on Wheels, once told me that if you are on the go a lot, stopping for a night or two before you move on, a motorhome was the best choice, because he felt it was easier to park, level, and hook up to campground utilities. But, he said, if you stay in one place for a couple of weeks or more at a time, the fiver made more sense.

However, I know many fifth wheel owners who would debate the fact that their rigs take longer to park and hookup. I have never been any good at backing up a trailer, but I have seen many RVers who can slip a fifth wheel into places I would never consider, and make it look like child’s play. As one fellow told me, “it’s a lot easier to get into places when your house bends in the middle.”

Of course, nothing is set in stone. We know former motorhome owners who have switched to fifth wheels, and fifth wheel owners who have gone over to the other side as their needs and lifestyle have changed. Our friends Mike and Pat McFall from PressurePro have spent the last couple of years in a beautiful Teton Reliance XT3 that they pull with a 2001 Volvo semi tractor. As much as they love their rig, they recently decided to sell it and get a motorhome because their traveling style has changed. If you’re looking for a top of the line, well maintained fiver, check out Mike’s For Sale webpage.

We have known a few RVers who seem to switch rigs every year or two, though I don’t know how they can afford it. We started fulltiming eleven years ago in a Pace Arrow Vision gas powered motorhome, and when it literally fell apart around us, we built a bus conversion that we lived and traveled in for over eight years, Last summer we bought a Winnebago Ultimate Advantage diesel pusher. Our current rig has every feature and option we could ever want, and I expect we’ll be in it for many years.  

Okay, I’m curious. What about you? Which do you prefer, a motorhome or a fifth wheel, and why? And do you expect to change rigs anytime soon?

Thought For The Day – If we are what we eat, I’m fast, cheap, and easy .

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We have been sitting still way too long, and Terry and I are both itching to get back on the road and see some new places and new faces.

Yesterday I finished putting the new issue of the Gypsy Journal together, and once I got the hang of InDesign, our new page layout software, it went pretty well. Today Miss Terry will proof the new issue, and then we’ll send it to our printer in Flagstaff.

We’ll pick the printed papers up on Friday, spend the next few days stuffing envelopes, and as soon as everything hits the post office, we’ll be making tracks!

While we are excited to be getting back on the road, it is always very hard to say goodbye to my daughter Tiffany and her family, and we’re sure going to miss those two granddaughters of ours. But the great thing is that the road goes two ways, and we knew we’ll be back again.

We still have a lot to do before we resume our gypsy lifestyle, and we’ll be busy the next couple of days wrapping up some last minute details, paying a last visit on some friends here, and planning our trip.

We have to be in Vail, Colorado in mid-July for a family wedding, and Vail is almost due north of where we are right now. So naturally, we plan to travel west about 750 miles first. Don’t you travel that way? We once left northern Indiana, headed for Florida, and took the long route through Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to get there!

We want to pop in on my friend Mike Howard in Kingman, Arizona, and then we plan to go to the central California coast, around Pismo Beach and Morro Bay for a while. We haven’t had fresh seafood in months, and since we’ve had our kayaks in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, it only seems right that we dip them into the Pacific too, don’t you think?

Of course, like I always say, our plans are set in Jello, and who knows where we may actually end up, and when? Except for the wedding and our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally in Elkhart, Indiana the end of August, we have no commitments, and we don’t want any.

We’ve been known to spot a interesting historical marker, and go off on a tangent that lasted a day or more, or to hear about some interesting place we never knew about, and take off in the opposite direction of our intended route to check it out. That’s the beauty of the RV lifestyle.

I’ve been so busy producing the new issue of the paper that I have not allowed Bad Nick near the computer in a week or so, and he has been building up steam, so I suspect he’ll have a new blog post anytime now.

Thought For The Day – It only seems kinky the first time.

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