Sometimes it sucks to be me. Oh, the life of a hard working fulltime RVing newspaper publisher! Will the grind never end?

Yesterday I slept in until about 10 a.m., which isn’t really sleeping in for me, because that’s about the time I usually wake up. But Miss Terry wasn’t there to snuggle and cuddle up with like she usually is, so I had to just lay there all by myself and drowse off and on for a while before I finally drug myself out of bed.

And just in time, because Terry was busy making me a batch of her delicious crepes, with strawberry jam, for breakfast! I checked my e-mail, then read some of my favorite RV blogs. Greg White had finally posted something, after taking a day off; Dennis Hill was bragging, and deservedly so, about the pork butts he was smoking in Texas; my pals Joe and Marcia Jones are leaving Key West in search of new adventures; Stu and Donna McNicol’s blog had some new pictures of their puppy; and Mike McFall’s had pictures of his cat. Then I popped into Facebook to check in on all of my friends there.

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With all of that done and breakfast finished, we goofed off for several hours, and then decided to get some paddling in on Lake Hancock. We’re getting better at inflating my Sea Eagle PaddleSki 435 kayak, but Miss Terry and I both agree that we need to contact Tim at Inflatable Boats 4 Less and order one of their electric pumps to make the job even easier. Even so, in less than 10 minutes the boat was ready to go and I was paddling away from the launch.

We paddled to the south side of the lake, to check out this derelict old sailboat, which somebody apparently pulled up to shore and abandoned. At one time this was somebody’s pride and joy, and now it’s just rotting away. I wonder how it got into this sad condition.

We paddled around the lake for about 90 minutes, crossing over to the far side and back, stopping occasionally to rest and just enjoy the water.

Miss Terry has the sharpest eyes of anybody I’ve ever known. We can be rolling down the highway at 60 miles per hour, and she’ll point out antelope grazing in a meadow, or a hawk resting on a fence post.

She spotted this osprey perched high in a tree beside the lake, and paddled over to take its picture. With the things she can turn out with her cheap little Olympus point and shoot camera, I think Terry needs to move up to a digital SLR. But the pocket size camera is handy and she always has it with her. A larger camera might end up spending more time in its case, instead of being carried all of the time.

We also saw all of these turkey vultures sitting together. How many can you count?

The sun was sinking low in the sky when we came off the water, and by the time we got the boats dried off and stowed away, and got back to the motorhome, it was starting to get dark. We spent the evening watching TV and cruising the internet.

So there you have it, my hardworking day. Unlike most working folks, I don’t even get Sunday’s off! Yeah, it sucks to be me.

Bad Nick didn’t have it any easier. He worked yesterday too, posting a new Bad Nick Blog installment of the popular Dumb A$$ Report. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg, even if you are half-cracked.

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I have to be honest, even though we have belonged to Thousand Trails for several years, I was in no hurry to come to the preserve here in Clermont, Florida. But we’ve been here a week now, and I think it’s fast becoming one of my favorite Thousand Trails/NACO campgrounds. Our site is great, they have all kinds of nice amenities, and we have run into several people we know since we’ve been here.

John and Sharon Mostollers, Gypsy Journal subscribers from Trout Run, Pennsylvania are parked near us, and yesterday John came by to tell me about a neat little restaurant that he thought we would enjoy, and we had a nice visit. 

A little later on, we had a late lunch at Santa Fe steakhouse with Dave and Jean Damon, fulltiming friends we know from the RV rally vendor circuit. We had a good time visiting, solving most of the problems of the world, and the food was pretty good too!

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My new Sea Eagle tall back kayak seat arrived on Friday from Inflatable Boats 4 Less, and back at the campground, Terry and I decided to end the day with a late afternoon paddle. The campground has a dock and boat launch on Lake Hancock, which is known for excellent largemouth bass fishing. And yes, the 4550 acre lake is also home to alligators, but if you are going to be on any freshwater lake or river in Florida, they are a fact of life. (As opposed to the sharks and barracuda in the salt water.) Here is a Google Earth view of the lake and the Thousand Trails campground.

The new seat is much better! We spent over an hour on the lake, until the sun started to drop behind the trees,  and my back didn’t hurt at all. I need to install a couple of D rings to position it properly for me, but Tim from Inflatable Boats 4 Less sent a kit with some extras with the boat, and they are easy to install.

The PaddleSki gets a lot of attention. A few people were fishing on the dock when we set it up, and they all watched the process, and commented on what a neat idea an inflatable boat is for RVers.

Back at the motorhome, I worked for a while on the seminar schedule for our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally. I still have a lot of open time slots to fill, but as of now, seminar titles include Why Use Water Filters?, Gypsy Journal FAQs, Craft & Hobby Show and Tell, Fire Safety, What Insurance Do I Really Need As An RVer?, Insiders Guide To Get The Most From Your RV Service Center, Tips & Tidbits – Why Didn’t I Think Of That?, Accessories For Better Air Card Internet Access, RV Insurance – What Affects Your Rates, Starting A Business On The Road, For Women Only Roundtable, Illness Or Injury While Traveling – What Would You Do?, Transporting Firearms In Your RV, Laugh Your Way Across The USA, Geocaching, Yes You Can Drive That RV (For Ladies Only), The RVing Genealogist, Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems, Getting The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera, Testing Air Brakes, RV Safety Improvements For Him And Her, RVing Alaska, Swedish Weaving, Finding Your Satellite Signal, RV Weight Safety, Pros & Cons Of RV Extended Warranties, RV Quick Shades, RV Driving Tips & Techniques, Windshields – Repair or Replace?, Why Use Water Filters?, RV Tire Safety, Internet Genealogy, Preparing To Drive To Alaska, Boondocking Tips Roundtable, Kayaks & RVs, Care & Operation Of RV Awnings, and Computer Safety And Security For RVers. That’s 35 seminars so far, and we’ll have about 60 by the time we’re through!

My friend Brenda Speidel sent me some information about the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign yesterday. The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes have teamed up for the fourth year in a row to help brighten the holidays for our brave men and women in uniform. From now until December 10th, you can send holiday cards to service members, their families, and veterans all over the world. Anyone can send a card, or as many as you would like, to: Holiday Mail for Heroes, PO Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456 and they will be delivered to military members. I still remember my first Christmas away from home, a young soldier in a very bad place, and the Christmas cards I got from an elderly lady in a nursing home, and a little girl from Oklahoma, sent out under a similar program. When you’re a kid far from home, it means a lot.

Speaking of the holidays, quite a few readers have taken advantage of our Holiday Subscription Special Offer. If you subscribe or renew your existing Gypsy Journal subscription for two years, we’ll also send a one year gift subscription ($20 value) to whoever you choose, with a note that it’s a gift from you. This applies to both printed subscriptions to U.S. addresses by Standard Rate mail, and digital subscriptions. Click the link above, and save money today!

Thought For The Day - An argument is like a country road, you never know where it is going to lead.

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A lot of people have e-mailed, telling me that we have to go to Disney World and Epcot while we’re at the Clermont Thousand Trails preserve. Sorry, but it isn’t going to happen. I don’t do mice, even ones named Mickey.

When I was a kid, we spent almost a year living within a five mile drive of Disneyland in California, and I never saw the place. My parents took my sister a time or two, but I never wanted to go, and instead spent the day at a friend’s house.

I’ve just never been into theme parks. I went to high school in Toledo, Ohio, a short drive from Cedar Point, perhaps the biggest amusement park in the Midwest. I went one time with some friends, and was bored stiff. I just wasn’t interested. Does that say something about my warped psyche, even way back then?

So paying big bucks for tickets to Epcot just isn’t going to happen. Heck, I don’t even think we’d go if the tickets were free! We’re not into crowds, and we have too many other things we’d prefer to do with our time.

We much prefer simple things, like the little Historic Village that we discovered yesterday when we drove into Clermont to pick up our mail at the post office. Located near the southern shore of Lake Minneola, the village is a collection of historic buildings that include the train depot, which was built in 1925. The large round gray doors on the side of the building, in the forefront of this picture, are to the building’s old boiler.

The two story building just past the depot is the circa 1895 Townsend House, which is furnished with period items. The village also includes the Kern House, and the original Cooper Memorial Library. Tours are conducted of the buildings on Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m.

Back at the Thousand Trails campground, the new seat for my Sea Eagle PaddleSki 435 kayak had arrived right on schedule, just as promised by Tim and Crystal Ryerson at Inflatable Boats 4 Less. These folks really know how to take care of their customers!

I can’t wait to get the PaddleSki back out on the water and try out the new seat, but the wind was blowing hard yesterday, and the water was pretty choppy. Hopefully it will die down today, and I can launch the boat here at the campground.

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A couple of days ago I showed you a picture of the gopher tortoise living in a burrow next to our motorhome. We have seen several of the critters in the campground, as well as a number of sand hill cranes.

These are some big, ungainly looking birds, and they have no fear of people. When I stopped to take their picture, they walked right up to the van.

I think this fellow is doing his mating dance. Or else he just put on deodorant, and is drying his wingpits. I’m not sure which.

While I was busy looking at Big Bird and his pals yesterday, Bad Nick took advantage of the time to post a new Bad Nick Blog titled This Pisses Me Off! Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – If all is not lost, where is it?

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Wow, I go away for one afternoon and the whole world changes! What’s up with that?

I had to get up earlier than usual for me yesterday morning, because I needed to be wide awake for a 9 a.m. conference call. I’ve found that folks tend to get offended or lose confidence in you if you snore during a business call.

The call took about an hour, and then I spent some time answering e-mails and checking some blog comments that were waiting for moderation. (To fight spam, all blog comments are held for review the first time somebody makes one. After that, the software recognizes their e-mail address and comments post immediately).

I also called my friend Greg White to ask his opinion on a couple of technical issues. No matter what questions I throw at him, from computers to digital cameras to synthetic transmission fluids, Greg always has the answers for me. Either he’s really smart, or he just makes stuff up off the top of his head and gets lucky a lot, I’m not sure which. Thanks for your input, Greg.

About the time I finished up with all that, Dave Damon showed up to borrow my Beanstalk ladder so he could fix something on his rig. Dave also reminded me that his wife, Jean, wants to give Terry and I massages while we’re here. I can hardly wait!

We left the Thousand Trails campground a little after noon, and drove around the area, dropping off bundles of sample copies of the Gypsy Journal at the local RV parks. We also stopped at the Camping World in Orlando to drop off a bundle of papers, but since we didn’t have a display rack for them, the manager said no. This is one of only two or three Camping World stores to say no in over twelve years. I understand their space limitations, but it’s a big store. We just don’t have the room to carry display racks with us, and we could never get back to refill them with every new issue with our travel schedule.

Interestingly enough, the nice folks at a very small RV parts store called Camping Connection, just a few miles east, were happy to have the papers, and found a place to display them. I guess if I need anything while we’re in the Orlando/Clermont area, I know who will get my business.

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Once we were done dropping off sample newspapers, we drove to the Bass Pro Shop in Orlando to do some browsing. I love Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop, because they are RV friendly, and most of their stores will let RVers park overnight, and because they have every kind of toy a grown up boy could want or need. Are you looking for a new shotgun, or a sleeping, bag, or a GPS, or a fishing rod? How about a pocket knife, a boat, or a tent? They’ve got it!  

Most of the employees I have met at these stores are very professional, but I ran into one dunderhead at the Orlando store. We plan to spend a week or so in the Florida Keys, and I wanted to buy a rod and reel to do some fishing. I was looking for an inexpensive rig that would do the job without breaking the bank, because experienced fishermen have told me that if you use a cheap reel for fishing salt water, you can pretty much expect to throw it away at the end of the season.

An employee in the fishing department asked if he could help me, and I told him what I was looking for. He shrugged and said “ You got a rod, you got a reel, you got some line and a hook. They all do the same thing.” I was tempted to pick up a cheap $10 kid’s rod and reel, and then one of their most expensive units (some selling for over $1,000) and seek out the manager and ask him why there was a difference in price, since they “all do the same thing.” Instead, I just took my money and left.

After stopping for dinner at a good Chinese buffet, we arrived back at the Thousand Trails preserve a little before 7 p.m., to find the place much busier than it had been before we left. I think everybody left Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, and they all got here at the same time! When we left a few hours before, about a third of the RV sites in our loop were empty, including the ones next to and across from us. When we got home, those and just about every other site we passed in our loop was filled. I go away for one afternoon and the place fills up!

I guess the annual snowbird migration has begun. And it will only get busier over the next few weeks!

Thought For The Day – The greatest ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about.

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We find that a day out running around or playing, balanced out by a day at home, seems to work best, when we can do it. After our day of kayaking Tuesday, we spent Wednesday here at the Orlando Thousand Trails preserve.

In mid-morning, our friends Dave and Jean Damon came by to say hello, and to welcome us to this area. We first met Dave and Jean when we were vending at an FMCA RV rally in Ohio a while back, and hit it off well with them.

They sell 303 Protectant products, and Jean is also an excellent masseuse, whose services are in great demand everywhere they go. A couple of years ago, Jean gave me a massage after our Gypsy Gathering rally in Celina, Ohio, and by the time she was done kneading and working on me, I was so relaxed that I could hardly walk back to our motorhome!

Dave and Jean spend a lot of time in this area, so they were able to fill us in on some good places to eat and shop, and because Dave is the kind of guy who doesn’t pull any punches, he also told us about a couple of places to avoid.

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While Dave and Jean were here, Terry happened to look outside and spotted a gopher tortoise. We have seen a lot of these critters over the years, and I am always amazed at how fast they can move when they want to.

Gopher tortoises have been around for over 60 million years, making them one of the oldest living species known to man. They  live in underground burrows that average 30 feet long, and can go down as deep as 20 feet. Can you see the dirt this guy is throwing up as he heads underground?

It’s burrow is right next to our RV site, and we’re happy to have it as a neighbor. It’s a lot better than a yappy little dog!

Terry spent much of the day catching up on paperwork, while I pretty much goofed off. I had several e-mails to answer from readers wanting more information on the PaddleSki inflatable kayak that I wrote about in yesterday’s blog, and also several from folks asking about our upcoming Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally. I don’t have the rally schedule ready to post yet, there is still a lot of finalizing to do, but I guarantee you that we will have some great seminars to meet every interest!   

During the afternoon, I went over to the Activity Center here at the campground and dropped off a bundle of sample issues of the Gypsy Journal, then drove down to the campground’s dock and boat launch to check things out. I arrived just in time to see a fellow coming off the water in a very nice paddle-drive Hobie fishing kayak. He showed me a couple of nice bass he had kept for dinner, and told me that during his last hour on the water, they were hitting on about every fourth cast he made.

The other day I wrote about discounts that businesses are offering veterans in honor of Veterans Day. The RV Business website reports that Carefree RV Resorts has announced a new veterans discount program.  The company is offering veterans a year round 50% nightly discount, on a space available basis, at 35 RV parks in Florida, Texas, New Jersey, North Carolina and California. Check it out, you might save some money on a very nice RV site for a few days.

Bad Nick was busy yesterday posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled Like A Bad Rash. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Who says nothing is impossible? I’ve been doing nothing for years.

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