Wednesday, February 11, 2009

We had BOMBS!!!!

WOW,,,,,,Yesterday was EXCITING!!!! We really had an eventful second day of the Gypsy Journal Rally, but probably the most exciting was the BOMBS. Shortly after lunchtime, a lot of people were moving around outside in the Vendor area and many were headed to Nick Russell's Seminar on "Being a smart RV & Car buyer". It was about to start when ALL OF A SUDDEN out of nowhere was the LOUDEST BOOM I have heard for a long time!!! I could tell it was CLOSE!!! My immediate thought was someones Propane tank EXPLODED. I was talking to several customers out in front of our rig where we had our display tables set up. We all looked at each other with BIG EYES and asked "What in the HE#* was that"????

About that time Ms Pat, who was inside the Rig writing up an order, yelled " the POWER just went off"!! Ah, ha, I thought, that explains it, it must have been a power transformer. Then in another instant there were TWO more BOOMS of nearly the same magnitude, but not quite as shocking as the first. Several people hollered "Pull the POWER plug on your rig, there may well be POWER SURGES"! Everybody started running towards there Motorhome, Bus, or 5TH wheel. Power surges are the RV'ers WORST nightmare, as they can raise havoc with all or any of your appliances and electronics. That's the main reason that I always go the extra route and spend the bucks for a Power Line Monitor. A good PLM can save you many times over in such instances as this. I wasn't too worried about a surge getting into our Coach, but I thought why chance it, so I pulled our plug also.

When our power goes out, as many of you that have an Inverter standing by know, you can hardly tell it happened. The Inverter switches over from it's standby mode to supplying the power from our batteries and converting it to the needed 110V AC. It happens so FAST that the computers, clocks, etc. don't even flicker and stay on just as if nothing happened. I was getting over 20 amps of charge from my Solar Panels, which was more than enough to offset what the Inverter was taking out of them.. We could care less if the POWER goes off, especially when the sun is shining or if we have our batteries charged up to the full 800 amp capacity.


Those Power line fuses that BLEW and then the LARGE HOLE it blew in the Transformer caused a lot of conversation the rest of the day. I'm happy to report that there was a Power Company Crew right here at the Fairgrounds working on something else. So, they were on scene immediately!!! Within an hour they had it fixed!!! That was NEAT!!!! because the ENTIRE area was without power, it totally shut down all the Seminars and other proceedings that was going on at this BUSY PLACE!!!

I LOVE this Gypsy Journal Rally, it is one of the BEST as far as Pat and I are concerned. Nick and Terry really know how to put on a RALLY!!!! Second to NONE!!!! This is our 3RD Gypsy Journal Rally here at Casa Grande and these gracious hosts make you feel so much like you are family and appreciated that it's mighty enjoyable. Plus, we have so many old friends and customers here that it's like old "homecoming". I'm not much of a Rally person (and we've been to dozens of them), so for me to say that, it must be SUPERB!!! If you ever get a chance to come to one,,don't miss it!!!


Yesterday morning was our Seminar here at the Rally and WHAT A TURN OUT we had!!!!! 55 people attended, standing room only....... Plus afterwards we sold PressurePro System after System and TWO PowerTanks!!! That along with lots of folks buying Dri-Wash Waterless Car Wash & Polish and signing up one Dealer, made the day VERY successful!!!

With such a GREAT and successful and exciting day under our belt, we attended the Door Prize drawing at the Main events center at 7pm. After a few dozen drawings, we WON a free ONE YEAR membership in PassPort America, the very popular discount camping club valued at about $50.00...............Hmmm,,,wouldn't you know it, when Pat went up front to accept the prize, she advised Nick (the MC announcer) that about 10 years ago, we purchased a LIFETIME membership to PassPort America and requested that they redraw so someone else could win.... So that's what they did. That was a pleasant, satisfying gesture and we were happy and ready to head home for some quiet time......

WAIT, the evening was not over for us yet. One more BIG EVENT. The 50/50 drawing......most of you know what that is... a lot of events have the 50/50. Our GOOD friends, Customers and fellow Bloggers, JERRY and SUZY work exceptionally hard selling the 5o/50 tickets everyday at the Rally. They sell tickets for $1.00 each and the money goes into a pot and each night a name is drawn to the LUCKY person that gets 1/2 of the POT. I bet you can see where this is going!!!:-) Jerry and Suzy usually sell about $500.-$600.00 worth of tickets every day, so that means $250.-$300.00 for the LUCKY winner.

We usually buy $5.00 worth of tickets but I had a "feeling" yesterday, so I bought $10.00 worth of tickets. I know you've guessed it by now. You're right!! One of our 10 numbers was pulled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah,,,,,we went home with an extra $250.00 in our pocket.... MAN, what a DAY!!!!! Isn't it GREAT to be alive!!! It was then bed time after a long, hard, HAPPY and very SATISFYING day!!!!

One last thing,,,,,,,,Little Miss Megabyte2 has become some what of a celebrity. Since Nick mentioned her in his National coverage Blog last week, she is one WELL known kitty!!! He even made a joke announcement at one of the large group gatherings that he would NOT allow us to give away a "kitten" as a door prize! Everyone wants to know about her and maybe even get a glimpse of her. So she is getting a lot of attention. Plus, we now have almost a waiting line for one or two of the kittens.

First and FOREMOST on that list is Sally Lockwood, our fellow HDT'ers and Neighbors at North Ranch and Retama Village. Tom and Sally surprised us by attending the Rally. We hadn't seen them for about a year. How GREAT to see them and get to spend some time with them. Many of you know Tom and Sally well. Sally lost her long time friend and companion cat "Arsenio" over a year ago. She is still in mourning and once she found out we had Mega2 and that she was in a family way, she said "Boy, I am ready!!!,,,,I will take TWO!!!" The Lord works in mysterious but GREAT ways!! Sally, you can have the "pick of the litter" X 2. (-:

But, STILL no babies!!!!! We just know it will be soon, but maybe she is going to honor my request and wait until we get to North Ranch. That's only 3 days away!!!!! Come on Girl,,hold on !!!!



Thanks for stopping by and I'm sorry this is so long, but it's been EXCITING around here and I wanted to share it with you!!!

It's a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God Bless

Mike



This Blog Published every Wednesday and Sunday.....

3 comments:

Ron and Thelma said...

Last fall at the eastern rally we won the 50/50 on Tues night I think it was. It was for 300.00. After I got done buying at the vendors didn't have much left but that was okay.

Jerry and Suzy said...

Glad to be of service! We've got another big pot brewing for Thursday night's drawing. Two years ago at this same rally we won $310 on a last minute ticket. Now that we are selling the tickets, we can't buy them. It saves us money, but we miss out on the opportunity for BIG BUCKS! But we're having a great time, and It's All Part Of The Adventure!

Carol said...

That is so neat that you already have places for some of the kitties. I know that you will keep us posted on Mega's progress! :)+