Sunday, March 14, 2010

Back home at the Ranch...

The Gypsy Journal Rally is over and we are once again back home on our lot at North Ranch Escapee Park. Our rig is filthy dirty and we are completely worn out. Four days of standing in a booth talking to friends and customers is not hard work. That is, under normal circumstances it's not, but the circumstances were far from normal and this Rally wore on us like no other Rally has. The Marine Air Base is right across the street from the Fairgrounds in Yuma.  There are extremely low flying jets taking off and landing all the time. What a disaster...it is deafening. You have to scream at the top of your lungs and then you just give up because it drowns you out. It is a metal building and the acoustics are not the greatest anyhow, but with jets rattling the metal, it's even worse. Our seminar was a total disaster because no one could hear us. We just as well have skipped it.  I was hoarse and had a sore throat the whole time we were there.

The entertainment was very good. Two Country Western singers, David Bradley and Michael Hargis entertained us for about an hour and a half Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Below Michael Hargis is performing on the stage in front of a large crowd. Look closely at the background of the picture and notice who got Top Center billing!   PressurePro , the No 1 tire pressure monitoring system on the market! We became acquainted with Michael and his wife and even sold their CDs at our booth. They are RV'ers and parked their big bus right near us.


















Before the entertainment was the big Pizza party. There was really a big crowd, I think they said 300+, and the Pizza was served in about 10 minutes to the entire crowd. It's amazing how quick they got everyone served and seated.  Terry, Nick's better half, does an excellent job of organizing events at the Rally.


The last night, as Nick was giving his closing ceremony, these 3 "Taller" gentlemen from the crowd came forward and gave Nick some guff about not having enough events for tall people.  Well,,what could he say but "ya, right"!!  LOL

















Everyone did their part and helped put the chairs away and get the area cleared for a big Gun Show the next day. We all had to be out by Noon.  So, we had time to get some bookwork done, run to the bank, then get ready to head for home.

Little Ms Megabyte2 was always so happy for us to come home everyday after leaving her alone all day. The low flying, LOUD aircraft that shook the ground and all the buildings had her as flabbergasted as it did us. It scared her to death!!!  She ran and hid in places I've never seen her go before.  She was more than ready to get out of that place.  We travel just enough to confuse her....she doesn't really get used to it and doesn't like the noise of the slide outs, nor the diesel truck.

We left Yuma and headed out to the Flying J where we filled up with about 100 gal of fuel, at a mere $2.779 a gal.......not a bad price, but it sure shot our profits.  We pulled into North Ranch about 2:30 pm and were all settled in just in time for....yep, you guessed it...."Happy Hour"!!

Whew!! it's good to be HOME.  I do believe that took care of our "hitch itch" for a spell.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!! 

Thanks for stopping by and it sure was great talking to all our friends that follow the Blog. Thank you again. A big welcome to our 65Th and 66Th followers; Chuck and Rhoda and Tim Whittle.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

7 comments:

Debbie Goode said...

Ah, yes I remember Yuma. The rv park we were located in was near a site where the marines did test bombing. The first time it happened we actually thought someone hit the rv and then realized it was a "test" bomb. Fortunately, it didn't happen very often. Glad you are back at the "ranch" and taking it easy. My Cosmo boy likes that same position on our recliners....LOL!

Jerry and Suzy said...

Welcome back home! Home is where the cat ... er, the heart is. If all the other vendors and the participants at the rally complain about the noise, which Nick calls the sound of freedom, I wonder if'll he'll have to relocate the rally again? But where can he put that many people, rigs, vendor booths, etc. at a reasonable price?

Unknown said...

I love that photo of you and Ms Megabyte2!

Rick said...

Ms. Megabyte sure looks happy to be back on the recliner at home - so do you!! Sounds like it was a bit of a trying week with all the noise from the jets shaking things up and the wind and rain to start the week. Time to relax for a few days and keep those feet up, Mike!

squawmama said...

Sounds like you had a BIG battle with the sounds but you managed to have a good time anyways... At least I hope it was profitable for you guys. I sure hope you get back up to Custer before we leave the area. We would love to meet you & Pat... Take it easy and get some well deserved rest my friends... Have fun & travel safe!
Donna

Al Bossence said...

When I used to transport people in & out of the Toronto International Airport years ago I used to tell them the best part of their trip will be 'coming home.' When I would pick them up again at the airport weeks or months later they would say, "you know, you were right about that coming home part." It's the best:))

Kim Hadley said...

hi.... i was surfing around online today looking for blogs about people living and traveling around in RV's. I came across yours.

I am working at putting a resource site up for RVing and would love to repost some of your blog there.

The site is www.rvingcentral.com. I'm trying to build up stories, resources all with the aim to provide people inspiration so they take the plunge and live the dream!

If you feel you'd like to participate, you can email me at info@rvingcentral.com, or just reply to the comment and i should get that.

Thanks!