Every month we write a newsletter to friends and family about our life on the road. We’ll be including it in the blog and get back to travel in Alaska next week. Please email me any questions you have about RV travel in Alaska. TALES FROM THE OPEN ROAD – MARCH 2008 RV Adventure Videos Schedule:
April: 2nd Glendora CA – 19th Fairfield Glade TN (Jodie) – 19th Huntsville AL (Jodie ) – 19th Burlington NC (Jodie) – 19th North Bay ONT(John) – 2nd Dun das ONT – 23rd Rockville ONT – 19th Missisuga ONT – 19th Chatham ONT
Check out John’s new Blog on RV.Net Don’t forget there is still time to sign you for John & Jodie’s Born Free Caravan to Alaska this summer! Check it out on our home page.
Hall of Fame The Churches |
| Hall of Shame
Downtown Denver Ramada Inn |
March 1st & 2nd found us doing presentations at the Phoenix RV Show. Right after the show ended Jodie headed to the airport for a flight to Kansas City. She then had to rent a car and drive 160 miles south to Miami OK to do a Travelogue dinner show the next night. It was a long way to go for just one show but that’s how the schedule worked out. It’s hard to plan shows a year in advance!
While Jodie was busy getting to her show in Miami I was driving from Phoenix to Bakersfield CA for two shows on the 3rd. On the way north I spent the night with the Lewis Williams family. While we were full-time RV’ers we just about lived in their drive-way part time. It was nice to see them again. How the kids have grown!
Bakersfield was made famous by country singer Buck Owens, a good name. The travelogue show sponsor there has the best name I’ve ever heard, Laddie Kumelos. If I had a name like that I’d be famous, maybe a pro-golfer or something! Laddie has a great sense of humor and is always fun to work with. That’s the great thing about our business, almost everyone we work with is a pleasure to be around. Almost. The last show ended about 10:00pm.
I packed up, got in the RV and drove 150 miles south to the Ontario CA airport where I spent a lovely night in the parking lot. I got there about midnight. Yes, it is a glamorous lifestyle!The next morning at 11:30am I flew to Denver. I had a room booked at the Downtown Ramada Inn at $100.00 per night, sounds nice doesn’t it?
The downtown area the hotel was in was “seedy” at best. I checked in at the desk and was told my room was on the third floor. I was also told that the main elevator wasn’t working. I got in the service elevator with one of the maids. It was very small. When the door (finally) closed she kept pushing on it to keep it closed and moving up-hill, not a good situation for big guy with claustrophobia! When I finally got to the third floor it was being painted and reeked with the smell of cheap paint, at least they were trying.
The room was poor at best. As they say, it was like putting lipstick on a pig. The pig looks better, but it is still a pig. Many of the hotels I stay in look great from the outside but once inside I keep looking for a plaque saying “George Washington (tried to) slept here”.The next morning was the topper. All I wanted was some corn-flakes and OJ (no not that one, the real juice) for breakfast.
I spent the next hour listening to a busy signal on the hotel phone. When I finally got through a (very stoned sounding) voice on the other end of the line explained that the phone had been off the hook (for an hour or so, great for business). Another hour later I got a knock at the door, ah, brunch! When I opened the door I saw a very hippie-stoner looking type (like I looked when I still had hair). In his hands (washed?) he had a box of corn-flakes, a plastic spoon, a Styrofoam cup of OJ and a half of a Styrofoam cup of milk. He neglected to bring a plate, dish, or napkin (paper towel even). He looked up at me and said, ” That’ll be $9.00.”
I was reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hungry so I didn’t slam the door in his face.When I finished my splendid repast I packed all of the used containers in a plastic bag and walked to the front desk. I carefully laid the containers out on the counter in a very nice display and asked for the hotel manager. When the manager arrived I said ” I just paid $9.00 for this, how do you FEEL about that”? She said that the restaurant wasn’t her responsibility. I had her take the $9.00 off my bill and moved to the Holiday Inn Express, but not before I asked if “their” elevator went to the top floor (unlike the people at the Ramada)! Complain all you want about the high price of RV fuel, I’ll take my own RV-house anytime I can!
The Denver RV Show went much better. I was working with sponsor Jeff Haughton. He was one of the first RV show promoters to hire us years ago and has been a loyal friend. The last night of the show I was invited out to dinner with Tom Gaither, from AGI Events, Jeff, Diane and Linda, the whole show crew (except Debbie). We had a great steak dinner at Luke’s.
The show ended the evening of the 9th, and I flew right back to Ontario CA. I got in the Born Free and started heading to Tucson. I was very anxious to get home but still had a 450 mile drive ahead of me. I only got about 50 miles before I was so tired I could hardly see. I pulled into a lovely casino parking lot outside of Palm Springs and went to sleep. I made it to Tucson at 4:00pm the next day.
Jodie had already been home a week and it was nice to be together again. It seems we have been apart for most of the year, and that’s no fun. The next day we took a few hours to sit buy the pool and realize how lucky we are to live in AZ while everyone up north is freezing!Our short rest ended when Jodie decided to fly to NY a couple of days later to visit with her family. Her father had a stroke January 2nd and she wanted to see him. She had visited back in January and wanted to go again. You only get one set of parents and you need to take care of them! Her dad, Gary, was very happy to see her and mom, Joan, appreciated the help.
While Jodie was in NY I flew to Atlanta GA on the 14th and drove down to Perry GA for “The Rally”. The Good Sam Club and it’s affiliates put on a huge get-together with thousands of RV’ers each year. I came in to do a couple of seminars. Our good friends Mike & Terri Church and Joe & Vicki Kieva were also doing seminars. It was great to see everyone. The last time we had all been together was in Alaska this past summer. It’s always fun to catch-up and talk shop, and eat, and drink etc… The Church’s write great books about RV camping, check them out at www.rollinghomes.com. If you’re heading to Alaska or Baja their books are a must read!
Starting at 8:30am the next morning I did two seminars, one about Alaska and one about the East Coast. Even at that hour the room was full of people interested in RV travel. I spent the rest of the day walking around the Rally and visiting friends at the Born Free display. The next morning I drove back to Atlanta and flew home to Tucson. It’s tough being a seminar giving jet-setter. I feel like ALGore, but without the big carbon footprint!
Jodie was already back. Her father was doing better and getting physical therapy. His tests went well and he was going home. It would be a long road back but he was in good spirits and working hard.
On the 17th Jodie put on a lunch for her water aerobics class her at the Voyager Resort. She has a great time teaching and has made many good friends. The snowbirds in the resort were already starting to head north and this would be the last time the class would be able to see each other until next winter. There were all kinds of festivities going on in the park at the end of the season including block parties, Easter egg coloring parties, Easter dinners and margarita pool parties. These folks know how to have fun!
Jodie and I planned a (drum roll) “DATE”! We’ve decided to make time to have some fun and see the area where we now live. We drove down to Tubac AZ for a day of eating and shopping. I enjoyed the eating part more. The place is a beautiful artists community with a lot of great shops, and you know me, I could shop all day long. We got some nice “stuff” to hang on the walls and headed home. It was great to get away from the daily grind for a while.
The next day it was back to work. We did a seminar for Life On Wheels at the local college. The group puts on a kind of RV university with classes of all sorts for new and veteran RV’ers. We even got to meet Gaylord Maxwell who runs the program and is a pioneer in the RV industry.
(Drum roll) Another date day for Jodie and I! This is getting to be a habit, and a good one! We went out to the old ball game here in Tucson and saw the California Angles play the Phoenix Diamondbacks in a spring-training game. The weather was perfect and the food the best I’ve seen and tasted in a baseball park. I even got to throw out the first margarita! I was glad we got to spend some quality time together.
The news from Jodie’s family was not good. After making progress from his previous stroke Jodie’s father had another. Things did not look good this time. On the 26th Jodie flew back to Hilton NY. Her father passed away before she got there. We were all thankful she had gone home earlier in the month to spend some time with him. No matter how prepared you think you are for losing your parents it is always a terrible time. There is nothing that prepares you for it. Jodie did a great job of helping her mother through this difficult time.
While Jodie flew home, I flew to Sacramento to fulfill our contract with the Sacramento RV Show. Sponsor Bill Lawrence has been great to us over the years and we appreciate it. Joe & Vicki Kieva were at the show doing seminars. We all wished Jodie was there too. I was happy to see the Dion family from San Jose come to the show and have dinner with me. When full-timing we spent a lot of time in their drive way too. Paul was my roommate in Aspen back in 1977. It was great see him, his wife Marilyn, and their daughter Laura. They are family.
I flew home from Sacramento on the 30th, returning to a very empty house.
See ya on the road,
John & Jodie
©2008 John Holod Productions
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