Whew! We've Been Busy - (Goshen, IN)

Sorry we haven't posted in a few days. We had to pack a lot of learnin' and a lot of training in those days. And now we are flying solo on this RV weighing and safety education thing.

But one of the biggest reasons that we haven't posted is that our internet service has been lacking. It's just been so slow, it has taken too much time to get anything done.

Once 220 RVs arrived at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds, the Wi-Fi service got bogged down. And, apparently, lots of them are using cellular internet because that's not working so well either. Satellite internet? Well it's working, but it's not working as well as it should.

Fortunately, Bill & Janet Adams (Internet Anywhere) are parked behind us, and Bill is diagnosing the satellite internet problems. It appears I need to replace some equipment, so until that is done, we're dealing with slow internet and dropped signals.

I'll be glad to get our satellite internet, usually the most consistent of our services, back up to the par. When working the best the Wi-Fi and cellular here are faster, but they are terribly flaky and inconsistent.

Anyway, in the days before the Heartland Rally officially began, we ended up weighing 50 truck/fifth wheel combinations. Very good practice, but my hamstrings were barking at me after a full day of rig weighing. :)

In addition to that, we've learned a lot and I went over the Weight Safety and Tire Safety seminars in detail with Walter. I feel pretty confident about those. When he presented them Wednesday morning, the third or fourth time I've sat through them over the years, I finally believed I could do them. Of course, I learn something new every time and I don't have the experience of knowledge of Walter, but I think we can hold our own. :)

While I was sitting through the seminars, Linda set up our booth in the vendor area.

We're promoting the RVSEF Safety Education Package but the main reasons for our booth are 1) to go over weighing reports, 2) set up weighing appointments for those that want to get weighed on the way out, and 3) talk about RV safety and full-timing.

Along with us, Jim & Chris (Geeks On Tour) have a booth.

Our friends at Mor/ryde also have a display.

As does "Mac the Fire Guy", seen here doing his Fire Safety seminar.

This Heartland Rally is 100 rigs larger than their previous biggest rally, and they have over 400 people. We're just happy that the attendees and the members of the owner's forum are so interested in safety.

By the time we are finished, about a third of the units here will get weighed - a fantastic percentage as rallies go.

Walter & Amy headed back to Florida on Wednesday afternoon, leaving us on our own. Linda has picked up bunches of information, and she can explain a weighing report and read a tire chart with the best of 'em. I think we'll be just fine. :)

While we've been here, we've run into some folks we've met in our travels like Niles & Deby and Jay & Stella. And yesterday, for the first time, I met Tab. Tab was one of the first to help spearhead the "graduating classes" of full-timers on the Escapees Forums. Our "class", the Class of 2005 was the first and it was great to finally get to meet him.

This morning, Linda opened our booth while I stayed behind and battled the internet to get a little work done. I'm working on appointments for next week when the RVFest Rally comes in. Linda signed up more Heartland folks.

Another week and a half, and this really busy period will be over. Soon we'll be back to traveling and visiting new places. We'll just have to see how we incorporate our new opportunities into those adventures. :)