The Hoosier Honey Beauty Contest

Today Judy and I attended a couple seminars, not any of early (9am) ones though. I attended Gypsy Journal FAQ while Judy attended (of course!) Honey Let's Clean the RV. In the afternoon I went to Managing Digital Photos with Picassa while Judy went to For Women Only. We both went to Beginning Genealogy by left after 20 minutes....too dry. We both attended the Google Earth presentation. Before the evening entertainment started Dennis Hill (RV Driving School) warmed the audience up in his orange outfit, his favorite color (might be due to all the orange cones he uses in the RV driver training). At 7pm Nick gave away more door prises (we won a book on RV Maintenance last night) then about 7:30 the Hoosier (Hooter) Honey Beauty Contest started. The winner, wearing the tierra, was Carmalita Camelback. RV rallies aren't always serious. If you want to see more of the beauty contest here's a YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIuLgUDa8R4

From the pasture to the Gypsy Gathering rally

At the Gypsy Gathering rally.

Terry & Nick Russell, rally organizers.

The campground & our site in Elkhart, IN

Patches herding the horses.

We spent the week after the M&M rally back at Randy, Kristi & Devyns. As you could expect we had lots of fun with Devyn. Judy has taught her to play cribbage this week, the last I heard D can beat Judy already! Randy has helped with a couple tasks on the HitchHiker, an upgrade to the Demco hitch and beefing up the entry steps.

On Sunday we made the 116 mile trip to the Elkhart CG for the Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally. We attended the Western Gypsy Gathering rally in AZ two years ago and enjoyed it. Sunday afternoon we met up with Roger & Barb from LA (they were at the M&M rally too) and went to supper with them. Monday we registered for the rally, (& met some more RV friends) went to lunch and an RV surplus store with Roger & Barb before the rally festivities started in the afternoon.

Michigan Mini HitchHiker rally

This has been a busy but relaxing week. There have been 11 HitchHikers here for the rally. Sunday afternoon we had a welcoming burger cookout, Monday we went to a nice Mennonite restaurant, Hearthstone Oven, for lunch, then Uncle John's Fruit Farm for some wine tasting, then a stop at a nifty outdoor yard ornament place and off to a buffet restaurant in Middleton for supper.
Tuesday morning started off with Judy making muggles for everyone and it was game time for the rest of the day. I don't remember what we did Wednesday! Thursday we had a potluck dinner. All during the week there were ladder ball, washer toss and card & board games going in the gazebo. There was, of course, lots of RV talk and tire kicking all week. The weather has been great. Tuesday & Wednesday it was so comfortable outside that we didn't have to run the A/C, this was the first time since May. We all had enough fun and fellowship we started to plan next years M&M Rally in Manistee, MI.

Sumner, MI for the Michigan Mini Rally & Ithaca, MI

Today we hit the road for the Michigan Mini rally after 3 weeks in Randy, Kristi, & Devyn's pasture with the cats, horses and goats. It was a short 2 hour trip north just outside Ithaca, Michigan. It's the first time, as far as we can remember, to Ithaca. After setting up home sweet home we went back for supper and some groceries. The small city is the county seat for Gratiot County and we were impressed with how neat and tidy the entire city is. Here's a couple pics of the firehouse (check out the wind vane on top of the building!), the grain mill and county building. Very pretty little city, looks like it's thriving.

Devyn at summer camp

Devyn got to spend the week at a camp on Lake Michigan this past week and I got to pick her up Friday. It was a retreat and her two cousins were there also so got to see each other sometimes. She's pointing to Lake Michigan through the trees and she's beside the camps pool. In the other shot she's in her room, had the top bunk bed. She made the tie died shirt she's wearing.

Patches liked my computer case so much Judy bought her a cat bed, she smelled it, looked at it, and ignored it. It was returned.

Hi Lone Granger (Debbie)

While following one of our HitchHiker friends on her forum we found she was in Ohio. Debbie (NuWa Owners Forum name Lone Granger) has organized 3 rallies we have attended, the last being in AZ last March. Since then she has been RVing the USA. We give her LOTS of credit for doing this solo, her companion is Hunter, a yellow lab. She has a goal to spend at least one night in each of the lower 48 states between the March rally and one in October in Washington. I contacted her hoping MI would be next in her schedule and she was headed for Tecumseh, 17 miles away and already had a reservation. Judy wasn't quite up to eating following a routine medical test so Deb & I had supper at Sals in Tecumseh then stopped by our place to introduce her to Kristi's critters...plus Patches. Only the horses didn't make an appearance.

Dr Jody goes home & we party with Clayton

We hope Jody had a good time up here relaxing with family before returning to Biloxi. She said goodbye to all the horses and goats before departing. We did some local sightseeing before she left Tuesday. Bankshot basketball, the batting cages, Mystery Hill, and of course the Dairy Bar. On Sunday Judy & I went to Sterling State Park in Monroe to see Clayton & Pat before they headed east. Sisters MaryLou (& Sam) along with Jean (& friend Mary) were there along with old time friends Bill & Cathy. In preparation for all this Devyn spruced me up a little by shaving the beard.