OUR SECOND MOVIN’ ON CAMP OUT
NEW FEATURES ON THE WEB PAGE
BOOK SALES ARE GOING GREAT.
RON’S LATEST CHECK UP
GRANT’S NEW DESK FOR THEIR MOTORHOME

On Monday, February 1 (at lunch time), Ron and I headed for Lost Dutchman State Park just a little east of Apache Junction so we could get set up for the camp out. The back end of our pick up truck was loaded to the top with mesquite firewood which Ron had picked up earlier that day.

We had expected our wagon masters, Grant and Nancy Joy, to be there early too but were surprised to find two other couples already in place. Joe Hartzler and Jackie Smith’s Discovery motorhome was parked, but they had taken off somewhere in their car and Ron and Jackie Rohlf were there having arrived at the campground the Friday before. Soon others arrived early too and by evening there were 10 RVs all in place and we built our first big campfire. Dante Russillo and Claudia Beach, Rich and Bobbie Broockmann, Toni and Teresa Taddei, Bob & Margaret Wright, Bob and Marilyn Outzen and Pam and Fred Handy were there with us the first night. Except for Joe and Jackie these were all couples we had been with recently so we were a close bunch.

The group campsite at Lost Dutchman is a large cul-de-sac with a large picnic area (complete with a big fire ring) in the center at the base of the Superstition Mountains. The view is breathtaking. The asphalt drive is wide and we had calculated that we could park 10 RVs on each of the three sides by backing them in nice and tight. Grant did a terrific job of getting us all parked nice and close (cozy).

Early Tuesday, February 2, the rest of the RVers started arriving. All totaled we had 27 RVs camp with us and an additional eight couples joined us for the picnic on Wednesday. Besides the first ten couples listed above, the campers attending were: Lloyd and Pat Wooden, Henry and Sherry Nott, Ed & Ginger Shilts, Harry & Sydney Kloos, Joanne and Warren Larson, Don and Bonnie Maus, Frank and Polly Magula, Ken and Joan Slattery, Don and Kay Slattery, Joe and Kathy Terian, Millie and Paul Mc Nary, Dick and Alyce Goodman, Tubby and Audrey Watson, Ray and Karen Nellis, Ralph and Mary Lou Feldt, and Neil Harris. We were very sad that our good friends, Karen and Patrick Johnston, were not able to make the camp out. Karen had been very sick with some sort of bug for the whole week before and was still not well by camp out time.

Except for a little get-acquainted game which we played on Tuesday afternoon, the morning hikes on Wednesday and the picnic Wednesday afternoon, nothing was planned. Folks just got to know one another and visited. A few took drives to the ghost town of Goldfield, and Tortilla Flats. A big highlight of the camp out was the celebration on Teresa Taddai’s birthday on Wednesday. We had ordered a large cake for the occasion. We had a huge camp fire each evening while counting stars and watching for the moon to come over the mountain. One night we all sang “When the moon comes over the mountain (that old Kate Smith song) as it did in fact come into view. We laughed at mistakes we have all made, sighed at accidents and near misses (oh how those trees and signs do jump out in front of us), listened to stories of exciting places to visit, and cheered when we heard that after 10 years of serious RVing, Grant and Nancy Joy will join us as full fledged full-timers this spring.

Everyone promised to give me the recipe for the dish they prepared for the picnic and some have already done so. They will all be added to the Recipe section of the web page and noted with a “new” sign. There was so much good stuff to eat that it would be a shame not to share the recipes with all of you.

The weatherman really did a super job of giving us perfect, warm, sunny days and cloudless (cool) evenings. The day the camp out ended it rained and turned cold. We were very thankful that it held out until then.

The hardest part of any such gathering is saying good bye at the end. I always feel like I am losing part of me, but we all know that because of our wonderful lifestyle, we will meet again and probably soon too.

I have posted pictures on the What’s New section of the web page and we hope you enjoy seeing what we all look like. (http://www.movinon.net/whatsnew.htm)

View from the Driver’s Seat
Last month after I sent out the last newsletter, we added a new page. View from the Driver’s Seat is Ron’s new column. He promises to write something from his point of view each week. Don’t expect any technical information though.

You can find his page at www.movinon.net/driversindex.htm

Guest Column
We have gotten a lot of neat letters which I felt were too long to go in the letters section of the web page, so I have made a new category just for these special articles. And I encourage anyone who has something they would like to write about to drop us a line and give me an overview of your subject. We are not paying for any writing, but encourage all to share. This page is not up and running yet, but will be very soon. The link will be on the main menu page.

Links
Recently I went surfing and found more links that I thought you would like. I rearranged the page so that the links are categorized according to type.  Check them out when you get a chance.

This page can be found at www.movinon.net/bestlinks.htm

I had no idea how much traffic our web page was getting until I recently activated a counter that comes with our domain page service. Wow, it is a busy web page and we want to thank all of you who visit regularly.

The reviews coming in are great. Thank you. Amazon. com is selling our book every day and many have posted reviews on their page. Barnes and Noble only has one review so far. If you’d like to post one, on either of these sites, we would appreciate it.

Movin’ On should be in Camping World stores soon. They ordered enough books early in January to fill all of their stores. If you are near a Camping World store and see the new book, please let us know. We count on our Movin’ On readers to let us know what is happening.

If you have read our book, you know that Ron was diagnosed with fast growing prostate cancer in 1994. We were told that the prognosis was not good. It was too late for removal of the prostate or radiation; the only alternative was Lupron. This medication given in shot form removes all testosterone from Ron’s body and produces a chemical castration. Well, Ron was taken off the medication one year ago to see how he did and how fast the PSA would shoot up again. The PSA is actually lower now and there is no sign of the cancer. Oh and he is back to normal production on testosterone (in other words, everything is working again).

We share this because doctors are still learning about prostate cancer and how it reacts to different drugs. If you remember from the book, we actually thought about pulling off the road and getting ready for Ron to die. Aren’t we glad that we didn’t do that and that we were not willing to have some suggested surgery (testicles removed).

Get those check ups, ask for lots of prayers, and take charge of your body. We are very thankful.

Again, if you have read our new book, you might remember that I wrote about different friends
and how they handled a computer work station in their RVs. I wrote: “Nancy & Grant Joy have a
lovely Holiday Rambler Endeavor motorhome with a kitchen/living room slide. It is very roomy
and wonderful for entertaining, but without a designated desk, Nancy complains that it is
inconvenient to set up their laptop computer and printer on her kitchen table. She would like a
desk but doesn’t want to give up her living room. These are things that Ron and I call trade offs.
Because of how much we use our equipment, I am glad that the computer and printer are always
in place to use anytime.”

Well, now Nancy has her desk, and didn’t have to give up anything thanks to her husband’s handy
wood working skills. He built her a wonderfully compact computer desk which is truly portable,
but also looks permanent. I will be posting pictures of it and basic instructions on our What’s
New page in the next few days. Check it out at http://movinon.net/Whatsnew/OldNews/Feb1999.htm