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volume 3 January 23, 2000 number 1 JANUARY AT LAZY DAYS
JANUARY AT LAZY DAYS We arrived here at Lazy Days on January 2 after a very fast trip. We traveled I-10 to I-75 with only one quick stop at a Cashe's Truck stop in Baton Rouge, Louisianna. We hope never again to have to travel somewhere that fast. And I-10 was mostly terrible. Things are a bit confusing here at Lazy Days. This place has, we think has really gotten too big. The new campground wasn't finished on schedule and when we all had to move over, it was mass confusion, muddy and noisy. Costruction equipment starts working at 6 a.m. and we are rudly awakened by the noise of back up beeping from dump trucks. We can understand construction delays, but the campground is just not of a good design. Everyone is complaining about the short narrow sites where there is no room to park the toad. And the sites are not level. It is not unusual to see motorhome front wheels up so high that they are off the ground. But the worst part is that everyone is so far from the display and sales area (where we do our seminars) and it is difficult walking. There are no sidewalks in the new campground and traffic is busy between golf carts which belong to Lazy Days, construction equipment, landscaping equipment, and RVs moving here and there. They used to have a tram but it broke early in January and no one bothered to find a bus or other conveyence to transport people. People mutter that they must not be very important after all. We are told to just flag down a golf cart and once in a while we do, but mostly they are not around to be flagged down; not when you need one. The recreation hall here in the new campground is not ready yet and neither is the pool or the office. We doubt that it will be ready before the end of the big rally season. Meanwhile everyone has to be crowded into the old rec hall and for the price of the rallies, there are lots of complaints. The Flying J service station that Don Wallace always wanted is a bigger headache than a help. It is small and always full of lots of 18 wheelers. They get in the way of the RVs who are trying to get into Lazy Days. Traffic congestion is bad. They only have two phone jacks for email in this whole huge facility
but they have not been busy. The only problem is that we have to make that
long walk carrying the lap top to plug in. The new club house will have
6 computer stations and hopefully they will be on line and hopefully
We are so glad that we have our cell phone while here. There isn't a pay phone yet in the new campground and even in the old campground there was only one. Many of the washers and dryers in the old campground have been out of order since we got here. It just doesn't appear that we (the customers) are as important as they say we are. On a positive note, the breakfasts and lunches are free and good. Also the seminar room is wonderful. And everyone attending our seminar seems to really enjoy it. We have completed 10 seminars with 4 more to go. We will leave here
on the 30th for our little hiatis at Disney then will go down to visit
my daughter and family in West Palm Beach.
COME AND SEE US IN GILETTE We were asked if we would present our seminar on full-timing at Rally
2000 (Coast to Coast-Camping World-Good Sam) which will be held July 17-21
in Gillette, Wyoming, and we have agreed. We hope you are planning to attend
that rally which promises to be wonderful. And you will love the area.
It is just a little ways from Buffalo, Wyoming, and we wrote so much about
that neat town last year. I can hardly wait to go back. To reserve your
spot at the rally call 877-749-7122.
DON'T FORGET SAN MARCOS The deadline is fast approaching for registering for the Life on Wheels
Conference in San Marcos, Texas. If enough don't register by February 1,
the whole San Marcos Conference will have to be cancelled. All of your
favorite RV writers will be there to share their expertise in RVing. And
that is a perfect time to visit that part of Texas. The hill country will
be blanketed with wild flowers and it is a glorious sight to behold.
POTPOURRI Our morning seminars here at Lazy Days seemed more livelier than the afternoon ones. Then I realized that it was nap time so it must have been a big sacrifice for those that attended. We appreciate that. Wouldn't you know. The winter we decided to go to Florida, it's warmer in Arizona. Our friends and family in Michigan would probably take either one right now. If you think that our 1991 Toyota is historic, you ought to see our old Reese hitch. It is a rarity and made of heavy steel. It cost $135 in 1989 and this old accountant thinks that it is too good to throw away. Besides I have to keep up my conservative image. It could be the times, but there has to be a lot of money around. I can't believe the number of people who are trading in expensive big rigs that are only a year or two old. Maybe their holding tanks are full. It's also amazing to see the large number of young folks who are buying upscale RVs in the six figure range. They must be better than I am at picking stocks. So now we are going to Mickey Mouse land. I will give you my impressions
in the next newsletter.
LETTERS Getting e-mail on the road Mon, 6 Dec 1999 Barb,
Randy Davis ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*
Dear Barb and Ron, Just wanted to drop you a line to say how much we enjoyed meeting you and attending your seminar this past weekend. We were the couple from Atlanta that attended twice. The second time was Saturday when I brought my father, sister, etc and we all sat on the back row. We are back in Atlanta now. Working on closing the sale of a large mobile home park here and once that's done getting Becky out for a few weeks to see what it's like to stay out longer than a week at a time. We plan to hit the FL panhandle then work our way "around the horn" toward the Tampa/Ft Myers, across and back up the East coast. We'll "drag our feet" and try to take it as slow as we can (ha!). I'd like to talk to you more sometime about wireless e-mail (I'm doing
that with a combination of hardware from a Nokia 9000 (combination cell
phone/palmtop) a palmtop and a laptop via two different cell phone arrangements),
web sites (I have about a dozen I've built, including three
Anyway.....thanks again for the GREAT seminar! Enjoy that great Jan Florida weather (wish we were there!) and have a great time at Disney World. Lewis and Becky Dickson ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*
Following is a letter Jim Hammond sent to Pat Metz of the Illinois Campground Owners Association and the response. Dear Ms/Mr. Pat Metz, Recently our attention was drawn to an incident involving the ICOA (Illinois Campground Owners Association ) and the IDPH ( Illinois Dept. of Public Health. The incident involved the citing of a Wal Mart store located a short distance from an ICOA member campground, "The Genesco Campground in Genesco, IL" That letter of warning or citation alleged that Wal Mart was in violation of The Illinois Recreational Campground Act, as a result of recreational vehicles being allowed to "park" overnight. The store was given the opportunity to apply for a campground license. As you may or may not be aware this act by the IDPH against a gracious and customer oriented retailer has incensed and outraged many in the RV community. With today's ease of communication via the internet, it didn't take long for numerous discussions to emerge nationwide focusing on the events in Genesco, IL. These discussions are still active and ongoing. One of the positive aspects of the RV lifestyle is that of close camaraderie and information sharing that goes on among many who are full timers living in Rv's and traveling throughout our nation. That sharing of information involves both positive and negative experiences impacting those living and traveling in their Rv's. It involves a national network of "word of mouth", which can have a powerful impact on goods and services that are purchased or not purchased. There is a fundamental difference in the ILRCA ( Illinois Recreational Campground Act ) definition of "camping" and that of an Rver. Camping as defined in Websters dictionary is : " to set up temporary residence" as in camping. In the minds of most RVers this would also include the services that a "campground" would supply, that is water, electricity, sewer, amenities. The supply of these services should warrant a license and jurisdiction of an agency charged with the safety of the public health. "Park" as defined in Websters is : to halt for an extended period, as in "PARKING" As you are surely aware, any vehicle whether it be recreational or not, does not require any of the services aforementioned here, in order to PARK. We believe that your agency is in error in it's current interpretation
of the ILRCA statute's. We believe that the IDPH, has no jurisdiction,
nor should it have, over retailers decisions on who they allow to "PARK"
in their facilities lots for an overnight period. While Parked on an
We hope that in your upcoming meetings of the Campground Licensing and
Recreational Area Advisory Board, you will take a long hard look at the
negative impact this error in interpretation has caused. And that you will
strongly consider the continued negative impact it will have if
Respectfully, Jim & Patty Hammond Dear Jim and Patty:
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*
Would love to receive your newsletter.My wife and I are converting a 38' 1970 ex Sydney Transit bus and hope to be travelling around Australia by this time next year.Enjoyed your website and will drop back often. Cheers,
THIS 'N THAT I used to be a sales trainer and always taught that people like to buy, but they don't like to be sold. So when I see the salesmen walking around here with a big white loose leaf folder with "Sell on Purpose" in big red letters covering the front, I am intimidated. We are excited about moving at a more leisurely pace from now on. When we leave Florida we plan to go to Savannah (because we have never been there) then we intend to take U.S. 84 and other RED roads back to Texas----slowly. We won't be able to do our 200 miles and stay a week, but we will do nice easy days and will stay in each spot a couple of days. After that trip from Texas here, it will seem very nice. I just posted some pictures from Lazy Days on our What's New page so we hope you can check them out. What's New We have some bad news about AT & T wireless. Some of our friends have been dropped from the one rate plan when their year was up. If they try to take that service away from me, I will cry, kick my heels and pull my hair. Seriously it appears that they insist that you have a REAL address in their area. We do (at Valle del Oro) but whether they accept a campground or not is not clear. We looked at some of the RVs on display just to see what is available.
We love our Dream and nothing else looks quite as good. The Eagles do have
a new computer desk which is quite nice. It is smaller, but more effecient
than mine. I could always have one put in, but I am used to
After having spent so much time in Arizona, we had forgotten what humidity is like. Everything is soaking wet outside in the mornings. And our glasses of water sweat all over the place. But it is nice to see green trees and grass. We have just added another of Ron's great articles. You will find it here. Turning on a dime. We hope to see a lot of you in San Marcos. Until then. Happy Trails!
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