I woke up on Monday to very high winds.  The weather said winds blowing out of WSW at 25 mph.  However there were gusts that exceeded 40 mph.  Not the best weather to be traveling in.  I do not like driving in high winds, but the Gypsy Gathering Rally would kick off at 3:00pm today.  Normally I would never drive in wind, but because I needed to get to Yuma and also the fact I would be driving into the wind, I figured I would at least give it a try.

It was about 11 miles from the campground at Painted Rock to I-8 and figured if it was too bad I could always turn around and come back and stay another night.  Driving to I-8 was a real bummer as the winds were blowing sideways.  I came to a huge field that was blowing dust so bad I could only see a few feet in front of me.  However, once I got onto I-8 it wasn’t too bad as I was then driving into the wind.  My gas mileage probably took a beating though.

Anyway I got to Yuma, got parked and set up, in time for the opening festivities.  I read Nick Russel’s blog and also subscribe to his Gypsy Journal, but have never attended any of his rallies.  I am used to rallies on the smaller side, such as the Balloon Fiesta (28 rigs) and the Lazy Daze SW rally in Benson,  which I recently attended (16 rigs).  The Gypsy Gathering Rally had 175 rigs.

However, the two things I really enjoyed about this rally were the seminars and the vendors.  There were five time slots for seminars each day with 4-5 seminars per time slot.  You were always busy going from one seminar to another.  There was a nice group of vendors and you could get personal with them as you saw them many times in seminars as well as on the vendor floor.

This is where I was parked for the entire rally.  I was not hooked up to either electric or water.  I filled my fresh water tank and dumped my grey and black water tanks prior to arriving at the park.  My solar panels supplied me with more then enough electricity.

Be sure to click and then click again to enlarge all photos.

The rally took place at the Yuma County Fairgrounds.  They had to fit in rigs wherever they could find room.

Here is Terry (Nick’s wife) serving pizza to the hordes.  They had 130 pizzas delivered to the fairground.

Here are the people lined up for the pizza.  It was really good.

This is Nick making announcements.  At the beginning of the rally he introduced all of the vendors and they were able to say a few words about their products.

The Yuma County Fairgrounds is located directly across the highway from the Yuma Marine Corps Air Base.  Every day there would be jets flying low over the fairgrounds.  As Nick said, “It is the sound of freedom”.

I really enjoyed the rally.  I met a lot of really neat people and attended a lot of really informative seminars.  I learned everything from many uses of Velcro, all the neat Apps I can use with my Android Smartphone, remodeling my RV, to many places I can camp overnight for free, to traveling south of the border.  I also enrolled in the Moose Lodge and the Elks Lodge.  This will give me the opportunity to stay at any of the Elks or Moose Lodges on the road and enjoy their cooking and hospitality as well as their inexpensive camping rates.