Yesterday we had a visit from a celebrity from the RV world. Our friend Al Hesselbart drove up from Bushnell to spend the afternoon with us. We had not seen Al since last summer when we were at Elkhart Campground in Indiana and we were really looking forward to his visit.
If you don’t know who Al is, for many years he was the historian at the RV Museum in Elkhart. Al is a walking, talking encyclopedia of the evolution of the RV industry and I’m always amazed at the depth of his knowledge.
When it comes to the history of RVs, Al literally wrote the book. He is the author of an excellent book on the history of the RV industry, The Dumb Things Sold…Just Like That! If you’ve ever wondered how today’s modern RVs came into being, get yourself a copy of Al’s book and read it. It’s really interesting.
We first met Al way back when we had only been on the road a few months. We stopped at the RV Museum to see what it was all about and Al gave us a personal tour and bent over backwards to help us and make us feel welcome. Since then we have spent a lot of time together at RV rallies, as instructors at Life on Wheels, and just hanging out whenever we’re in the same area.
But RVs are not the only thing Al knows a lot about. Not by a long shot. He is also a tournament fisherman and has spent more time on the water than a couple dozen of us combined. When I was looking for a boat I am sure I drove Al crazy with repeated emails asking about different boats I was looking at and what I should be aware of before I made a final decision.
While he was here yesterday he checked out my Key Largo and told me I had done well in selecting it. Since the boat is used and did not come with an owners manual, and since the company that made it is out of business and I haven’t been able to find a manual online, there are some things I did not know about. Such as how the live well and aerator worked, and I had some questions about my Hummingbird depth/fish finder. I also picked Al’s brain about what to look for in an electric trolling motor.
I invited our friend Jim over to meet Al and they hit it off very well, which didn’t surprise us since they’re both very nice guys. We spent two or three hours talking, then went to dinner, and came back and talked some more before Al had to leave to make the 115 mile trip back to his RV Park in Bushnell. He left with a loaf of Terry’s freshly made oat bread, which is a favorite of his. Thanks for coming by Al, we really enjoyed the visit!
It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing and we’ve got a great prize this week. Jim O’Briant has donated a one year subscription to www.OvernightRVParking.com. This is a great resource for RVers, listing well over 13,000 free places where you can park overnight. It’s a $24.95 value and it could be yours free if you’re our lucky winner. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – Even if you’ve been fishing for three hours and haven’t gotten anything except poison ivy and sunburn, you’re still better off than the worm.
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