The Gypsy Journal is over, all but the coffee and donuts in the morning. It has been a fun rally with many interesting seminars mostly related to RV driving and systems as well as crafts and outdoor activities.

I attended several seminars regarding more technical items like the charging of batteries and one on traveling the Great River Road from Bemidji, Minnesota to the mouth of the river in southern Louisiana. There certainly is a lot to see along that route. Big cities as well as smaller ones like Hannibal, MO and Natches, MS.

In Natches, the river brought the barges down to be unloaded from many places further north. The barges would be cut up for wood as they could not go back upstream. The bargemen would walk back up the Natches Trace to Nashville, TN. Many stopped along the way for various reasons, some to stay on a permanent basis.

You can walk across the river at Lake Itasca, the head water, in Minnesota on large rocks, or there is a walking bridge you cal walk across. The drive down from Minnesota to the mouth in Louisiana is about 2995 miles, much shorter if you take the water route.

The people from the Park of the Sierra campground were there giving out discounts on park fees to new people that visit the park. We were there last year and really enjoyed the area. The park is only a few miles from Yosemite National Park and a little farther to the National parks to the south.

At the closing ceremonies they thanked all of the volunteers that helped with the rally and had another prize drawing. As usual we did not win anything, but we did have a good time and learned a lot.

Hopefully we can make the rally in September just after the Handicapped Travel Club national rally in Wisconsin. We will have to make a quick trip from Wisconsin to Celina, Ohio, but maybe we can make them both.