Places where I do my best thinking

There are two places where I do my best thinking. One place is on a wide-open road, like where I was driving when I recorded this. The other place is where I go each morning: it has nothing to do with roads or driving.

New York actor stops by my motorhome

I had some free time one morning while in New York (actually in Jersey City, New Jersey where I camped). An RVtravel.com reader named Chris Lucas had emailed me. "I'm interested in buying an RV to take my two children camping," he said, in so many words. He wondered if he could stop by my motorhome for some tips. He also said he was a registered New York City tour guide.

So I figured I'd trade a little RVing advice for some ideas about what to see in Manhattan.

Well, as often happens to me, a chance encounter turns into something special, in this case a fascinating guy. Chris is an actor. He had a regular role playing Oscar Phelps in "As the World Turns." He has appeared twice on the popular TV show "30 Rock" as Alec Baldwin's younger self "even though I am only seven years younger," he said.

His current project is co-producing a movie about his father, Ed Lucas, who is a legendary New York Yankees sports broadcaster. But what makes Ed extra special is that he's blind. You can learn more about Ed at EdLucas.org.

The movie will star Academy Award winner Stanley Tucci. The crew behind the camera are well respected names in the movie industry. The fact is, Ed Lucas is beloved in New York City and has given it much beyond his words: he has been very active in helping support charitable causes.

To give you an idea of how popular he is, when he remarried, the ceremony was held at home plate in Yankee Stadium. Nobody else has ever received such an honor.

Ed's story is much more amazing than being is a blind sportscaster, and that is what the movie will be about. It should be in theaters in about a year.

But Chris is an amazing man, too. Among other things, he runs a website called the ActorsDetective.com which provides advice to actors and helps them find jobs. He is the author of a book titled "The Guide to Writing Letters to Celebrities." Chris believes that letter writing is a lost art, and he hopes to encourage people to do more of it. In the book he tells the stories about some of his letters to celebrities and offers readers how they, too, can write to famous people with a good chance of getting a response.

Traveling alone, and how to know a real, true buddy

Here's a little essay about one disadvantage of traveling alone, which leads to me to a definition of what makes for a true friend.

I have too much of this in my cupboard. It's embarassing

I was cleaning up my RV today in preparation of hitting the road. When I looked into my food cupboard to make sure everything was okay, I noticed something that. . . well, it's kind of embarrassing to show. But I did anyway.

A rough night in Ohio

Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, 8 a.m. Eastern time.

Last night was one of those off-nights you experience from time to time -- when things are not right. First, there was the packed-to-the-gills campground. I stopped early at a KOA at Buckeye Lake. I needed peace and quiet to finish the newsletter. The place was crawling with campers. But they squeezed me into a small space with an electric hookup, which I needed for my air conditioning. The heat and humidity was wicked!. A local RV dealer was holding a customer appreciation weekend - that's why the place was packed. About 70 rigs showed up. I thought that was a very smart thing of the RV dealer to do.

The evening went fine. A little noisy now and then, but I got my work done.

I went to bed at 11 p.m. At 2 a.m., my neighbors returned to their trailer, sat outside and began talking loudly. Finally, I asked them politely to please be quiet. People were trying to sleep. They said nothing. They kept talking. I was mad.

Then, as if my prayers had been answered, the rain came, light at first. Then heavy. Then lightning. That sent them indoors. All quiet.

SIRENS IN THE NIGHT
Then, at 2:15, sirens. I thought it must be to alert the local volunteer fire department. No, it was a tornado warning. I figured that out after the sirens kept on wailing

I'm from the West Coast. We have no tornadoes. They are scary to us. I looked around the campground. All lights were out. Nobody seemed to care. But I did. I was nervous. I have no interest in visiting Oz. . .

I checked the National Weather Service. Yes, there was a danger of a tornado until 3 a.m. Who could sleep? Not me. So I waited. At 3, no tornado. The tornado warning morphed into a Severe Weather Alert for lightning. I went back to bed. The only lightning was in the far distance.

After some tossing and turning, I slept. I woke up early, at 7, as I typically do on Saturdays, sometimes earlier, worried that I made a huge mistake in the newsletter and that a reader would alert me so I could fix it. But no emails. All seemed okay.

So here I am. I want out of Ohio. I will hit I-70 in an hour after my shower and breakfast to vamoose to Pennsylvania. I am due in Hershey tomorrow evening for the start of the big RV show the next day.

The weather looks crummy along my path today, then better tomorrow. Then it should be nice in Hershey -- mid 70s and sunny. That sounds very good. But I am not looking forward to the drive today in the rain and maybe bad winds.

We are not as polite anymore

Something has been happening to me over and over this trip that has got me thinking that we Americans are not as polite as we once were. Actually, it is something that has NOT been happening that has revealed this change in our behavior. Also, there is other evidence about our lack of politeness that you may have observed while purchasing something at a store.