Saturday, October 1, 2011

Celina, OH and the Journaling Gypsies

Okay, first, it's not "Say-LEEN-ah," like you'd think.  It's another case of one of Whitt's favorite American habits--changing the pronunciation rules to fit local dialect.  It's "Suh-LINE-uh," Ohio.  (Oh, yeah, Ohio is another one.)
Anyway, Celina was the locale chosen for the Gypsy Journal's eastern gathering this year, and a lovely place it is.  Where else do you see this in front of the Eagles aerie?
 





 ...or a rock shaped like the Michigan "Mitt" welcoming you to the town?









The audience began to fill the seats for each evening's festivities--lots and lots of door prizes, and a different program of entertainment nightly, including The McKinney Washtub Two (of course), and the most horrifying beauty contest...well, you'll see...


On the left is Dennis Hill, who ably assists in every function, and acts as comic sidekick to the wisp of a gentleman on the right, Nick Russell, who invented the Gypsy Journal as a blog and has developed it into a national organization that hosts some of the best rally events we've attended.
The prizes these guys round up in exchange for the excellent promo value are truly amazing...Judy won a Kindle!

Well, we warned you it would be horrifying!
These are some of the contestants for the beauty contest.









Hard to pick a winner?  You bet!












Nonetheless, they did...                                  


                                        And here she he it is!
                                        (The one on the right.)




(Names have been withheld for obvious reasons--to protect the guilty.)


With everyone's sensibilities thus honed to a sophisticated edge, we are glad to say we did not have to follow this act. 






We did play two other evenings.  Here's proof:
We usually prepare some special material for rallies--'specially the "Gypsy Js," as we often refer to them among ourselves--and this year it was a routine centered on the founder of the fest, Nick Russell.  Was he there to hear it?  Noooooooo.  Busy somewhere else, as we should have known!

If you're any kind of traveler, or want to know more about the RV lifestyle, check out www.gypsyjournalrv.com.

As always, a great time.  Hope to see ya out there!