Full timers and the census

As April 1 looms, so do the questions: Just how do full time RVers respond to the US census? It’s an interesting scenario, since as the Census folks says, “We don’t mail forms to people, we mail them to residences.” It’s a tough act to mail a census form to a rolling resident.
We spoke with a national census representative in Washington, DC, earlier today, and laid out the problem that some fulltimers may face–at least those who want to fill out the form.
“We have a program for folks like these,” our census guru tells us. “It’s called ETL.”  Oh, bless government for acronyms that don’t sound like anything.  ‘Ee-tell?”  They call it the process of “Enumerating Transitory Locations,” like folks working for circuses, at marinas, and in RV parks. That process started back in mid-March and will go on til April 15. Of course, if you don’t happen to be a “carny” with the circus, or staying at a marina or RV park when the census folks come by–woops, you’ve been missed.
Others too, can easily be missed. Since they don’t send forms to people, if you get your mail at a private mail service, you probably won’t get a census form. If you’re not caught in an RV park, or you are at some location that a census taker can’t locate, what’s to be done?
The Census folks hope that you’ll take the time to phone their “2010 Hotline,” where helpful workers can point you to a location where you can pick up a 2010 census form. However, other media types have commented that some of these locations are only open during rather limited hours, some are listed, but never got staffed, and a plethora of other issues that could make getting your form a bit on the difficult side. Still, those who persevere may get what they want. The hotline phone number is (866) 872-6868.
We found it quite interesting that we mentioned that many fulltime RVers are on the road, and don’t necessarily stay at “Joe’s RV Park,” the government guy seemed a bit astounded. He then told us, “We try our best to get to everyone,”  but then pointed out that fulltime RVers are obviously, “a very small minority of people in the US.” Wonder what he bases those figures on? Census 2000 perhaps? When that oh, so small minority of Americans were never found.  Perhaps in the minds of bureaucrats, fulltime RVers just don’t exist.

A Day on South Padre

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Grapefruit, Ham, and Spinach Salad

Stock up on that grapefruit before heading north. This recipe sounds great to me but I would never be able to get Butch to even try it.

Grapefruit, Ham, and Spinach Salad

 

4 cups tightly packed torn fresh spinach

2 cups grapefruit sections (about 3 medium grapefruit)

1/2 pound thinly sliced lean deli ham, cut into 1/2-inch strips

1 hard-cooked egg, finely chopped

3 tablespoons raspberry-flavored vinegar

3 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/8 teaspoon pepper

 

Divide spinach among 4 serving plates, and top each with one-fourth of

grapefruit sections, ham, and egg. Combine vinegar and next 4

ingredients in a bowl, and stir well with a wire whisk. Drizzle 2

tablespoons of dressing over each salad. Serves 4.

 

 

CALORIES 236 (37% from fat); FAT 9.7g (sat 2.3g,mono 3.4g,poly 3g); IRON

2.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 79mg; CALCIUM 80mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.7g; SODIUM 945mg;

PROTEIN 14.8g; FIBER 2.9g

 

 

Trouble in Mexico update

There were two units not three and they were bandits not drug cartel. The Mexican police recovered their RV's with the only thing missing were TV's and computers. So not as bad as it first appeared but I still doubt that they have plans to return to Mexico. 

Trouble in Mexico

See McAllen near the top of the map? We are about 15 miles east of  McAllen.

Tonight Butch helped some people from British Columbia Canada park their RV. They wintered in Puerto Vallarta. Their friends and next door winter neighbors left last week for the US and ultimately home to Canada. They received an email from them relating their ordeal near Ciudad Victoria Mexico. They were about 20 kilometers north of Ciudad Victoria Mexico (See Map) when vehicles across the road stopped their progress. There were 3 RV's traveling together. They were all three hijacked. They took everything they owned including all their money. They were left on the side of the road with only the clothes on their back. They were lucky they left them alive.
There will be far fewer Canadians in Mexico next winter.