Satellite Internet Geeks Make Great RV Neighbors

By the time we finished setting up the trailer at Crags Campground on Robinson Creek near Twin Lakes our site neighbor already knew us by name. I couldn’t help but notice the MotoSat dish atop his Sea Breeze RV Coach when we pulled in, and I noticed him watching ours as it locked onto 91 West. I did not, however, expect what happened next… When …

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Life as a Campground Host

I’ve always wondered about what it was like being a campground host. Then, over the weekend, a really nice host named Jim Wagner helped Jim and I back our RV into a tight spot at Silver Lake, off Hwy. 88 near South Tahoe. He seemed to be really seasoned at being a host, and with RVing in general, so I asked him if he would …

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This is Not a Drill

For what, two years now, we’ve dreamed about this day. Sitting here in the great outdoors, our “office” is a picnic table overlooking a raging brook, with boulders and trees all over. The sun is shining and Jerry’s laying in the dirt soaking up every ray. Solar power allows us to use our satellite internet and charge our laptop batteries. Forget putting on music, the …

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We’ve drawn first blood.

We can officially call the trailer ours now that we’ve given it its first battle scar. But it could’ve been much, much worse. When checking out the forest service campground at Silver Lake East, we came a bit too close to the trees. More than once. Luckily, we only put a good sized mark on our awning. It didn’t even tear through. But I’m actually …

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Breakfast Review: Marlene & Glen’s Diner

Marlene and Glen’s DinerI’ve been trying hard to remember that restaurant south of Salem, Oregon with the big fluffy biscuits and great pancakes but just can’t put a name to it, so this will be the first installment of our quest to find the best biscuits and gravy in America.

Marlene and Glen’s Diner in Plymouth, CA is an adorable place in true diner style with a red and black tile floor, jukebox, and swivel stools at the counter. The staff is as friendly as one would expect in this (very) small town along highway 49 and the walls are accentuated with Coca Cola memorabilia and old record albums from the 50’s and 60’s. Nobody seemed to know the true story behind all the dollar bills pinned to the wall but the owner said it was her retirement fund.

The first indication of a good breakfast joint is the coffee, which was brought fast and hot – not too weak and not too strong. The gentleman who looked like he could’ve been Glen from the caricature on the Dead Fly Diner mugs said they call the gravy here “White Gold”. That made the decision simple, and from the looks of one patron’s plate, a half order would definitely suffice.

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Be Healthy on the Road, Or Else!

One bit of advice that I just learned the hard way: when you’re traveling, listen to your body and take care of yourself immediately if you suspect something is wrong. It’s easy to brush off symptoms of some kind of illness when you’re out on an adventure like this and having fun, but ultimately if you ignore what your body is trying to tell you, you will pay a hefty price. This past week, I sure did.

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Talk about Interference…

After chatting with Linksys Tech Support and troubleshooting my router’s Wifi signal for over an hour at the Travelhome RV Park, I went for a walk with Jerry and quickly discovered why there was so much radio interference in the area. I couldn’t tell if this was a local cable company, television station, or a regional NSA office, but it most certainly wrecked havoc on …

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Campground Review: Lake Francis Resort, Dobbins CA

Lake Francis Resort, Dobbins CALast week we discovered Lake Francis Resort thanks to our hard copy of the Woodalls Directory, after trying so hard to find a place that wasn’t booked up for Father’s Day weekend. Located in the Gold Country Foothills about 2 hours from Sacramento, we had no idea what to expect.

Pulling into the registration area, we saw a kitschy old west style restaurant, saloon, theater area and swimming pool with lawns and chuck wagons. My first thought was “uh oh, we’ve arrived at Wally World.” We drove back up the hill to the campground. What a relief to see that, as far as RVing goes, it was real camping. Only the pull through spots were paved, the rest were gravel and dirt spots, with lots and lots of shade to help stay cool in the hot afternoons (not so good for satellite internet/TV connections). Although the sites are almost a little too close together when the place is crowded, at less busy times the resort layout offers a lot more elbow room. It reminded me a lot of a great place I used to go to with my family as a kid, Camp Edison Shaver Lake, just outside of Fresno CA.

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If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.

After a fun visit with some friends who drove all the way from Oakland to visit us at Lake Francis, we have now made it to Yuba City – just down the road from the RV Service Center where we’ll take the rig tomorrow to get the fridge checked out. Of course, it seems to be working well now. Hopefully it was just bad power at that campground. This trip has certainly become one of discovery.

Good news is, we do have internet access with our dish here. Bad news is, our computers can’t see our wireless network. I’ve wired in to troublshoot the problem and have determined there is just too much WiFi interference here. Various other networks keep showing up and disappearing. Ours was visible momentarily then went away for good. At least we are only here for the night … hopefully!

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Camp WiFi vs. Satellite Internet


Here’s a question for the web-savvy full-timers:

Would you rather rely on spotty campground wireless service for your internet connection, or have your own more reliable yet much more expensive satellite dish service such as MotoSat? This may be irrelevant to the weekend warriors but for those of us on the road full-time, who need to remain connected for either business or pleasure it is a serious consideration. So consider this…

We have a top of the line .98 meter F2 satellite dish from Datastorm with MotoSat internet service and a Linksys 300N wireless router. Yet I have spent most of this morning trying to publish these posts and get pages to load with a very weak connection to this campground’s 802.11b network. Why you ask?

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Permanent Weekend


The reality of this trip still hasn’t sunk in yet. With today’s news from the mortgage folks, we are one step closer to being free but not quite yet clear.

I felt a bit strange today telling one of my campground neighbors, “have a good weekend” knowing very well that he was indeed out for a weekend adventure with the kids while I was off on a new adventure that may last a year. Or years.

While camper dad will return to work on Monday, I will be dealing with the repair of our new trailer’s refrigerator at the nearest RV service center to Lake Francis in Dobbins, CA. Unfortunately that’s in Marysville or Yuba City.

But as Whitman said, “These are the things that must happen to you.”

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Are We Having Fun Yet?

While camped out at kid-centric Lake Francis Resort in Dobbins, CA, riding out the busy Father’s Day weekend, our fridge crapped out. Brand spankin’ new. One would think that when you pay good money for something . . . Jim’s been on the phone all day with Norcold Manufacturing I’ve been dealing with our extended warranty people. Looks like we may need to take it …

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