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Satellite Internet Geeks Make Great RV Neighbors

May 26, 2012June 25, 2007 by Jim

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 …

We are not on vacation!

June 25, 2007June 23, 2007 by Jim

I sure like the view from my new office – at least this week. And it sure is nice to take a break from working online to go fishing or for a walk in the woods. Earlier today while desperately trying to catch a large brown trout that was toying with me for hours in the creek coming out of Silver Lake, a kid asked …

This is Not a Drill

June 22, 2007 by Rene

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 …

We’ve drawn first blood.

June 25, 2007June 22, 2007 by Jim

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 …

Campground Review: 49er Village RV Resort, Plymouth CA

March 9, 2023June 20, 2007 by Rene

Rene rants about the poor customer service at a certain RV park early in our travels.

Be Healthy on the Road, Or Else!

June 21, 2007June 19, 2007 by Rene

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.

Talk about Interference…

September 4, 2023June 18, 2007 by Jim

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 …

Campground Review: Lake Francis Resort, Dobbins CA

June 20, 2007June 17, 2007 by Rene

Last 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.

If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.

June 17, 2007 by Jim

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!

Camp WiFi vs. Satellite Internet

September 4, 2023June 16, 2007 by Jim

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?

Viral Marketing, Full-timer Style

December 2, 2007June 16, 2007 by Jim

Our RV graphics provide a viral marketing opportunity to support our fulltime RV lifestyle while working from the road on our blogs.

Permanent Weekend

September 4, 2023June 15, 2007 by Jim

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.”

And Now for Something Completely Different

June 12, 2007June 5, 2007 by Rene

Stick Home Vs. RV Home There’s so much to learn, it’s hard to pick where to begin. Everything’s a lot smaller in the RV versus the house. It’s Simple Living at it’s finest. Organizing our things so they’re easy to grab but not in the way is a puzzle, and figuring out how to make the most use of limited space requires some doing. Downsizing …

We’re Outta There!

September 20, 2019June 5, 2007 by Rene

First week on the road…

Day Two

January 30, 2017May 13, 2007 by Jim

What a trip! And it’s just begun…

We enjoyed the first night in our new mobile home and drove another ninety minutes to another Premier RV Resort in Eugene Oregon. So far the trip has gone off without a hitch.

Well, not quite. We couldn’t have even made it off the lot without our new Pullrite Superglide Fifth Wheel Hitch. Having never towed anything before in my life, I was a little concerned about pulling a huge trailer. I hadn’t even really gotten used to the size of our new Dodge Ram 2500 yet… But this hitch made it simple! (Read on to see the video that confirmed my decision!)