Category: Uncategorized

No, not zombies.

Internet access.

They’re not everywhere, you know. Or maybe you don’t know.

Those of you who live in big cities never have to wonder if you will be able to access your data or not. For those of us who live on the road there is “Coverage?” available for the iPhone and iPad.

The couple known as Technomadia live in an RV so they know what we want. (Check them out at http://www.technomadia.com) And being technomads they develop an app to do it and then sell it through Apple’s App Store. Coverage? is the one that tells me at a quick glance whether or not an area I am about to move into will have a signal for me.

At least they try to tell me. Their data can only be as good as that supplied by the data vendors: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, & T-Mobile. As we all know, when it comes to data the phrase is GIGO, which stands for “garbage in, garbage out”. In this case it is Verizon’s garbage.

Verizon said I would have no signal in Brady, Texas, where I planned to spend the night but it would be back in Eldorado where I planned to stop for lunch the next day. Wrong. When I stopped in Brady I had enough phone signal to be able to call Walmart to get permission to park there overnight. I didn’t try the data because it looked like I was roaming so didn’t want to risk it. The next day, in Eldorado, I had no signal at all. I did get in a nice nap there, though.

So, by the time I got to Fort Stockton I had been two days without internet. Driving helped fill in that time but I knew I things in my on-line world must be getting backlogged. So I checked into an RV park for two nights. That let me catch up on all my internet stuff as well as do housekeeping chores like tending to my tanks: dumping and filling as the case may be.

Because having your black tank fill up puts you into another type of dead zone.

TTYL,

Linda

Yes, stopping not shopping. Although I do that, too.

One of the reasons I like to shop at Walmart is that they are RV friendly. You are even welcome to stay overnight in their parking lot unless local ordinance forbids it.

In addition to that many of them have oversized van handicapped parking spots. In these spots you park parallel to the driving lanes instead of nose in. They have extra width and length so those of us traveling with personal mobility devices have room to unload them to use in the store. My van fits in those spots. But, so do compact cars. Whose drivers have no idea how nice it would be if they didn’t take those spots unless they had absolutely no other option. They just see them as easy in-easy out. Which they are.

For me, those spots are close enough to the doors that I can walk inside, then use one of the store’s carts to do my shopping. I can buy a lot more stuff using their carts than I can using my Scoot. My basket is not so big.

If I have to park in the back forty, I unload and ride my Scoot into the store. If I work it very carefully I can buy about $75 worth of groceries per trip on my Scoot. Nowadays, that’s not many groceries when you let your supplies get down to four meals worth. So it takes lots of trips on my Scoot to restock.

But shopping that way is tiring.

So what I am now doing is taking my Scoot in and buying about three bags worth of groceries. I do it by stacking two bags between my feet and filling my basket. Then I haul that out to my RV where I eat a meal or take a nap or drive on down the road to the next Walmart. Where I buy another three bags of groceries.

I figure about the time I get my fridge and pantry restocked I will luck into one of the good spots and have to decide how much more I should really buy.

Right now, though, it easy to tell my GPS where I want to stop next: the next Walmart down the road.

TTYL,

Linda

Two weeks appears to be the time I can live in my RV between grocery trips. I got down to four entrees before I decided I really did have to go to the grocery store.

Now you may remember that I am traveling without a car. My van, which is also my house, is the only vehicle I have with me. So to go anywhere requires packing up the house.

For those of you who have never packed a house for travel that means:

1. Dumping my black and grey tanks.

2. Filling my fresh water tank.

3. Bringing in the hoses used to do those two tasks along with my electrical cord.

4. Removing all temporary window coverings.

5. Stashing everything that is loose. Remembering to get my doormat while I am at it.

6. Locking all cupboards and putting bungie cords around everything not in a cupboard.

7. Tying closed the garbage bag so it doesn’t deposit its contents in undesirable places while driving.

8. Picking a destination

9. Setting my GPS to direct me to my desired destination.

10. Checking to see that my mirrors are still aligned and that I have enough fuel in the tank.

11. Walking around the outside of the rig to be sure I didn’t forget anything.

and 12. Walking around the inside of the rig to be sure I didn’t forget anything.

Now, I’m ready to go to the grocery store.

Or anyplace else I decide to go.

It seemed a waste to make all that effort just to go to the grocery store and back.

So, I decided to go to Arizona.

TTYL,

Linda

I wrote this as a response to Captain Fritter’s blog then decided I needed to share it here:

Christmas is not supposed to be a consumer holiday. If you are not celebrating the birth of Jesus what are you celebrating? If you are celebrating the birth of Jesus, what would he think about your style of celebrating? I think Jesus would encourage you to give as gifts only those things you already own–like your second coat. Jesus was a minimalist.

TTYL,

Linda

ps. One of my commenters sent a comment that somehow went into moderator limbo but I got a copy of it in email. It included this very appropriate link: http://content.cartoonbox.slate.com/?feature=ed12318d6a88702db3d55a3d0294a95c&resize=no

My response to that cartoon is that, if you follow that advice, you may indeed end in poverty.

My first no-family Thanksgiving ever. I’ve always had at least Dave around and we’ve always celebrated with food. Those of you who know me well know I have some hermit tendencies. So without even Dave here this Thanksgiving what are the odds I would stay home alone? They were high.

Until my next door neighbor pushed me to sign up for the Thanksgiving potluck here at Rainbow’s End. The way it works is this: you sign up to join a table of ten people for a semi-potluck meal. You pay $2.50 for the catered turkey and gravy then everyone at your table donates the side dishes. I offered to bring deviled eggs because that’s all I had on hand that would provide ten servings.

So, yesterday I boiled eggs and today I made mayonnaise and deviled the eggs. At the appointed time my neighbor picked me up and we went to dinner.

It’s hard to remember to take pictures at gatherings so I only have these two to offer you. One is our table before we ate all the food and the other is part of the larger group.

 

We had ten tables with 10-12 people at every table. Quite a large Escapee family gathering. Good food and good conversations. What else could a person want? Besides real family?

Leftovers? Well, I do have one deviled egg left. And there will be another potluck tomorrow of all the leftovers from this one. I think I’ll eat my egg tonight, though. I can bring something else tomorrow if I decide to go to that one, too. After all, tomorrow’s meal doesn’t require me to bring enough to serve ten people, right?

TTYL,

Linda