January Potpourri...

Yes, it's been a while since we blogged and figured it was time for an update. The first week of January, we changed RV parks. We have a nice, long, graveled site. No matter there aren't trees since the weather is cool here during the winter.

The park we are in now has a dog run and boy, do the #2doods ever love that! Take a peek...

In fact they have adjusted wonderfully to the RV lifestyle although we are still working on "ignoring" other dogs when out walking. LOL! Here are a few pics.

Waiting for the okay to lick the peanut butter spoon...


Ringing the bell and waiting to go out...


Freshly groomed...


Showing good walking manners...

We are still adjusting to cooking in the rig, sticking to our low carb WOE (way of eating). We forgot we have this Liddle Griddle. Now it gets used for bacon, sausage, and eggs as well as banana pancakes.

On my author blog, I posted about setting up our RV office using the dining room table. We have been using the campground WiFi but unless we changed sites to move closer to the router, we found we use our phone's hotspot more often than not. When I was in the laundry house, the WiFi was strong and fast, so we researched a solution. Over the years we have talked off and on about this but the only recommended solution was in the $500-600 range.

Well, things seem to have improved with newer technology and we ordered this Alfa WiFi Camp Pro 2 long range Wi-Fi repeater kit with free shipping from Rokland for $140. We figured it was worth a try. It arrived quickly and using a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter for our MacBooks, Stu had it set up quickly. We wanted to see how well it worked before mounting the antenna outside.

Guess what? We ended up with fast speeds with the antenna inside, hanging from the lights over our dining table! Seriously! So that is where it sits and we are thrilled!!

Next up, our latest cruise...

Ciao for now!

Shopping...a little of this, a little of that

Living 30 minutes from major shopping of any sort, we still use our Amazon Prime membership a lot. But with the competition from Walmart, we also do price comparisons before clicking the buy button. Rock Island Auto is another favorite site for car parts and of course, Lowe's and Home Depot.

A few of the things we've bought online recently have been an extra set of mulching blades for Stu's new zero-turn mower, oil filters for the Jeep as well as both the lawn tractor, long handle loppers and zero-turn, descaling solution for our Keurig and a wireless extender for better Wi-Fi reception in our office.

Some of the more fun things we recently bought were...

LED Mini Flashlight - 2 pack

I love these. Small but bright, running on one AA battery. Drop it in a purse, stash it in a nightstand, put one in the glove box - perfect for just about anywhere.

Anker Ultra Compact Slim Profile Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard with Rechargeable Battery

Stu's new desk has a slide-out shelf for a keyboard and since he is using it more (to write his blog posts for Backend of Nowhere Garage), we ordered this. Works well, was easy to pair to his MacBook Air.

Tervis Star Wars 24 oz Tumbler

I already had two 24 oz Tervis cups, it was time to get Stu a second one before he wore this one out completely.

Water Flosser (corded)

We had a Waterpik, rechargeable, but the battery died and a new NiCad one was almost the price of a new device. Stu decided he wanted a corded one and this is the one we chose. It's working well and he really likes it. Does a great job!

 

 Camper Bean Pot Mug  ~   Crab Bean Pot Mug 

There are two more in this set that I'd still like to get - a moose and a scene showing two Adirondack chairs looking out on the water. Another one is a lighthouse, but think I will stop at four. LOL!

And, of course, we couldn't forget the #2Doods!

Yaky Chews (Himalayan Cheese Chews)

Elk Antlers

Ciao for now!

What's up? A little of everything...

Stu's only been back a couple of days and has....

Been welcomed by the #2doods...


Been joined out on the deck as he readied for grilling...


Had nice enough weather to have dinner on the deck...


Helped me assemble the pressure washer for the back deck...


Put up our 10x10 Pop-up Canopy on the deck to provide a little protection from the morning sun...




Got his new Troy-Bilt Zero Turn 42" with mulching kit (mulching kit on order)...


Gassed up and mowed the front yard so he could get used to the steering.


Installed the new ceiling fan/light combo on the deck...

...the old

...the new, starting with the install

Ciao for now!

Meet my friends, Gadget & BB

We are still working on our diets, Stu is losing faster than I am, but that is to be expected. He is busy working on getting his new-to-him motorcycle trailer ready for his upcoming ride (future post). Me? I'm trying to get back into the habit of doing yoga. Eventually I will add in the elliptical and some Body Groove work.

But today is day two of yoga and afterward, I found the need for two old friends, Gadget & BB (bed buddy). I haven't used either in close to a year but osteoarthritis is taking it's toll. So let me tell you about my friends...

BB aka Bed Buddy has been in my life for probably twenty years. I actually have three or four of them. One in the house, one in the RV, one with travel stuff and one - who knows where? LOL!

The Carex Bed Buddy Hot/Cold Wrap provides both hot and cold therapy for relieving aches and pains in muscles and joints such as shoulders, necks, backs, and knees. It uses doctor recommended moist heat as a natural alternative or complement to OTC drugs.
[source: Amazon]

My original is long gone as well as the extra "sock" covering that was sold in that era (thinking late 1980s-1990s). The newer ones have a seam down the middle and are packed more tightly, preventing shifting of the contents. Over the years it has served not only my back but my neck, knees, ankles and hands. Stu now uses it as much as I do, especially for his hands.

Gadget was an impulse buy about nine years ago during a visit to Bed, Bath & Beyond. It is a Shiatsu massager with a heat setting as well. I couldn't find exactly what I have but this one is similar, missing the nice fleece cover mine has.

I don't remember why I named it Gadget, but that's what I call it. And yes, he is my friend, too.

So this is where I am working on the laptop today....all set up with my friends!

Ciao for now!

We made it ~ Sick ~ But we made it

Just a quick catch ya'll up post with a few photos. We got back from the cruise and immediately took delivery of a new shed on our RV lot.  This will take the place of the cargo trailer. The park was charging us $35 a month to have that on our property and we can use the trailer in TN. The inside of the shed is bigger than the trailer because the outside dimensions on the trailer had to take into account the wheels/sidewalls. We're very pleased with the quality and the installation and highly recommend Lark Sheds of Leesburg.

Once that was done on Monday, we spent Tuesday and Wednesday getting ready to head to TN for the cruise-in we mentioned. That never happened. Stu had caught a cold from all the kids on the cruise and it turned into bronchitis. The day before we were due to leave he went to urgent care and got some antibiotics. So we finally headed out on Friday, making it as far as Perry, GA where we Wally-docked.

Remember our inverter issue? The one we thought we resolved with new batteries? Nope, not resolved. Sigh. Something to put on the "summer" to do list. We will stay in campgrounds when we head north the end of the month.

We made it through Atlanta very early on Saturday (if you haven't heard, I-85 had a section collapse due to a fire). We took I-75 to I-285 West and had no issues. We rejoined I-75 north and were good until close to the TN border when there was a backup that cost us at least 30 minutes. But we weren't complaining. It wasn't as bad as the one going south (south of Atlanta) where a travel trailer was wheels up, still attached to it's tow vehicle which was on its side. That backup was at least ten miles and the accident was fairly recent. With it being the first day of spring break, the traffic south was already bumper to bumper. Glad it wasn't us! So, once out of our snarl, we continued until just outside Chattanooga when a "too much traffic for the road" slowed us again for a bit until the I-75, I-24 split. Most of the traffic stayed on I-24 and we sailed onward. We pushed through and made it to the house while it was still light.

Everything was great and the house even smelled nice! We were really happy. We carried in some food for dinner and crashed till Sunday. Stu was feeling better but I was now getting sick. We got all the food moved over and I did all the laundry, then crashed.

The last couple of days have been spent either working like mad or resting like crazy. Stu is enjoying his lawn tractor. He both mowed...

and used it to relocate the motorcycle trailer and camping gear from the storage shed to the garage (prepping to sell).

As you can see, spring is here and everything is popping color! It's been a real treat to enjoy our first cup of coffee out on the back deck in the morning sun. We even had the windows and back door open yesterday.

We're still moving things over from the RV and making a list of the few items that will be moved back and forth. We are trying to limit that even though it means more purchases. For now we will move all food (except some canned), computer, medications, motorcycle gear and a few other sundry items. We're trying to keep it as simple and painless as possible.

That's not to say we haven't bought a few fun things. One of my author friends posted a photo of her new iPad cover and I had to go take a look. I ended up with this one for my iPad Mini and got Stu one of their larger, rotating versions in black for his iPad Air for less than a third of what we paid for his last one.

Oh, yeah. We love our 24 oz Tervis tumblers for iced tea and water but only had two. Rather than add them to the move between list, we opted for two new ones. I LOVE MINE!! So bright and colorful

Stu's hasn't arrived yet, but this is what it will look like.

And, if you ever needed LONG straws for your tall tumblers, this is a HUGE bargain. 250 straws for $10 (we got free shipping with Prime). I picked the multi-color pack. I couldn't get over how many straws were in the package when it arrived. Happy camper here!

We are both on the mend now, doing chores (Stu) and writing (me). If you haven't been following my author blog, you're missing daily (well, except Sundays) posts about our travels since 2005 (solo and together). This is in the April A to Z Blog Challenge and my theme is "Oh, the places we will go!". I hope you will check it out, follow my blog and tell your friends! ;)

Ciao for now!

Karma! (but not the Buddhist doctrine)

As full-time RVers, we needed a way to connect to the Internet while traveling. Since 2006, I had a Verizon Aircard with unlimited use. It was wonderful but for $70 a month, we opted to drop it when we moved to Ecuador.

We have DSL when we are on our property in Tennessee and we hop on to our stepdaughter's WiFi when parked in her driveway in Maryland. But last year we realized we were going to have an issue when parked in Stu's oldest daughter's yard in Delaware. She is a on a pay-as-you-go Internet plan and it was inconvenient for her and us to constantly have to add use.

So we've been watching for a good WiFi pay-as-you-go for us, not wanting to sign up for a contract. When we read about Karma, it sounded like a good plan for us.

When we checked it out a couple of months ago, they were sold out and anticipating having more available in August. Visiting their page a couple days ago, we found that we could pre-order and it should arrive early on in our visit to the states this fall. Of course this is only good in the US and only where they have coverage - and they do have coverage where we need it in Delaware.

When you buy data (in GBs), it never expires. At $14 per gigabyte, its data prices are more expensive than some other alternatives , but less expensive than places like hotels and airports that sell WiFi access. We love its "buy it and forget it" model for data usage, which allows you to truly pay as you go for your data.

If you have a need for "sometime" data access and don't want a monthly contract, check out Karma. (And we will report in after using it this fall while traveling and parked in Delaware.)

Kindles and Books and Reading, OH MY!

Give me a day off the motorcycle and I find all kinds of new things going on in the world.

First, my fellow RVing author, Nick Russell, has just come out with a new book, Dog's Run, and it's getting rave reviews. Check it out...I just bought it!

And while I was on the Amazon.com site, I discovered they have announced the new Kindle Fire tablets. Oh my! Here is what they had to say (straight from their website).

These are powerhouse tablets. We added the latest graphics engine, doubled the memory, and tripled the processing power with the most advanced 2.2 GHz quad-core processor. Our HDX displays bring together exceptional pixel density (up to 339 ppi), perfect 100% sRGB color accuracy, improved brightness, and dynamic image contrast. You also get up to 11 hours of battery life—17 hours when you're reading.

Even the largest new Kindle Fire—the 8.9"—is startlingly light. We re-imagined our design from scratch, with a new magnesium unibody and molded glass-nylon alloy. At just 13.2 ounces, it's 34% lighter than the previous generation.

Kindle Fire HDX is packed with hundreds of updates, including new email, calendar, and productivity apps, X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, and—in addition to streaming—you can now download Prime Instant Videos and watch them offline.

Kindle Fire HDX also introduces the revolutionary new "Mayday" button. With a single tap, an Amazon expert will appear on your Fire HDX and can co-pilot you through any feature by drawing on your screen, walking you through how to do something yourself, or doing it for you—whatever works best. Mayday is available 24x7, 365 days a year, and it's free.

Mayday is one of those things that really has to be seen—
check out our upcoming TV commercials.

In addition to all the above, we're taking another step forward in our mission to make it possible for anyone to afford a Kindle Fire. The all-new Kindle Fire HD has the same display quality and processing speed of last year's high-end models and comes in at the breakthrough price point of only $139.

Wow! I'm impressed, especially with the upgraded basic Kindle HD for $139. I paid much more for mine a year ago. Hmmm, time for an upgrade? ;)