RV-Anytimers Goin’ Mobile!

Well we’re not really goin’ anywhere just yet, but we have a sweet new toy. I just invested in a 3G wireless router for our Sprint aircard giving us our own ‘Mobile HotSpot’. Now we can sit outside and enjoy all the splendor that ‘The Boss’ has given us while we make a new entry in the Blog, surf the web or update the website.

The Cyfre 3G Mobile Router

I’ve been biddin’ on these on Ebay for a while and I always seem to lose by a few dollars, last one I lost by 50 cents, frustratin! I could have bought a used one fer $65, but I let it slide. This one is new and I had to give $107 for it but at $199 retail I feel like I did alright.
It was a breeze to set up. I hooked the router to a laptop via ethernet cable, plugged in the aircard and powered up the router. I was online instantly, surfin’ away. Then I pulled the ethernet cable and installed the software for my security and we’re a ‘Mobile Hotspot’. I’ve only used it in the house so far, so I need to take it out to the Lance and hook up the antenna and see if it gets better. We’re on a slight fringe area here at the house and I’m even on the second floor, but it’s workin’ fine. I know the antenna will improve things even more.
The reason I settled on this router was cause it is universally compatible with any 3G/4G device. It can accommodate any providers PCMCIA card or Express card or a USB modem, so if we switch technology or service providers we’re still set for as long as the router functions.
Now that I’ve got that out, if you haven’t visited the Website lately you need to check it out at Dancin’ on the Wind and see the changes that have occurred. I’m still tweakin’ but I like it a lot better than the ‘White Bread’, ‘Plain Jane’ pages you used to have to look at, I think it has ‘Character’! More improvements are in the works.
Speakin’ ‘o’ wind, I’m runnin’ low on it about now so I’ll say Adios for now. But we always hope to see ya’ down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Test’s Over and Some Goodbyes

Linda’s sister, Joyce called this afternoon and wanted to know if we were gonna be here this evening cause her and husband Alex are bringin’ supper. The folks here are teasin’ us about gettin’ ‘Meals on Wheels’ but I think they wish they were in our shoes. Of course we said “Come On”! I even got out our rope lights and put them under the camper so they could spot us easily, kinda like a landing strip. Had to run the generator to power the lights, so the experiment is over, but we proved that we can go 5 days,probably more, without power to recharge the batteries.
Joyce called again to say they were runnin’ a little late so I assured her not to worry, we weren’t going to starve till they arrived. Just give us some cheese and crackers washed down with an adult beverage and we’re fine. Well she & Alex arrived around 7:00 and we had a wonderful meal she had prepared. Baked chicken, home made potato salad with crumbled bacon garnish and a buttermilk pie for dessert, umm..mm. I like this ‘Meals on Wheels’ stuff. After supper we made a fire and talked for a while, but soon they had to say ‘Goodnight’ and head home as Alex starts work around 6AM. We thanked them for their kindness and wished them a safe journey home.

Joyce, Alex & Linda

After they left Linda & I moseyed over to the ‘Community Fire’ and sat with all the folks there. I promised I’d post pictures of some of the folks I was able to capture on film, so here goes.

That’s Linda, My Linda, Dee, Sherry & Pat, left to right

Dick, Bob & Ken

Ed, Fred and the other Linda’s Husband (OK I flunked the name quiz)

After everyone turned in we sat around the fire with Dick & Sherry until midnight, no one knew it was that late. We were just engrossed in our conversation I guess.
Here’s another shot taken under Ken’s awning.

Linda, Sherry, Ellie, Jay & Ken, with Dick in the background.

Today we tried out our Solar Shower that I brought from home. We have had it years and have never bothered to use it. It got pretty hot sittin’ in the Ole’ Florida sun.

We could get 5 or 6 shampoos’ out of this

Saturday we decided that we would stay until Tuesday morning, but we needed to find us some water. We went into town as we needed some more food as well. Now with a full water tank and some more grub we were ready for three more days. I continued to monitor the battery voltages even though we technically ended the test after I ran the genny while Joyce & Alex were here the other night. I did confirm a few questions that I had.

1. The previous owner had some trouble with the converter and replaced it with a different one. The new converter has a 25A charger in it. I ran the generator about 1 hour and 15 minutes and it brought the batteries up to full charge in that time.

2. The wiring harness between the truck and the camper must have a heavier wire for charging goin’ down the road as it seems to replenish it too.

Sunday we went for a walk in the management area. The walk in the fresh air was great and we walked about 3 miles. We returned to sit around at Dick & Sherry’s coach, everyone was there, so we chewed some more fat. Went to our camper and ate dinner. It was to windy for a fire so Linda & I played Rummy for hours then turned in for the night.

These little guys were at my feet while I was writtin’.

This is a North American Bluebird

Monday started out with rain, rain, rain early so we decided to pack it up and head for home. We made the rounds and said our goodbyes, hugs & handshakes. We had a great time with our new friends and we hope to see ya again.
On the way home Linda decided we better stop at Ft. Drum Conservation Area for some lunch. After lunch decided to call our good buddies Linda & Bud. It was decided then we’d all go out to dinner. We’re back at the rancho, unpacked, unloaded the camper, had long hot showers and we’re off to dinner.
Hope to see ya down the road as we’re;

Dancin’ on the Wind.

Test, Test and time for Refigurin’

We are Boondockin’ at Prairie Lake Wildlife Management Unit, outside Keanansville, FL. There is a big camp here but the only facilities are vault toilets and a hand pitcher pump for water. We came out to test the addition of the second battery which doubled our electrical capacity to 250 AH. Doesn’t sound like a lot but were in a truck camper, there’s only so much room fer’ stuff. We figured we’d need some more water while we’re here, so we brought along some water jugs to fill at the pump. Only thing is the pump has big sign on it say; “Do Not Drink” and it looks like tea, so’s it aint goin’ in our tank. Seems like we’ll have to get water elsewhere, if we need it.

This is our second full day dry camped and so far the batteries seem to be doin’ fine. There is about 14 ‘snowbird’ RVer’s camped here and we have met everyone of them the first day, tryin’ to recall all the names has been a challenge. Every night we all sit around the community fire and spin yarns, joke and tell stories. The lot is a mixture from NY, WV, ME and quite a few from Michigan. Some have camped with each other for many years, some are newcomers. I’ll post some pictures of the ‘Crew’ around the fire if I can get some one evening.
Update:
We are now in our fourth day here and the batteries seem to be holdin’ up fine, 12.52 volts. We’ve been conservative in our use of power, but we’ve watched TV for 3.5 hours the first night 45 minutes the second, 1 hour last night, used the fresh water pump as necessary for water & flushing, and only use one or two lights at a time. We have used the generator only for a few minutes at a time to make toast or run the microwave, so there has been no rechargin’ from that to speak of. The fresh water tank reads 2/3 full, the grey water tank is 1/3 full and our black tank is under 1/3 full. At this rate I think we could survive for a week easily without having to run the genny to recharge the batteries. We’ll see as were only going to stay for two more days as we’re supposed to get some severe storms Saturday.
Now to the Refigurin’! Dirty Frizaner, Somana dirty rotten g#*.. Gr….um….p! Mr. Murphy come up and smacked me in the back o’ the head. The battery rack placement is not as good as I thought. The current placement makes it to difficult to load the camper on the truck. The clearance on both sides is tight enough, but now it’s ridiculous! So….s, I think I’m gonna move it to the rear of the lance on the same side, between the camper and the taillights of the truck. I pondered that spot but didn’t think I had the room until I finally got the camper loaded and realized the present location was just too much trouble. So when we return home I got to go to work on moving the rack. It will be close tolerance, but not as close as the location now and shouldn’t effect loading. So it back to the drawin’ board on this one.
Well that’s all I got fer’ now. Hope to see ya’ down the road, as we’re;

 Dancin’ on the Wind.

City of Blues & Rock & Roll

We were up today at 7:15 and it was brisk. The temp was 27 degrees outside, 45 inside. We turned up the heat and were warm and toasty in no time. We brought something with us this trip I had all but forgot about and it is a lifesaver, Electric blanket. Livin' with a lady who could heat a moderately sized buildin' with her Flashes, it's nice to be able to control one's temperature comfort level. We stayed at Natchez Trace RV last night. Nice little park, full hookup, Pool(not gonna see my carcass there), and some of the cleanest bathrooms we've seen in our travels across this country. You know it's a PA park and a bargain at $11.80 a night.

We left there headin' north on the 'Trace' and stopped at the visitors center just north of Tupelo. The we turned and headed west down US 78 towards Memphis. In Memphis we headed to Elvis Presley Blvd. RV park get a site for the night, another PA park at $16 per night. The park is two blocks from Graceland for those interested in visiting the 'Kings' home. We then headed downtown to find Gus's on Front St. Gus's looks more like your typical old time neighborhood bar from the outside but on the inside it's all restaurant. We were greeted and took a table. Our waiter Steve promptly took our order and brought our drinks. Linda & I both ordered a half chicken. We were told by others to expect a wait of up to one hour for our order to be prepared, surprisingly our order came within fifteen minutes. The chicken arrived nested on two slices of white bread accompanied by cole slaw and baked beans for $9.95. To say the chicken was excellent would be an understatement. We have never had better fried chicken, just a little spicy. I'd have to say it surpassed the cajun fried wings we had at Granny's Chicken Palace in Maggie Valley.

After Gus's we drove around the downtown until we came to the I-40 Welcome Center. By now it was around 4PM and most of the museums were closing at 5PM. A trolley ride was suggested and since we had never ridden on a real trolley car, we jumped on the idea. For 50 cents each we took a complete loop of the downtown area of Memphis, for 50 minutes on trolley cars that were 100 years old. The trolley car are all different but the interiors of the two we rode were crafted of various varnished hardwoods. After that we walked all the river to burn off some of that dinner, then some shopping and back to the RV Park.

Elvis himself greets visitors at the Welcome Center.

I tried to get a picture of the interior of the Trolley as we rumbled down the street.

Memphis in evenings early light.

We watched some TV and called it a night. Tomorrow we're headin' back east on I-40 towards the northern end of the Natchez Trace.

Maybe we'll see ya down the road as we're,

Dancin' on the Wind.

Watkins Glen & Wine Country

We spent yesterday explorin' Watkins Glen State Park. We stayed at the campground so we'd be close. Good sized campground but most of it has no hookups. There are six loops and almost 300 sites but only about 50 electric sites. And I mean electric sites, no water, just a smatering through the loop. I checked this park out on the web and it said the sites were $13 + $6 for electric. Well it was $17 + $6 for electric plus $2.75 cause I didn't make a reservation, for a total of $25.75. If I had made a reservation on the web it would have been $9 additional instead of $2.75. I'd like to know why they charge for not making a reservation and who's gettin' that dinero? I can see Reserve America chargin' a fee for their service, but why does it cost $9 in NY and maybe one or two dollars in other states? The campground was typically rustic, as most state parks are but the restrooms were plain nasty! I guess because they use state employees, who are paid meagerly, the level of caring is commensurate. I'll bet if they used volunteer work campers they would get a more conscientious worker for a lot less money, and the showers wouldn't have mold growing in them.

Well the Glen was quite scenic, a crevasse carved over time by the water rushing through it, carving out the solid rock. There are 19 waterfalls in the first one mile up the Gorge Trail & many deep pools as well. Kind of like a mini Grand Canyon. In addition there were a couple of tunnels along the trail.

 

 

The tunnel at the start of the climb.

 

 

 

 

One of the more spectacular falls.

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the Gorge is made up of cascading waterfalls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Viewing one of the bridges through the water cascading from above.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the deep pools.

 

 

 

 

 

The hike up through the gorge is about one and a half miles and is accompanied by many, many sets of stairs, and for some reason they were all going UP!  When we reached the top we hiked back down the Indian Trail which was not right in the gorge, and had very few stairs.

We went back to camp ate some dinner then had a nice fire that we shared with our neighbors across the road. After a full day we slept really good.

Today we took a ride north towards Rochester to see the Erie Barge Canal. Linda had taken a trip on it with her family when she was a young girl. We visited some of the locks and traveled along it for about 25 miles passing through the little towns that border the canal. Then it was time to head south back towards Pennsylvania, I spell it out cause in a previous post I used CA for Canada and someone thought we were headed for California. I won't mention any names Bonnie.

 

 

 

Lock 28 on the Erie Barge Canal.

 

 

 

Tonight we are staying in a Passport America park in Randolph, NY, $12.50 and free wi-fi.

PS. The links to the photo album I mentioned for the family pictures is not working, but don't worry I'll get it fixed as soon as I can. In the meantime if you click on any picture in the August 28th post it will take you to our online pictures, click on the 'My Photos' tab and it will take you to all the online albums, then choose 'A Reunion with Family' to view the album.

See ya' down the road as we're

Dancin' on the Wind

Bidin' My Time

Well it's just gettin' too hot outside fer a fella like me, 90's are the norm everyday. Even when the thermometer says it's upper 80's my body & my noggin says it's at least 90. Bout' the only thing gets done around here by me is to mow this two acres of grass when it needs it. Thank the man upstairs we haven't had the normal rains yet that cause the grass to grow like wildfire, requirin' bi-weekly mowin'. It's gettin' to expensive to run that mower around fer 6 hours to often. I tried adaptin' my Slow Down and save fuel policy to the mowin', but all it did is stretch out the time to Get 'er Done, and used more gas.

Was up early, fer me, this morning, 6:30, had my first cup 'o' Heart startin' COFFEE. Then commenced to takin' on washin' the truck, something that was needin' to be done. It's just so hot during the day, I  get the water on it and commence to washin'  while I'm watchin' the soap & water dryin' on it. Really makes fer some pretty lookin' windows, with all that white streaky stuff. Even at that hour I could only do a small section, like a fender, before it's time to rinse. Well at this slow pace it was takin' a while and about 2/3 'o' the way through, I didn't know who was leakin' more water, the Sponge or Me! I got 'er done, not the thorough washin' I like to do, but it's clean and don't have no Love bugs stuck on her. By then Linda was up an' wantin' to fix me some breakfast which sounded real good, 'cept fer the fact that I was hotter than a **#+##:!! I stood under a ceiling fan and cooled off some after removing my t-shirt, not a pretty site.

After a hearty breakfast of bacon & eggs, I decided I'd done my time in he_ _ for the day and went to workin' on the website. I got a lot more albums uploaded from our Alaska trip in '07, just a couple a more to go before I'm startin' on ID, MT, WY, SD, CO, NE, IA, IL, ID & then some. I been tweakin' the links all over the site and on the Blog so they always open in a new window. Nothin I hate worse than clickin' on a link, that leads to another link and findin' myself gone from the site I that had my interest in the first place. Besides that's no way to build traffic to your site, havin' 'em click away and be gone. I don't declare to be a web guru, and when it comes to HTML I'm teachin myself how to edit code as I go along. Some links I'm still fightin' with but I'm not about to let it beat me, I'll get it sooner or later. I got a neat little tool for the Blog last week called "Windows Live Writer" that lets me compose in the same format as Blogger. It has lots more features than Blogger itself as far as formatting. Now thanks to this program, all my links will open in a new window. I was havin' troubles composing off line, and then uploadin', everything would get screwy and I'd have to re-edit it online , took a lot of time. So if your needin' some new readin' or lookin' to view some breathtaking pictures, why not stop by the website an check it out fer' your own self. Dancin' on the Wind

Well my 'Wanderlust' is startin' to get to me, and the heat don't help, cause I know we have to travel a ways to find some cooler temps. It's not worth takin' any kind of trip within 3-400 miles cause we'll end up stayin' in the A/C of the camper, not my idea of fun. Well I'm just trying to bear it until we can say goodbye to this sandbar for the remainder of the summer.

Hope to see ya down the road, as were Dancin' on the Wind

PS. To our good friend & loyal fan, Amy, I'll post some new baby pictures next time.