Hmm, hmm, good

Oct. 21--Jim's uncle Webster and aunt Dot live in rural North Carolina, two hours north of Raleigh, almost to Virginia. It is low country, farmland. It is very peaceful, if you like country living.

We arrived last evening, and Dot had (of course) waited dinner for us. And this morning she made us a nice country breakfast. Good eats, all around. We never leave there empty-handed. Webster has been retired from farming for many years, but he still gardens and supplies a local restaurant with such "goodies" as green peppers and collards (yuck!). Whenever we visit, he insists that we leave loaded with garden goodies, and if we want, many home-canned goods. This time he sent us home with home-canned green beans, jellies, and assorted other goodies, as well as red and green peppers. Next week (or maybe while we are on the road), I'll prepare some stuffed peppers.

After stopping by the cemetery to view the final resting places of Jim's mom and dad (and a lot of other relatives), we stopped by a little butcher shop where they prepare fresh pork sausage twice a week. Today was one of the days. We purchased both ground sausage and links, hot and mild, of this wonderful sausage. I have to admit: Nothing "store-bought" beats its taste.

We finally got on the road, and around Rocky Mount, we decided to have a late lunch. Carolina bar-be-que was what we wanted. We saw a local restaurant advertised and headed toward it. We had eaten there before, and we liked the fare.

Real local bar-be-que

But, as we were ready to pull into the restaurant, we saw a group preparing bar-be-que in a parking lot and decided to try "really" local stuff. Turns out it was a group raising funds for a stepping team who were going down to Jacksonville to compete. Small world. Unfortunately, they did have pork, only chicken and fish. We opted for the chicken and weren't disappointed.

After lunch we finished our trip to Raleigh and checked into the state park where we had preregistered. It's a wonderfully secluded area on a lake, only about 20 minutes from Rob's house. Our only disappointment was to find that we had a curfew! The state park locks its gates at 8 p.m. and they do not issue pass codes. Our choices: Get back by 8 p.m. and be able to drive to our site, or come back late and park on the street and hike 1.5 miles to our camp site. I'm not much of a hiker, so we had a short visit with Rob, Corky, and the kids this evening.

Corky fed us well with her special chili. Excellent.

Tomorrow is the birthday party, and the "kids" are wondering if we indeed will be in costume. We will be. Our biggest dilemma will be how to deal with the curfew. I think we drive Baby to Rob's and park in the cul-de-sac for the evening--either that or a nearby WalMart.

Until next time,
Your Reluctant RoVer,
Linda

Smart connections

Oct.20, 2011— I love my smartphone. It is indispensible.

On our last trip, which took us from Florida to California and back, I had a semi-smartphone. It was only 2G, but it could access the web, e-mail, and text. But it was slow, and it couldn’t use apps. (I guess there were a few, which I had to buy and for which I could see no need.) I actually didn’t see any need for ANY apps, so I was content. For a while.

As we traveled, to look up the price of diesel and to find information on camp sites, I turned on my computer and accessed the web via my Virgin Mobile Broadband2go, a very economical way to stay connected. The Virgin Mobile plan is a pay-as-you go. I had bought unlimited 3G access for one month at a cost of $50. The nice thing about this plan is that there is no contract; so, in the months we don’t travel, I don’t have to buy any access. However, when the computer is sleeping, it disconnects from the Internet. Every time I wanted to look something up, I had to reboot, which took time. I also had to get up from my seat and take out the computer. Not always convenient.

My smartphone has changed all of that.

We expect to be gone about two weeks this trip. I bought 20 MB of broadband time (good for up to one month). I expect that will be plenty to check e-mail and do assorted other tasks, such as posting this blog. A lot of what I would have looked up on the computer, however, I can now do on my phone—and do it quickly.

I round three apps for the Droid—Gas Buddy, Trucker Services, and Trucker Tools. All of them are free, and all of them are quite indispensable.

Gas Buddy is especially good. I can look up gas stations (and choose a default to show diesel prices) by location, according to where I am currently, or I can plug in a zip code or a city/state and find prices there. The app even allows me to look at these prices on a map. When we were leaving Jacksonville, I wanted to determine if it would be less expensive to fill up in Jacksonville or wait until we reached our usual fill-up places in Georgia, where gas is usually cheaper. I pulled up the map, scrolled along I95, and found the prices for diesel. I re-employed this technique when we were in South Carolina. Thanks to Gas Buddy, we filled up in Dillon, S.C., near the North Carolina border.

The app isn’t infallible. The price on the web site for the station in Dillon was listed at $3.59. All of the prices are reported by users, and this one was 24 hours old. Well, you know how fuel prices are. When we got to the station, the price of diesel was $3.65. (I updated the information!) Although it was more than we hoped, it was less than other stations, and at least 10 cents a gallon less than diesel was selling for in North Carolina.

The Trucker Services app is also good. It offers a lot of information on truck stops. It also provides information on the nearest WalMarts and rest stops. This was very helpful last night. After dinner in Walterboro, S.C., I looked up how far away the rest stops were, and we calculated how much farther we would travel (about another hour). We boondocked at a rest stop on the other side of Santee, S.C.

I still need my computer, but I don’t want to give up my smartphone. Incidentally, I have a very economical plan for it, too. I purchased the smartphone from StraightTalk (a division of TracPhone, sold only through WalMart). It is 3G, cost $149, and for less than $45/month (because I bought several months at one time), I get unlimited talk, text, and data (web). Any limitations? Yes, users cannot download movies or tether their computers to the phone, but other than that, no. So, for us, it is a good deal.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda

P.S. I will be posting this sometime on Oct. 21. We are in a remote area of North Carolina where there is no cell phone coverage. Unbelievable. In this area of N.C. there is one cell-phone company, and apparently it has no reciprocal agreements with any of the other companies, not even Sprint or Verizon.

On the road again

Oct. 19, 2011—Yes! We are on the road again. This time to Raleigh, N.C. to celebrate my son’s 40^th birthday (something I cannot believe!).

Our intention was to get underway by about 3 p.m. Jim had an appointment for his semi-annual doctor’s visit at the V.A. in the morning. I went with him and we picked up “Baby” on the way back home. It didn’t take us as long to load the bus as it did last time, although I am certain we overpacked clothes and probably forgot some “necessities.” Time will tell.

I initially wrote down 1:55 p.m. (ET) as our departure, but that wasn’t exactly accurate. We stopped several times as we inched down the street, to adjust the side mirrors. (We have a new windshield, and the mirrors got moved during the installation process.) Then we had to get diesel; we were well below a comfort zone.

After putting in about $120 worth of diesel, we headed out—only to detour one more time. Who can pass up Steak ‘n Shake’s Happy Hour when you are passing just a block from the restaurant? A take-out chocolate shake and malt in hand, we finally hit the road at 2:55 p.m.

We weren’t concerned about the late start, nor about darkness. Jim fixed the headlights, so we can travel at night now. I consulted Garmina (GPS) and discovered that we were well within drive time to have dinner in Walterboro, S.C. at our favorite stop—the Blarney Stone.

We discovered this restaurant by accident three or four years ago. When we are traveling, we like to eat at local establishments. We turned off I95 and drove into Walterboro and found this restaurant and discovered its wonderful shrimp and grits, the best we have ever eaten. (Actually, it was in this unlikely restaurant that I had my first taste of this low-country favorite.)

Garmina dutifully directed us to the restaurant, and we found ample parking in a public lot a half block away. Imagine our surprise, though, when we found that restaurant was no longer the Blarney Stone! Remodeled and under new ownership, it is now called the Main St. Grille. However, the waitress told us the chef remained with the restaurant. He came out to talk with us and to assure us that the shrimp and grits were gluten-free. He even made them mild for me and spicy for Jim. Excellent! Well worth the stop.

Charlie went into hiding when we first started the engine back in Jacksonville, and he did not come out until we stopped at a rest stop for the evening. He is not a happy traveler. Xena is better, but not much. They are just going to have to get used to it.

One more thing, before I close: It is cold. The temperature dropped to around the mid-40s. We had heat on until we went to bed, then we snuggled down under the warmth of a down comforter. There is something to be said for traveling during the summer.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer,

Linda

Musings on our recent trip

August 30—We’re home! After going cross country and back in 26 days, and putting more than 3,500 miles on Baby, we arrived home around 2:45 p.m. EDT. It took us almost two hours to unload (and of course we forgot some things in Baby, which we’ll get tomorrow).

We took Xena into the house immediately, but Charlie wouldn’t come out. Jim finally found in inside of one of the kitchen drawers! Both the cats are happy to be in the normal habitat without hearing the ominous hum of a generator or a diesel motor.

If you have been reading my blogs, you know we have had an eventful trip: We drove to California and back without headlights, because of a failed headlight switch (of course we didn’t drive in the night); we cracked the front window; we learned it is not wise to drive in sand (even accidentally); we discovered that cats can get into very small places; and we learned to navigate a dusty whisper of a road at the top of a levee (and get under a low-hanging overpass). We also learned that some law-enforcement officers can be helpful, at least in California and in Louisiana.

Here are some other things I learned:

• Pack less. We have the good fortune of having a washer and dryer in our motorhome. They only hold about half as much as a normal washer and dryer, so I found myself doing wash about every other day. I didn’t touch most of the clothes I brought with us. I don’t think Jim did, either. Next time, I’ll pack less—assuming, of course, that our trip will not be for an extended length of time.

• Take less freezer food. I had taken as much of our frozen meats/fish/poultry that I could stuff into the freezer, plus several loaves of our gluten-free bread. We didn’t eat all of it. (I actually lost several pounds, not a bad thing!) It would be better to prepare and freeze meals ahead of time and take several of them, rather than to take a lot of frozen goods. It’s easy to stop at a grocery, especially a super Walmart, and buy what we need for dinner. And, of course, we like to eat local cuisine, too, which we did several times.

• Stock dedicated items in Baby. When I got ready to make dinner tonight, I discovered that I had left the potato peeler and masher in the utensils drawer. Those are easily duplicated items. Until such a time (if ever) that we travel full-time, it is better to have a set of utensils in Baby, as well as at home.

• Don’t ask if we need to get more diesel. I’m the kind of driver who never lets the gas tank get below one quarter. Jim likes to drives on fumes. He gets annoyed when I ask if we should get diesel. I think from now on I’ll let him worry about it (and the consequences of running out, should that happen).

• Charlie-proof the motorhome. That little scaredy cat needs to find a safe place where we can find him! Like, behind the pillows on the bed. Jim will be cat-proofing Baby.

• Get an e-reader. That has been a life-saver. Some nights we didn’t have television, and even when we had TV, we found we didn’t watch too much. (I haven’t missed it; Jim says he hasn’t either. Maybe we’ll save some money by canceling Uverse.) The e-readers we bought have come in very handy.

• Stay connected. My VirginMobile Broadband2go device has worked very well. Sometimes RV parks offer free broadband service, but not always. Besides, it’s good to have our own private connection, to safeguard information when we pay bills or make other secure transactions.

• Keep your library card active. Jacksonville has a good library system, with a lot of e-books and audiobooks available for downloading. The library doesn’t know I am downloading a book while I am in Texas or Arizona! I transferred the audiobooks to an MP3 player, which I plugged into the radio’s speaker system. We listened to at least a half dozen books, a real life-saver, since radio stations don’t always play what you want to hear. Fortunately, Jim and I like the same types of books (mysteries and suspense). Listening to them helped while away the time as we passed through the various types of southwestern deserts.

• Have fun! I’m still a Reluctant RoVer. I consider the motorhome a means of transportation. In some ways it is much more comfortable than a car, because you sit so high and you can get up and go to the bathroom whenever you want. (I can; Jim has to stop since he is driving.) It is also nice to be able to sleep in your own bed each night and not have to worry about bedbugs or if the linens have really been laundered in a rented motel room. And it is convenient as well as less expensive to be able to cook your own food, rather than eat out all the time.

I admit that I am roving because my husband wants to do it. This is his dream, not mine. But that’s not a bad thing. You see, if it were up to me, I probably wouldn’t go anywhere. I am very content staying at home. Yet, it is nice seeing the countryside and visiting places I’ve only read about in magazines (if at all). Would I want to do this full-time? Not if full-time means I don’t have a house to come back to. I need my roots. I can do this full-time for a period of time, if the house were to sell and we were looking for someplace to plant a new set of roots. But I would not do it indefinitely.

I will also admit that when we drove into Jacksonville, and even up to our house, it felt anticlimatic. I didn’t have a big feeling of relief of coming home. I think what that means is that although I live in Jacksonville, it has never been “home.” It is a place where I own a house and where I worked, nothing more. I would like to have a place to call home, where I know people and feel a part of the community, but it is not here.

So, I’m still a Reluctant RoVer, but I did have a good time. Really. It was an adventure, and adventures are good. Until next time (and there will be a next time, probably in a few weeks), Your Reluctant RoVer, Linda

Gotcha!

August 29—Charlie keeps us mystified. Even though we closed off his hiding place, my scaredy cat has still managed to disappear.

Last night we boondocked in a rest area. After we got settled in, Charlie still had not reappeared, so Jim took another look for him. We had not opened the cupboards, but Jim decided to pull out the drawer, behind which we had found him before.

And there he was! How did he get there? Well, perhaps we had left the cupboard door open, we thought.

So this morning, I made sure that no doors were open, yet minutes after we started the engine, he was gone, into thin air.

Intent on finding his hiding place, I pulled the drawer out, and there he was, cowering behind it.

How did he get in? When the slide is in, there is a “hole” behind a kitchen cabinet. He must have jumped into the hole and then found a space at the bottom of the cupboard. He then crawled into his safe space.

I’m amazed that my skinny little kitty could be so flexible to get into such a small space, but he did.

I took the drawer out so that he could come out more easily and not get crushed, should we camp in an RV park tonight.

Before we travel again, Jim will have to patch up those holes. But at least we know where Charlie goes.

Until next time,

YourReluctant RoVer,
Linda

Never a dull moment

August 29— Traveling in Baby remains an adventure. Yesterday was no exception.

We decided to go home. We were going to go home, anyway, but we decided not to go to Atlanta this trip. So, we programmed Garmina (our GPS device) for “home” and let her decide the route.

I think there are various ways Garmina can be programmed to work—fastest route, most direct, Interstates, etc. We apparently have her programmed for the most direct route, which isn’t necessarily the fastest. She took us across Texas on highways (not Interstates). We eventually hit I20 and stayed in a rest area just inside of Mississippi, but we are pretty sure she’ll take us crosswise in Mississippi once we hit Jackson. We’ll see.

We filled the diesel tank before we left Texas, but as we approached Mississippi it was time to look for a fill-up place.

I checked prices on a bookmarked page (http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx). It told me diesel was several cents cheaper at a Chevron station just before we crossed into Mississippi. We saw the sign for the station and pulled off.

We cannot use all stations; some do not provide enough room to make a turn. (Remember: Baby is 38 feet long, plus we have “toad”—our car behind her.) This Chevron station didn’t even look like it had diesel…so Jim drove in front to see if it did and if he could get in and out.

It turned out that the station had several diesel pumps for trucks on its far side, but by the time Jim discovered them, he had passed the station. He said he would turn around up ahead. Usually we can find a place.

Not this time.

The road was asphalt for another 100 feet or so, then it turned into gravel. We kept following it, until it turned into a Y and climbed a rise. Jim decided to take the left turn…surely there would be a turnaround place up ahead!

The road narrowed. We were actually on top of a levee, driving on a narrow one-lane dirt/gravel road. And there was no turnaround in site.

Garmina actually knew about this road…sort of. She told us it went straight for a couple of miles, then turned back.

We kept going, and going, and going…until we came to the Interstate.

Of course, we couldn’t get on the Interstate. This was a levee road; we had to go under it. But the question was: Could we fit?

Baby is close to 12 feet tall. Jim took a walk to see what lay up ahead. When he came back, he said he saw a place he thought we could turn. He was concerned, however, that Baby could get under the overpass.

Before we did anything, a Louisiana law-enforcement officer approached us on the road we would we intended to take. We explained our dilemma. He said he could not turn where Jim thought we could, but if we could make it under the embankment, he would lead us to the main highway. (We have had very good luck with law enforcement officers recently!)

The police officer turned his truck around. I stood on the embankment and watched as Jim inched forward. Using my cell phone, I told him to keep going. Baby made it!

The police officer led us along the levee and finally into a small neighborhood of houses, where kids were playing in the yards and families were outside. Everyone stopped to watch us go down their street. (At one point, a sheriff’s deputy guided us under a low hanging power line. Another nice policeman!)

We finally made it to the main highway.

Our guide stopped his truck and came back to talk with us. He said, “In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never had an RV up there on the levee before.”

Always a first time, and never a dull moment with us.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer,
Linda

Staying connected

August 27—When we were contemplating traveling, the question arose, “How would we stay connected?” Since I still do freelance writing, it was important to be able to connect with the cyberspace world. The question was how to do so economically.

A few months ago, we thought we might have the answer—Clearwire. Clearwire is a wireless internet service that claims to have both 4G as well as 3G service nationwide. We signed up for both 4G home service (via a wireless modem) as well as a for mobile internet service, using a 3G/4G modem.

We discovered that the home service did not perform as fast as expected. Furthermore, 4G mobile service was limited to big cities, and although the fee we were paying gave unlimited 4G downloads, there was a limit on 3G downloads. Another drawback was the cost: We were paying for both home and mobile service each month, yet we were going to using the mobile service only sporadically.

Given the drawbacks, we quit Clearwire. We had to pay a small service charge (not like AT&T or T-Mobile), but we were willing to do that in order to be free of the much larger monthly cost. (As a side note, Clearwire made an error in its paperwork when I quit the service, and for several weeks, we were received harassing recorded telephone calls from them. It took a letter to the president of the company to clear up the problem. I do not recommend Clearwire because of its very poor customer service.)

So, we were back at square one: How to get connected? I investigated the various services. Verizon has the best coverage, and also has widespread 4G, but it is expensive. Likewise, the same for the other major brands.

I discovered, however, that Virgin Mobile, the carrier I currently use for my cell phone service, has Broadband2go, available either through a USB gadget or a “mifi” device. These only come currently in 3G service. I decided the USB device would probably serve us well, and it has.

Online, the USB device costs $79.99. I bought one on Amazon for $49. (You also might be able to buy one on E-bay for less.)

For the most part, the 3G service is fast enough. No, you can’t really watch videos very well, unless you have a very strong 3G connection, but Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network, and we have found service pretty strong all along the interstates we have been traveling.

Broadband2go has distinct advantages over traditional contract services. For one, there is no contract! You only have to use the service once during a 12-month period to keep your account active.

For another thing, you can buy as much download capacity as you need. Choose from several time-limited plans—$10 for one week or 100 MB (whichever comes first); $20 for one month or 500 MB (whichever comes first), or $50 for one month (unlimited downloads at 3G speed, up to 2.5 GB, slower after that theoretically). I bought the $50 plan, which was a good decision, because it doesn’t take long to go through 100 or even 500 MB.

The plan has so far served me well. I am able to check my e-mail several times a day. As we travel start to consider where to stay for the night, I pull up the internet and search out various discount RV clubs for the best and least expensive sites. I also search for diesel prices. And (perhaps just as important as all the other things), I browse our Jacksonville public library and download both e-books as well as audio books, which keep us entertained during our travels.

I also keep connected with my cell phone. I have a Virgin Mobile cell phone. At home I pay for 300 minutes a month. I upped that to 1,200 minutes for $45. (That $45 includes as much texting and web browsing as I can do!) I will go back to the 300 minute plan once we return home again.

Virgin Mobile, as I mentioned above, uses the Sprint network, so we get pretty good coverage. I am considering changing to Straight Talk, which piggybacks on the Verizon network, for even better coverage. Jim’s phone is T-Mobile, which has additional coverage. (He has a limited plan—1,000 minutes for $100, to be used within a 12-month period.)

So there you have it—how we stay connected. So far it has worked well. I am able to do my freelance work, know what’s going on the world, download my morning crossword, and remain in touch as much as I want.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer
Linda