Part Time Mobile Internet Connections

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our E-mail Digest or RSS Feed. We will then send you the stories that are posted each day in an e-mail digest. We use a service called Feedburner for delivery of these emails. You will receive an e-mail from Feedburner after you subscribe and you must click on that email to activate your subscription. Thanks for visiting and enjoy all the information! RV.Net Blog AdminAs fulltime RVers, we have no problem signing a 2 year contract for Internet service from Verizon, but we know many people who only travel part time.  What are their options for mobile Internet service?  A couple years ago, your only option was to rely on Wi-Fi which is very UNreliable!  Now there are several options for short term cellular Internet connections.  The technology world moves fast, and nothing moves faster than cellular Internet plans, so take the information below as talking points only.  Check with your provider, and/or your contract for the details that apply to you. Verizon is the focus of much of the information in this article since it is what we use personally, and it is the most popular service among RVers.  There are links at the bottom for information on other providers. 1. Putting your Contract on Vacation: Even if you do sign a 2 year contract with Verizon, for example, you can put your service (and payments) on vacation for up to 6 months.   Be aware that vacation time will be added to the end of your contract.  That means,... Read more

RETURN TO THE PAST – PART 2 OF 2

By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander*, the Never-Bored RVers This is the second of two articles about our trip to Death Valley earlier this month, the sequel to our excursion to China Ranch Date Farm.  Included at the end is my golf story about why I’m glad I four-putted the 18th hole. A Sea of Fellow Travelers -- No Mirage! PART 2, THE ENCAMPMENT – There are those who return each year to the Death Valley 49ers Encampment to don the outfits of the American West as it was back in the 1800s.  It’s a four-day variety show, complete with horse riders alongside buckboards pulled by mules, a “return to the days of yesteryear,” as we heard on the Lone Ranger radio and TV shows. Many come to the Encampment to commune with history, but everyone comes for the entertainment – top-notch singers and musicians who rank among America’s most notable western performers.  Some venture into the desert to escape the cold.  There’s no quiet like the quiet of the desert, and there’s no more beautiful landscape than the striated hills in every direction. Yet, I’ll bet the most compelling reason most drive hour after hour to return year after year is to socialize with friends they’ve camped alongside for years if not decades.  2011 was the 62nd year of the Encampment [http://www.deathvalley49ers.org]. Monique and I made the 600-mile round-trip for the second year in a row seeking adventure.  Like last year everyday held new vistas and opportunities for Western Singer... Read more

Snowbird RVers can get DSL or Cable Internet Service

by Chris Guld, www.geeksontour.tv We write a lot of articles here about how RV travelers can get Internet service.  All the options are some type of wireless service (Wi-Fi, Cellular, Satellite) because there is no wire that stretches with your RV down the road! But wired is almost always better than wireless, it’s more reliable, it’s usually faster, *and* there are generally no usage limits.  So if you have that option – do it! What do I mean by a ‘wired’ connection? I mean DSL or Cable.  A service where you have a physical wire (or cable) to your Internet Service provider.  If you’re staying in one RV park for 3 months or more, you may have one of these options. We are currently staying at Paradise Island RV park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  We got here mid-October and we’ll be staying thru March.  There are telephone lines at each site in this park so we called AT&T to get DSL Internet service.  They turned on the service at our site within just a few days, and we are paying $42/mo which is supposed to adjust down to $19/mo promotional deal after the first month. No Yearly Contract This is the second winter season we’ve done this.  When we left last April, we just called AT&T and told them to discontinue service.  Not so long ago, you had to sign a yearly contract to get service, but that’s not the case now. The AT&T line gets plugged into a DSL modem and that in turn is plugged into our WiFiRanger... Read more

How to control on-the-road expenses when your portfolio takes a hit

By Bob Difley Back in the good ol’ days when we were all making money on our stock portfolios and our retirement income was healthy, we didn’t have to think much about economizing or how to save money while on the road. The toughest decisions we had to make was whether to buy the $20 or $40 bottle of wine, go to a 4 star instead of a 3 star restaurant, and whether to stay at RV resorts boasting amenities such as golf tours, swimming pools and hot tubs, and lots of planned activities. I fear that, except for a minority of us, those halcyon days of yore are gone. The pundits on CNBC are back talking the “D” word, Europe’s woes are making headlines, and street demonstrations are growing. Even the most un-conservative spendthrifts among us have to be thinking of watching the outflow with all this uncertainty. One of the things I’ve always liked about the RV Lifestyle was our ability to make such cutbacks when the times warranted. That was a hard thing to do when we lived conventionally in nice suburban houses and had more-or-less fixed monthly expenses–gas bill was mostly the same month-to-month, club dues the same, food bill ditto. But with the RV lifestyle, when the s**t hits the fan, or markets are on the verge of panic, we RVers (at least fulltimers) have the ability to weather the storm by instantly changing  our plans and just as instantly cutting expenses until things settle down. For instance, to cut down on your fuel bill stay longer... Read more

DATES AND DEATH VALLEY — PART I

By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander*, the Never-Bored RVers This is a two-part blog, beginning with our off-the-beaten path near Tecopa, California, in Death Valley (a mere 85 miles west of Las Vegas) to the China Ranch Date Farm in an oasis among America’s most arid tract of land.  I’ll post Part 2 in a couple of days, describing our return to the Death Valley 49ers Encampment, and I conclude with a golf tale, which I call “Why I’m glad I four-putted the 18th green.” PART 1, THE DATE FARM – For those of you who have never experienced the nothingness of the vast Western deserts, trekking across broad sandy basins lined with jagged mountains holds more interest than you might realize.  Last year we drove and hiked through several unique scenic venues, including the beautiful Artists Palette trail, the Devil’s Golf Course and the lowest point in North America. This year, we pulled out a day early from among the long lines of RVs parked at Furnace Creek for the 49ers Encampment heading for the legendary China Ranch date farm.  It was harvest time, the perfect time to visit.  “What have we gotten Is this really a road? ourselves into?” we wondered as we left the blacktop side road and urged our trailer onto a winding dirt road cut through steep cliffs and serrated hills.  Despite sharp turns on the narrow road, it looked worse than it was. Before long the labyrinth wound past acres of palm trees all dressed in the apparel of ghosts, white-robed spirits... Read more

The aging RVer

I am sitting here tonight comtemplating that in two days I will “celebrate” my 67th birthday.  On this event I am looking at our current and future RVing situation and wondering what the near future holds for this “aging RVer”?? With today’s modern medical advances, 67 is not really “old”, but for certain, I have noticed a difference in my abilities to live the RV lifestyle.  In particular I have become keenly aware of limitation on my efforts to keep the motorhome clean, and polished.  In the past I would spend hours washing, waxing, and meticulously cleaning the coach, taking pride in removing even small spots.  This year the days have flown by and my RV sits in the driveway with a nice even coating of road dirt.  Believe me this is something that in years past, would not have happened.  Yet I simply cannot find time in my day to get the dirt off like I used to.  My thought is that there used to be 24 hours in a day. Now it seems more like 18 or 19.  Obviously this is a reflection of my diminishing energy level and reduced ability to get everything done that I want to do. My brain still works, at least I think it does, but my physical body just doesn’t get things done as quickly as it used to, nor does it keep going as long as it used to.  This situation is of course, a source of great frustration to me, and something I have to live with every day. So, I not only adjust my daily schedule to accomodate my reduced stamina,... Read more

New RV Camping Book on Amazon Kindle – Only $2.99!

A few years ago, I did something that previously I never imagined myself doing. And I’m not talking about getting married (although that development was quite surprising as well). I bought an RV. Specifically, my wife and I bought a 25-foot Airstream travel trailer. It was her idea. I never saw myself owning an RV, mainly because I am 6′ 2” and fear hitting my head on low ceilings. Not having grown up with RV camping, I didn’t “get it.” But then one day, we got our Airstream. Then we got hitched. Then I got it. Boy, did I ever… We started an ongoing adventure of sorts. We blogged the fun in a website called “Long Long Honeymoon,” donned pith helmets, wrote pithy articles, and shot three trillion videos. So far we’ve hauled our rig throughout the lower 48 states. Alaska? We’re still making plans for Alaska. At the moment, we’re waiting for diesel prices to stop resembling one of those national debt clocks. As for Hawaii? We’ll see it someday too, though we’ve no intention of testing the seaworthiness of our “land yacht.” We’ll likely book a flight – anything with a lei greeting will be fine. But before we move forward, we must look back. Yes boys and girls, it’s time for a book! An ebook, that is. I hope you enjoy it. “Long Long Honeymoon – Living Large in a Small Tin Can” is now available on the AMAZON KINDLE platform for the rock bottom price of $2.99! Check it out now – before... Read more

PLANNING FOR ALASKA — REVISITED

On the Trip of a Lifetime Dear Julie, See what you started when you asked about your 2012 trip to Alaska as newbies. We received comments galore to our rv.net blog posted November 1, filled with good advice.  In case you or any other readers are planning a first-time trek to Alaska, I suggest you check out all the comments, but let’s revisit some of the advice given by fellow travelers. I think the most important guidance mentioned by many is to spend as much time as possible testing your RV before taking off on an 8,000-mile or more journey.  These castles on wheels have come a long way for dependability in the past 20 years, but there are so many systems and so many chances for human error in construction, it’s best to go on the road to check that everything is working – and for the arduous Alaska trip, you want to start out confident that everything is working right. The second most mentioned suggestion is to see the Canadian Rockies.   Commenter John recommended following the Rockies up from Las Vegas, New Mexico.  When we make our return visit, we might try that. I’ll cover informational resources in a minute, but there are two items that came up worth further discussion.  One is the Alaskan ferry system along the Pacific coastline and among the islands.  We haven’t experienced it, but I’m sure it’s spectacular.  What I believe are the two major problems with that are, 1) it’s pricey, and 2) you’ll miss the driving adventure. On the other hand,... Read more

What does it cost to become a fulltimer?

By Bob Difley Almost every new RVer or former weekender thinking about going fulltime asks the question “How much does it cost to live fulltime in an RV?” The answer is, pick any number and you will find someone who says that is what it costs. And they’re right–for them. However, that is probably not the best question to ask. Try rephrasing the question to “I will have a net income of (fill in the blank), will this be enough to cover the RV lifestyle that I define?” And that, of course, implies that you have to first define the RV lifestyle before you can cost it out. What does costing it out entail? This question is very individual, which only you–and your traveling companion or spouse, if any–can answer. So get out a piece of paper or open a  new document on your computer and answer these questions first: Is your RV paid for or will you have to factor payments into your budget? Is your RV old or new? An old RV will require more dollars budgeted for maintenance and repairs? Do you have a residence that will require maintenance or will provide additional income by renting? Are all your financial obligations paid off or will payments–other than monthly usage of credit cards–have to be factored in? Add in health insurance and prescription drug plan premiums, and average monthly co-pays. Add in cell phone costs, a gift budget, hobby costs, and anything else that will be recurring expenses. That was the easy part, numbers... Read more

Rand McNally TripMaker RVND GPS for RVs

In this third, and final, article about the Rand McNally TripMaker RVND 7710 GPS for RVs I’m going to talk about Route-Planning.  The other two articles were: What’s Up Ahead Multi-Stop Trips Some of the comments to the previous articles specifically asked about routing.  We want to know that the GPS is not routing us thru low clearance bridges or on other roads that are inappropriate for RVs.  This video shows how to plan a route thru Baltimore.  Other trip-planning devices would take you thru a tunnel, but the TripMaker knows that there’s a problem there.  Watch the video to see how it works. Alternate Link: GPS-Route-Baltimore.mp4 – 14.82MB Download Low Clearance Bridges I found a low bridge in Jacksonville, Florida for an example route.  Here is how Google Maps plans the route: Using Google’s Street View – you can see the low clearance! Here’s how the Rand McNally TripMaker GPS plans the same trip:   Now that’s exactly what we want right?  The Rand McNally TripMaker simply plans a route that avoids the low clearance. It doesn’t know all Low Clearance Bridges Be aware that *no* database has all of the low bridges – so, you still have to use all the tools at your disposal.  For example, we are members of Thousand Trails and we’ve spent some time at the Ohio park called Kenisee Lakes.  If you read the directions in the Thousand Trails book, you are told: Note: There are low clearance bridges... Read more

Next Page »