Dan

The RV Web: Chapter 2 – Wireless Broadband.

WiFi hot spots are one way for a road tripper to get online. But there are obvious limitations with it as discussed in a previous post as part of this ongoing RV Web series. One of the more widely available broadband option is likely right inside your pocket as we speak. Your phone.

phones
With today’s smartphones like the Apple iPhone, Palm Treo or Blackberry, many of the Web tasks can be easily and quickly done directly from the phone. Email, SMS, IM and even Web browsing are possible with some of the latest mobile browsers. One of the best features on today’s smartphones has to be mapping tools such as Google Maps.

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By Dan, ago

A Tour of The Shady Dell in Bisbee, AZ.

We’ve blogged a lot about our stay in Bisbee, AZ. It really is a lovely little old mining town that we love visiting. As we are about to wrap up a series of posts from our 10-day Arizona trip, I want to give you another photo tour of the cool little RV park called The Shady Dell.

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This is their famous mural on the street side of the office wall that greets visitors as they pull into the campground.

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By Dan, ago

My Secret WiFi Hot Spot Weapon.

Just as with any wireless hot spot, you are only able to get online if you are within about 150 ft of the access point. That’s if the campground has an outdoor antenna broadcasting its Internet signals. At the Shady Dell, the new owners offer free wireless Internet for all of the campers but only if you are within range. It seemed like that the access point is inside the registration office and not really designed for long range transmissions. It would only send a short 50 ft radius around the building.

The Shady Dell in Bisbee is known for its collection of antique trailers that are for rent to visitors nightly. They also have a number of pull-through and back-in spaces for people like us who brought their homes with them. Unfortunately, we are not within close-enough range to get a solid wireless Internet signal. Lucky for us, I came prepared with my own ‘space needle’ wireless antenna.

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By Dan, ago

Food, Food and More Food.

I love food. The fact that I love it so much is probably the reason why I’ve often been called ‘husky’. Even as a little kid I have been a big eater. Being always active and athletic has prevented me from falling into the category of morbid obesity. I guess that’s until 3 months ago when I broken both of my arms and when all activities ceased. It’s a long story involving a hill, a sharp corner, a skateboard and a concrete sidewalk. If you are really intrigued to read more about it, check out this blog post and see it from Ava’s perspective.

This was a bad idea. A fun idea, but a bad one…

But I digress…

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By Dan, ago

Arizona Cost Break Down

As we are preparing for our full timing adventure (as we have heard from many people, RVing is not a vacation, it’s an adventure.) we are trying to figure out what our budget needs to be while on the road. In our last 10-day outing in southern Arizona, we kept track of what and how much we spent our money on to get an idea of what we can expect on the road in the future. We did not conscientiously try to budget ourselves so we can get a better idea of what our comfort level would be.

Home again
Home again after a 10-day Arizona trip.

Since we are sharing our adventures with all of our dear readers, we are also going to share with you the breakdown of our costs to give you a better idea of what to expect if YOU were to go on a trip like this. We have divided our costs into the following categories:

  1. Gas and travel
  2. Lodging and camping
  3. Meals
  4. Groceries
  5. Entertainment
  6. Shopping

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By Dan, ago

Never Get Locked Out Again.

When it comes to security, the Airstream is as good as any trailer I have seen. There is a dead bolt built into the door and there is no picking the lock once you’ve lock the door. To lock the door, you just slide the door handle to the lock position and shut it behind you on your way out. That’s assuming you don’t forget the keys inside. As we start spending more time on the road, I am concerned that one day it is gonna happen. I am gonna step out of the trailer and out of habit, slide that lock across the door and shut it behind me with the keys inside. Imagine being locked out of your house with your 2 year old inside who doesn’t know how to let herself out. Except your house might be in the middle of the desert, deep in a national park or along the long stretches of empty beaches on the Oregon coast.

Climbing into new airstream

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By Dan, ago

The RV Web: Chapter 1 – Extending Your WiFi Range

Getting online while you are on the road is always a challenge. There has been a lot of discussion about this in blogs and forums and everyone has their own favorite methods. But in general, based on today’s wireless technology, there are basically three ways to do it:

  1. Satellite Internet Service Provider (Direcway, HughesNet)
  2. Wireless Broadband from Cell Phone Providers (Verizon, Sprint)
  3. Public WiFi Access Points

Although there may be newer and arguably better options in the works such as WiMax, these 3 are what’s widely available today. I will spend some time talking about them in a few separate posts as I am currently doing research on what is best for our upcoming trips. In this post, I will focus my attention on the third and potentially the most interesting option: getting connected via public WiFi.

working in the airstream

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By Dan, ago