Bill Joyce

You can get a router like a Pepwave Surf SOHO MK3, which is what we have, and have Ethernet from a celluar connection.  You might find this guide useful - https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/working-remotely/ starting wiht the video at the top.

We were fulltimers for 15 years and are now parttimers and we leave the grey tank valve open until a couple days before we dump the black tank.  No problems.

You could put the Nighthawk on an appliance timer, under $5 at Wal-Mart, and set that to charge a couple hours two or three times a day.  That is what I do with my mobile hotspots.

42 minutes ago, Johnynorthland said:

so now I’m still on the hunt for a provider. I’m looking at one of those 3rd party venders/providers, like nomad internet. Does anyone have them as a provider? Or can anyone recommend anyone else?

Nomadic Fanatic on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtFHmQFu_7SnVAFSQr-T2zw ) pushes Nomad Internet, since he is very happy with it and has had it work in remote areas.   I think he has a discount link.    

1 hour ago, blevtr said:

Been trying to respond to this thread, but the site told me another person had the same email address.  Me, evidently.  Anyway, I'm interested in putting Mobley sim in another hotspot, but concerned that AT&T might decide to get snippy.

You want your PUK codes, which you should be able to get from AT&T, otherwise the SIM will be locked.  Most have just put the SIM into the new device and called tech support to say it was locked and they needed the PUK codes to unlock, of which there are two.  Once unlocked you should disable the SIM lock on the new device.  I did this a couple years ago and have had no trouble since, but I can't remember the details.  

24 minutes ago, remoandiris said:

Absolutely.  And less than 3/4 of 1% of the US population is currently infected.  Plus, half of the 5 million cumulative number of infected in the US have recovered.  The ~170,00 who died are a great loss.  I wonder how many actually died of Covid and how many actually died of an underlying condition that Covid worsened.  Since so many death certificates seem to list only Covid, we will probably never know.  This virus may be with us for a lot longer than anyone expects.

Lots of people have "recovered" that will be dealing with the damage to their bodies for the rest of their lives, lungs, sense of smell and taste and more.  Many have underlying conditions that will not kill them on their own, so if having Covid kills them, Covid is the reason they died.  We require seat belts in cars, we try not to have wars, all to save a smaller number of deaths than Covid.

27 minutes ago, Rich&Sylvia said:

We were in Montana last month and mask-non-compliance was rampant.
In Washington State, mask wearing is so common that it borders on the ridiculous - people out walking are commonly seen wearing masks.

 

We walk every day and find that people get quite close when passing each other while walking, especially when bikers are on the same trail.  So we have our masks ready and put them on when people are close by.  BTW: We are in Washington and it is not surprising that people are more aware here, since it was the first hotspot.  Even said, in Wal-Mart and grocery stores most ignore the one way arrows in the aisles.

We checked Diane''s LG Gram 13 and 2004 is not yet ready to install on it.  

My 13" Dell 2-in-1 model 5000 just updated to 2004 with no issues.  There is hope the Surfaces will soon be running 2004.  

13 hours ago, noteven said:

I like your maps Bill w/bus ...

Another Bill here, but https://epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/ is the place to make your own.

20 hours ago, GR "Scott" Cundiff said:

Here's what I do: I have a 30 amp extension cord that I plug into the 30 amp plug on the post (the motorhome is plugged into the 50 amp).  I run the extension cord under the rig and plug it into my C-Max charger which stays on top of one of the front tires, out of the weather.  From there, I plug into the car.  We've had the car more than a year, no problem at any campground.

Lately we have been running into campgrounds with signs that say you can only plug one thing into the power pedestal.  I suspect that will be more common over time.

We borrowed our friend's 2018 C-Max plug-in hybrid when our old car was in the shop and it was nice to experience it before we got our hybrid.  I wish our friend had told us the 110 cord was under the door, since we would have charged up in our campsite from the now unused basement freezer plug.  The Escape plug-in was $5K more and only came in FWD, both shop stoppers for us.  

With a plug-in hybrid, you might be able to charge it up in your campsite, plugged into your RV and not the post.  i see that every once in a while, but if it gets common I suspect campground rules will change to address it and most likely ban charging.  

For a full EV, you would need to keep the map of charging stations ready for your trip planning.  I suspect it would limit where you could stay, since there is little point to driving half an hour or more one way to charge every few days.  We just happen to be at a campground just up the road from an outlet mall with a Tesla SuperCharger, but that is not our normal experience.  

Since plug-in hybrids and full EVs are getting more and more common, charging stations will also be more common as you travel, but it will be a while for campgrounds to add them.  An interesting fact is more EVs are now sold than stick shift cars and trucks. The world is changing.  

I agree with  dixonge, in a busy area Visible and other plans that are subject to network prioritization can slow down to unusable.  We are in the Long Beach WA area and on weekends Verizon makes our prepaid mobile hotspot very slow, but our postpaid Verizon phones still work fine and our AT&T mobile hotspot is also going strong.  

The Splendide 2100XC, a vented combo washer/dryer, uses about 12AMPs while drying and around 6AMPs while washing.  Those were the numbers I measured with my meter.  

If buying a new Mac laptop, make sure it is one of the new ARM ones, since Apple is phasing out Intel processors.  

if buying a new laptop is out, then get creative on bringing the tower along.  Many do use desktop computers in RVs, they just have to figure out where everything goes when traveling and when stopped.  Where there is a will, there is often a way.

Pappy Yokum: About every car person, pro, shade tree or enthusiast,  in the Pullman WA/Moscow ID area in the early 70s could tell you the person's name, the car and more details than I can.  I heard about it because I had a 66 Impala with a 327, so they had to tell me the story. 

Pappy Yokum: Early 70s.  My memory was he replaced a Chevy 327 with a hopped up 427.

"Among those (during "the thirty") were two occasions of guys being killed by car fan blades flying off while leaning over -and "revving"-  the engine.  Don't remember what kind of vehicle the first one was, but the 2nd was a 65 or 66 Mustang.  The guy had changed to an after-market fan (no shroud) with metal blades.  He and his brother were checking something -"tweaking" the throttle-  to high RPMs on the running engine."

I met a guy who got hurt, luckily not seriously, by putting in a bigger engine in his car and the transmission blew apart under the vehicle with one piece cutting his leg.  The old transmission  was not rated for the much more powerful engine.  

Just found out a family member who had a gift shop in a tourist town closed the store because shoppers were ignoring the signs and not being nice when asked to mask up.  Since another family member has COPD, they decided the risks were too great and closed the store.  

My phone is way more powerful than the $5 Million Cray supercomputer I used to work on.  Now where is the FORTRAN compiler so I can relive my past?

Do you mean "Safe-T-Plus", http://www.safe-t-plus.com/?  We have installed them on our last two motorhomes and are quite happy with the results. We have also talked to a couple people who have had front tire blowouts and they wished they had a Safe-T--Plus installed.

My 13" Dell 2-in-1 model 5000 is in the same situation, not updating to 2004.  My ancient 32-bit 14" Acer laptop, which originally came with Vista, and my 15" Dell 7000 both updated to 2004 with no problems weeks ago.  

22 hours ago, TXiceman said:

Just an observation, but it seems that many of the larger RVs now are coming with 3 A/C  units so they can keep cool in warmer weather.  This is one solution, but as a retired refrigeration engineer, it makes me wonder about the thought process of the manufacturers.  Why don't they upgrade the insulation in the units and help conserve some energy.

We have a 40ft HitchHiker Champagne with two 15 KBTUH units and we can maintain 77 degF in 109 degF temps in direct sun.  It has a higher R value insulation and radiant heat barrier than the typical RV.

Ken

 

The customer can see the 3 air conditioners, while they can't see the better insulation.  Since many buy with their eyes, this makes sense. for the manufacturer.

If the slide has rollers that go on the carpet you have to be careful.  You might need to carry pieces of wood (thin plywood works) to put under the rollers when you put the slide in and out to protect your new floor.  This might just be a Newmar problem, but I am waning you in case you have slide rollers.  

Oregon trucker prices are lower by about 30 cents because commercial truckers pay a different tax.  Not all truck stops in Oregon have pumps that can handle "car diesel" prices and won't let you fill.  Others adjust the price or they can change the pump price.