At Home in Fort Lauderdale

. I'm sure that not all fulltime RVers gravitate back to their home town, but I know of many that do - and we're in that group.  "Travel the World, and find Happiness in your Backyard"  We really like South Florida.  You simply CANNOT beat the weather.  We've found a lot of places in this country that have hotter weather in the summer, and *every* place in this country has colder weather in the winter!  Right now - springtime - it is so perfect - we try to complain about  not being on the road as we'd like, but there's really no way we can complain ...
Here I am spending a nice afternoon with my Mom in the pool at her retirement community:


Me and Mom at Willow Wood



And Jim snapped this picture on that same day when he went out in the ocean scuba diving from his kayak:





Jim in the Ocean off Fort Lauderdale beach - kayak diving.

  Jim even came home with a lobster big enough to feed us both for dinner!
Then another night, my Women's Executive Club, (where I've been a member since 1983!) had a social hour.  Mom and I dressed in some of her cool Indonesian clothes for the occasion.



Me and Mom dressed for happy hour.

 A big part of what makes this all possible is the fact that Jim work-camps here at Paradise Island RV Park.  Here he is behind the registration desk.  This is a *very* busy park.  I don't think there has been a vacancy since December!  He works 3 full days every week, managing registrations on the RV Tripsetter software, answering phones and generally providing guest-support services, which also means a little Wi-Fi troubleshooting and computer-fixing!



Jim working in the office here at Paradise Island RV Park

We'll be on the road soon enough!  We'll leave the first of May, and we have over 10,000 miles planned before we come back here in the fall.

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FMCA, Perry GA 2011 Faces and Fun

Here's a short video prepared by the FMCA about the rally we've been at all week. Yesterday was the last day, we presented our Google Earth seminar and our personal "Internet Love Story."

Today we crashed. It was a GREAT week. Looking forward to the next one in Madison, Wisconsin August 10.

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If it's Wednesday, it must be Blogger

Today was our third day at the FMCA rally and it started with our 'Every RVer Needs a Blog' class.  We go step by step, showing how easy it is to make a blog.  We usually get several people reporting back that they made a blog the very same day, but I think this is the first time someone made a blog while sitting in the audience of the seminar.  Laura followed our instructions on her iPhone and created LauraSendsCards.blogspot.com

Laura showing her new blog created on her smart phone during our Blogger seminar!

Then, we got a little bit of time at our table in the computer help desk area.  

I stayed at our table, while Jim helped out with a seminar called RV Destinations Exchange.  He ran Google Earth, while people suggested great campgrounds where they had stayed.  Jim marked the locations on Google Earth and will soon upload the file of saved locations for all to see.  

The day ended with the second session of our hands on boot camp.  I know people learned a lot, but I think they also felt a little beat up by all the information and work we threw at them.  I know I felt beat up.  This just can't be done in 2 2-hour sessions.  We will only offer this class in the future the way it was designed ... as a two-day, 6 hrs/day class.  That means we can only offer it at RV parks, and at the smaller rallies - as a pre-rally or post-rally option.

Time for bed.  Then we'll be back in seminar room 3 at 8am for our Google Earth seminar, and finish up with 'Internet Love Story' ... just about our life and how the Internet makes it possible.

All is well.

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In bed at 9 o'clock

.Another wonderful, but exhausting day at the rally.  It started with our Picasa: Beyond the Basics seminar - lots of people from the first seminar returned with questions.

Next we taught our GPS Navigation class featuring Streets and Trips.  Larry Peterson from Microsoft's Streets and Trips group is here at the rally and he joined us for a while.  He brought a few packages of S&T with GPS receivers that we were able to give out as door prizes.

Then, we had our hands-on 'Boot Camp' class.  All the students arrived early and helped set up the tables in a way that worked for us.  As opposed to years past when we were in the Sheep Barn :-) - we had a very nice, carpeted room.   All went well.  Thanks so much to our volunteer assistants, Chuck Borcher and Jim Tisdale.

There was entertainment last night but we have no idea what it was.  Our entertainment was going to sleep at 9 o'clock!

Today is our Blogger class.  Then I'll get to hang out at our table in the Wi-Fi hotspot while Jim helps out in another seminar called RV Destination Exchange.  He runs the computer with Google Earth, marking the places suggested by the audience.

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Exhausted and Exhilarated

.The first day of the FMCA rally is behind us now.  Here's a picture from our new Facebook seminar.  FMCA printed 350 handouts for us ... and we ran out!  That means there were nearly 400 people.  When we did a show of hands, it appeared that the audience was roughly half and half - facebook users and non-users. See our facebook page for more minute-to-minute posts: www.facebook.com/geeksontour

We still had a good crowd for our Internet on the Road seminar ... about 200 ... but its nothing like it used to be.  Most people now have a Verizon data card and are happy with it, so they don't need to know about other options.  A few years ago, this was our most popular session by far.  That distinction is now clearly Picasa ... we had 600 for that seminar.

We still found a little time in the evening to look at the motorhomes for sale.   It was a beautiful evening.  And, lots of rigs to walk thru.  I don't know if it's a good thing or bad though - even if money were no object - I didn't like any of these big, fancy rigs as much as I like our old, beat up, smaller one.  I guess I'm just meant to be trailer trash ... no, make that RV Debris!  (thanks to hitchitch.com for giving us that term :-) 

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Headed to the Rally

This is what the highway looks like as you get close to Perry, Georgia when there's a Family Motor Coach rally about to start:

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What a nice welcome from Chris Lusk from FMCA.  He coordinates all the speakers - like us.

RV rallies are notorious for rain and other bad weather.  Not today!! What gorgeous weather, complete with pear trees in bloom here in Perry, Georgia.

It's going to be a busy week for us - we're presenting 9 different seminars - plus our hands on 'Computer Boot Camp' on Tues/Wed evening.  We start with our new Facebook seminar on Monday morning at 10 am.  LOTS of RVers are finding just how easy and useful it is to stay in touch using Facebook.  Check out the Geeks's Facebook page for more detail.  www.facebook.com/geeksontour

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Hotels, Facebook, Rennaisance Faire

Last week I checked into a hotel for a few days.  No, I'm not mad at Jim!  I use hotel stays for working retreats.  It's getting harder and harder to do my recording work in the RV.  Especially when I have a new topic like Facebook.  I use Facebook every day, but designing a seminar to teach it is not easy!  Facebook is so many things to so many people.  I pride myself on being able to simplify computer topics in my 'Show-Me-How' videos.  I need to focus 110% for extended periods in order to get on the right track.  I find that it really helps me focus when I have an environment with NO distractions (and a hot tub helps too :-).  So, I stayed at La Quinta nearby for 3 nights and I got 13 videos done!  I feel great about that ... but, for Facebook, I think I've just made a dent in what there is to teach.  I haven't uploaded any of the videos yet, but when I do, I'll post a link on our Facebook page for a free sample.  You can follow us on Facebook by clicking 'Like' on the Facebook section in the right sidebar here, or go to Geeks on Tour on Facebook.

Then it was time for some play.  The Renaissance Festival is in town ... I love that.  I've been going to Renaissance Faires since my friend Arynne started selling her Ancient Charms at them in California in the 80s!

Mom and Jim at Renaissance Festival Entrance.  Gorgeous Day!

Our friend Donovan (Emily's SO) He makes Catskill Mountain Moccasins.

Watch out for the Dragons!



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