Newsletter and Getting Ready to hit the Road

Writing our newsletter was much of my week last week.  We've been writing a monthly newsletter for Geeks on Tour since July of 2007.  It started out as something that took me an hour or two to write and send out.  Now it takes me three days!!  It's a labor of love, but still ... that's a lot of time, no wonder it keeps getting later and later.  Our January newsletter was sent on February 6! But, I'm happy to say, we're back on track ... the March newsletter went out on March 31 :-)  If you click on that link you can read that newsletter, plus all the archives back to 2007.  You can also sign up to be on the maillist to have the newsletter emailed to you if you like.
I'm especially proud of being published in Highways magazine this month.  It's a 5 page article! It's called 'Get Away, Stay Connected: Why Computers, the Internet, and Social Networks are Perfect Companions for RVers.'  If you're a Good Sam member, you can read it in the online magazine.

Thanks to Frank Drew for telling me I could use the tagline for his old company (Coach Connect) as the title.  I always loved the 'Get Away, Stay Connected' slogan and since the company doesn't exist anymore, I'm stealing it!
The best part of last week though was going Kayak Diving!!  We hadn't been kayak diving all winter :-(  Jim went out on a boat a couple times when our friend Jimmy Lyon was in town.  It's been over a year since I've been in the water.  It was beautiful day.  While I was in meditation mode 30 feet down communing with the angels (angel fish) it was so clear to me that, for me, scuba diving is one of those things that make life worth living!

Several other of our Kayuba club members also showed up since it was the last day of lobster season.  It was good to see old friends.

Ahhhhhh ... so now we can leave Fort Lauderdale with a feeling of completion!  We have moved out of Paradise Island RV park and we're staying at a favorite county park for a couple of nights just to regroup, re-pack, and tie up loose ends with my Mom's condo.  This Easterlin park is such a beautiful place!  Take a look at our site:

On our walk this morning we saw this sign ... what does it say about people for this sign to be necessary?!

So, we'll be on our way tomorrow.  Probably stay and Thousand Trails, Orlando for a night on our way to visit friends in Melrose, FL (near Gainesville) for Easter.  Then we'll head over to Bushnell and Paradise Oaks RV park to prepare for our Techno-Geek Learning Rally starting on April 22.  Yippee, on the road and teaching computers ... other than kayak diving, my favorite things to do in the world!

Register now for a Week of Learning Computers, Cameras, and Smartphones.

April 22-29 Bushnell, Florida

Lessons Learned

When you live in a house on wheels, it is good to roll occasionally.  More on that later.

Our generator stopped starting sometime late in our summer tour.  It had been working fine.  I knew that generators like to be used, so we exercised it regularly.  One day, it just wouldn't stay running.  I discussed the problem with fellow RVers and we all agreed it sounded like a fuel problem.  There are lights on the generator that indicate source of the problem, once decoded.  The lights said it was an electrical issue.  Who you gonna believe?  Knowledgeable RVers, or a stupid blinking light? 

We were on our way to the FMCA rally in Madison.  One of the great things about rallies is the opportunity to get service from the many vendors.  Onan/Cummins was there with technicians and parts and everything.  We were so busy presenting seminars, we did 11 different ones, I was too late to get any work done.  So I got some literature and we went on to the Escapade in Wyoming with the intention to have the generator looked at during that part of the trip.

Procrastination is one of my better traits, when I finally get around to procrastinating.

Well, I finally had an RV mechanic look at the generator.  He recommended I take it to Don Hillman for service, as he was reluctant to do the work himself.  He also said to be prepared to spend big bucks.

I made an appointment for service.

The day for service came and we went through the list of things to do to roll the house, which has been sitting too long in one place and had lots of things in comfortable places.  Comfortable places for things are often not good places for things when rolling down the road.

The rig wouldn't start.

I called Don Hillman and said I might be late for my service appointment.

I had apparently left something plugged in which drained the starting batteries.  The emergency battery connect to the coach battery did not help.  These big Diesels need a lot of amps to start.  I called Good Sam Emergency Service.  They sent a truck with enough juice to get me going.

I arrived at Hillman's only a half hour late.  The tech they scheduled for me had been reassigned, but they got another tech right on it.  Great.  He spent some time figuring out what the problem wasn't, then determined the solution.  Brushes.  A small module in an inconvenient location needed replacement.  Less than an hour later, we had our generator fixed!

Thank You Good Sam and Don Hillman.

Lessons learned:
Don't leave things plugged in to drain the battery.
Start your rig regularly when sitting for a while.
Have a good list for stow and go.  Another list for sitting still.
Plastic bottles break less often than glass bottles.
Contents in overhead compartments shift.  I knew that!
Pay for good Emergency Road Service.  I knew that, too.

Be safe out there!

Merry Christmas and all the rest.

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