White Sand Photo Op

Oh boy – we got a day to play tourist!  We left Carlsbad and traveled over the Sacramento mountains to Alamogordo.  The top of the pass was at 8600 ft elevation.  Then it came down to about 4,000 in less than 16 miles!  Quite a grade.

 

 

Also quite a view. That white area you see down in the lowland area is White Sands National Monument. 

 

Let’s go take a closer look!

 

 

No - that's not snow. It's gypsum sand.

 

 

Sure is pretty though!

 

 

 

See more pictures on our Picasa Web Album … just click on any photo above and you’re there.  Then you can go forward or back to other photos.

 

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OMG 34 degrees

The wind calmed down yesterday and it was gorgeous here in Carlsbad, New Mexico.  Then the cold came.  We woke up this morning to 34 degrees.  What have we done?  The wheels under our house are supposed to prevent this!  And, we still have to go north to get to The Rally next week.

Jim promises me that the weather reports a warming trend.

 

Odie put on his sweater before we took him to the dog run.

They do have beautiful sunsets here.

And great food! Here's the owner of the park cookin'!

Nice place. They power the whole place with wind-generated power. And they warm the floors with Leo!

 

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Wind and Dust Storms

We scheduled a visit at a KOA park in Carlsbad, NM for Saturday.  So we had to make some good time going across Texas.  Jim drove 400 miles and I had the computer on my lap most of the way. 

 

We stayed at the Escapees park in Pecos, TX.

 

We made it to Carlsbad in plenty of time. The last 5 miles Jim had to wrestle with the steering wheel to counteract the wind.  We got parked and sat in the motorhome with the wind pounding us.  I heard various numbers … indluding gusts up to 60mph.  Hurricane strength is 74 – but I swear that what we felt today was like Hurricane Katrina in Fort Lauderdale.  Gee – this is the second time in the last 10 days I’ve compared current weather to a hurricane … yuk.

 

Our seminar went well, and the wind is quieting down now.  It sure is amazing how just hearing and feeling the wind can mentally and physically wear you out.

Tengo Internet

The more things change, the more they stay the same! 

 

6 years ago, Jim had the idea that he could install high-speed Internet in RV parks.  It was that thought that gave us the belief that we could make a living on the road.  So we sold the house, bought an RV (on eBay!), and took off.  Jim discovered that delivering an Internet connection to RV sites in an outdoor space was a lot more difficult than the home and office networks he was used to.  He wanted to use a technology called Ethernet over Powerline – but he found it just didn’t work right on the kind of power grid one finds at RV parks.  We ended up hooking up with Coach Connect, a company that was installing Wi-Fi in RV parks all around the country.  For 2 years (2004 & 2005) we were part of the Coach Connect team.  We visited over 80 parks nationwide and did support.  We made ‘house-calls’ to guests having issues with the Wi-Fi, we gave Wi-Fi ‘briefings’ to the staff at the RV parks, we gave seminars at the parks and at rallies for Coach Connect, and Jim was sometimes called upon to do a little troubleshooting. 

 

Coach Connect eventually disappeared from the scene, but not before we built a solid relationship with Frank Drew, the owner.  We spent a lot of time with Frank, and his family, in Austin, Texas.  We were even included in his family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.  Austin, and the Drews’ feel like a second home now!  That’s where we had our mail delivered this time around, and we had a delightful dinner there the other night.  I didn’t take any pictures this time around, but you can check out the blog post from the last time we were here.

 

Fast forward to today, and Frank has re-appeared on the RV park Wi-Fi scene as the Director of Development for Tengo Internet.  Frank has introduced us to Tengo Internet and now, guess what we’ll be doing?!  Visiting Tengo Internet RV parks and giving seminars.  Our first stop is the Carlsbad KOA in New Mexico.  Tengo will also be a sponsor of Geeks on Tour at the upcoming Rally in Albuquerque. 

 

Thanks Frank! 

OK, gotta go.  We need to be in Carlsbad tomorrow.

Allergic to Austin?

We got to Austin night before last and haven’t stopped sneezing since!  It’s beautiful here.  We’re in one of our very favorite RV parks in the country … Oak Forest.  Everything is green and the wildflowers are abundant!  I guess the pollen is too.