Patting ourselves on the back

 We were finished with the FMCA rally in Gillette on Saturday, then we did Episode 216 "What Does This Button Do?" show on Sunday. Our topic was a recap of the rally, we gave just a little taste of each of the 4 seminars we presented:

• 15:28 Class #1: Smartphone photography
• 25:20 Class #2: Remembering travels – Blog
• 31:40 Class #3: Organizing photos with Google Photos
• 35:43 Class #4: Maps and Apps for RV Trip planning

I wish I could bottle the feeling that we get at these rallies! The closest I can come is this video of the applause at the end of a seminar.

In between seminars, people would visit us at our table. Many had questions about their smartphones. Between Jim and me, I think we had a 100% success rate with solving their issue or answering their question. Things like, 

• why are all my photos showing up on my wife's phone?
• how can my husband and I see each others' calendars
• can I make my phone's screen less "touchy?"
• show me how I can navigate to a photo, like you taught in the seminar
• what was that app you taught that "beautifies" your photos and integrates with Google Photos? (Snapseed)
• What's the difference between Google Photos and Amazon Photos, which one should I use? (both, but Google Photos as your primary, Amazon as backup)
• Why is my phone not notifying me of text messages?
• Why did I lose all my photos when I switched phones? .. once she learned how to search with Google Photos, she discovered that she hadn't lost her photos after all!
• How do I use my phone as a hotspot for my computer?
• Why am I not receiving my email on my iPhone?

It is SO much easier to answer people's questions when you're standing side by side and you can actually work with their phone. Usually, we're answering questions on our user Q&A forum where we have to depend on their written question and our written response. 

I also really enjoy the IRL (in real life) interaction because I get to learn things. For example, we teach how to use the iPhone's camera with the Portrait setting. I have been distressed by the fact that, with my iPhone SE, Portrait is only available for faces. I like to use it for flowers and other close up photos. By working with people with other phones, I learned that the limitation is only on the SE. Good to know!

Lots of people come by just to say "Thank You", and "your seminars are great!" I wish we could have recorded some of these, but we just couldn't do it. 

Here is a proud learner that wanted to show off the Map he created after learning about Google My Maps from us!

Here is the line of folks waiting to sign up for our membership after they learned so much in our seminars.

We've been doing these RV rallies since 2004. Why do we keep doing it? It's for all those pats on the back!

FMCA in Gillette

 Our second FMCA rally this year.

Here is a link to the shared photo album.

Weekend at Frankie's

 We met Frank Drew in our very first year RVing. He had a company called Coach Connect that installed Wi-Fi in RV parks and we worked for him doing support. The best part of all that was becoming friends with Frank, he was a young person in our world full of energy and ideas. That was 20 years ago and he now has 2 kids - with even more energy! Whenever we travel west we make a point to stop by Waco for a visit. Here are blog posts from previous visits in 2017, 2013. We consider the Drews, both Frank and his parents, Frank Sr. and Carol, our family in Texas.

This time we got to visit with all 3 generations of Drews because they all happened to be in the same house for the weekend - add 2 geeks with their RV in the driveway, and we had a 3 day party!

Frank and his son Fuller

Here's something we've never seen before - kids in our camper.

Frank's daughter, Claire with her 'baby yoda' that Jim 3D printed before we left home.

We always make sure to carry bathing suits with us when we travel, but they rarely get used - except for the occasional hot springs. It takes kids to get us into a pool - and we had a blast.

On Sunday, we took advantage of their great outdoor patio area, and their Wi-Fi! to live stream our YouTube show. The topic was managing Time Zones with Google Calendar.

The wonderful thing about driveway camping is that you get to be neighbors, and even roommates, for a few days. What a treat.

Jim was so happy to have a reason to cook the steaks he bought before we left home. And, Frankie even had a Sous Vide! So Jim could cook the steak the way he likes. 

Thank you SO much for your warm and loving hospitality. We love visiting our Texas family.

Travel days

 After leaving Eric and Tami's in Mobile, our next planned stop was Waco Texas to see our good friend, Frank Drew. That's a distance of about 650 miles and it took us 3 days.

In Vicksburg, we found an Elks Lodge with RV parking. We use the Allstays website to find them. This was lodge #95 which means it's pretty old!

The next stop was a regular RV park, called the Hitchin Post. Really, it's a trailer park, with lots of people who obviously live there permanently. We find a lot of these that have one section for transient RVs. It had hot showers, good electricity, and even decent Wi-Fi.

We were comfortable enough that we could attend our normal Friday morning meeting zoom call, and then kept the setup going to record some screenshots that Jim needed for a Toastmaster presentation for the Virtual Toastmasters conference this weekend.

Next stop - Frankie's!

Driveway camping and baseball

 With a tropical storm hitting the gulf coast - right where we're heading - we decide to hang out in Florida a couple more days. This would give us an opportunity to visit a couple of friends. 

Some people think that the RV lifestyle means leaving all your friends and being lonely on the road. Our experience is exactly the opposite! RVing gives you the chance to meet new people and to visit old friends where they live. What a treat!

Nick and Terry

Our good friends, Nick and Terry Russell, were fulltime RVers for 18 years. We got to know them quite well over many of those years and they are 2 of our favorites! They have since hung up the RV keys and bought a house in Florida. We decided to take advantage of their driveway hospitality and visit for a day as we slowly made our way out of Florida. 

It is a joy to see such a happy couple. They've been together a long time and supported each other thru good times and bad, fun times and hard work. But, we all know the real key to a happy marriage ... she laughs at his jokes!

Alex

Next along the route is my old high-school friend Alex. She lives in Melrose, just outside of Gainesville, and she has convinced several other folks from our high school to move there as well. We have looked at property there, but Alex says she sees us more often than the people who live there! So far this year, we've visited 3 times! This time we got to meet her new rescue dog, Chloe.

And we went out with her and her husband, Jim. It's always a joy. 

We checked the weather radar and saw that the storm had moved along and was now east of where we would be traveling. But, we still had some pretty nasty weather.

Eric and Tami

Next stop, Mobile Alabama where our TechnoRV friends have a driveway spot waiting for us!

Eric and Tami are still fulltime RVers, even though their motorhome has been pretty stationary during the pandemic. We've known their business, since before they owned it. TechnoRV started in the closets of the motorhome owned by our friends Phil and Tracey. They sold it to Eric and Tami who also ran it out of their motorhome at first, but over the years, they've built it up to a full office, 7 fulltime employess, and now they just outgrew that and they took us on a tour of their new offices and warehouse! Wow! If you are an RVer and you need any techie-type equipment, these are the folks to see! Garmin GPS, Berkey Water filters (we love ours), Surge Guard electrical protection, Tire pressure monitoring systems, and more. Check out their website at TechnoRV.com 

We stayed in their driveway for 2 nights because we had plenty of work to do during the day. We live-streamed our Google Photos Q&A session from our van. We seem to be getting back into the swing of work and travel with no problem. 

Then, later in the evening, we visited in their RV, had some dinner and watched a baseball game. Normally, I wouldn't say that watching a baseball game was a very exciting thing. I'm not a big fan and don't follow baseball, but listen to this story: Tami's nephew, Tanner Allen, plays for Mississippi State and they are in the "World Series of College Baseball." That is what was on this night. For the first 7 innings, Virginia was winning 4-2. Tanner wasn't doing so good, he didn't even get on base for most of the game.  Then, in the 8th inning, Mississippi got 2 players on base, and Tanner came up to bat. HE HIT A HOME RUN for the win! OMG was it exciting! We had so much fun.