We found our 2d Geocache

Where DOES the time go? I sat down at the computer to read my email at about 7:30 yesterday morning, and the next thing I knew it was 11pm and time to go to bed. I never told you about Sunday. What does it take to get us away from our computers? Another computer of course. This is Jim's handheld GPS. It's pretty old by gadget standards. Jim got it years ago to help us find dive spots in the ocean when we were kayaking. So, we went to www.geocaching.com to look for something nearby. It's like a high-tech treasure hunt. We saw a listing for one in Buffalo Bill's Ranch aka Scout's Rest Ranch. Buffalo Bill and the original Wild West show are from North Platte doncha know. So, off we go ... We started on a nice trail. The GPS showing us the way. But quickly we had to take off cross country. It was marshy in spots. I was afraid we were going to lose Odie in the tall grasses. We wandered around for awhile. The GPS showed that we were *real* close, but we didn't see anything but trees. It was easy to get discouraged, since we haven't been so successful in the past. But this time we perservered, and soon I heard a shout from Jim, "I FOUND IT!" One of the things inside is a pen and a log book, so we can sign and prove that we actually did find it. Then those results are posted on the website. Cool stuff. And it got us out and about North Platte in Buffalo Bill country. Here's the Platte River. Ok, back to work. I mean me ... but maybe I mean you too!

Internet Rescue

When you travel alone, like George, you've got to have a plan for how to handle emergencies. Most people depend on their cell phones. But that's not so good when you travel off the beaten track. We have found, to our surprise, that you don't have to get very far off the beaten track to lose cell phone signal. Our Datastorm Internet satellite dish works everywhere. We couldn't travel without it, and neither could George. I've been following George thru his weblog for almost 2 years now. He was my inspiration - Thanx! George. If you haven't checked in with George's weblog lately - you gotta go look at his entry for yesterday, May 14. George (actually Ms Tioga) got stuck in the mud and his cell phone couldn't help him. One of his thousands of weblog readers did! COOL story.

Friday the 13th Haircut

I was determined to get my hair cut and colored while we were here, so I made an appointment for the first day that we were not scheduled for a seminar - Friday. This is always a scary thing when you travel - getting a haircut from yet another new person. 'Haircut Roullette' as Lynne and Frankie say. But, I didn't realize until I was there that the day was Friday the 13th! Oh well. Jim was still helping folks in the park with their computers. So I took the car and went into town. I take old photos of when I liked my haircut and color samples too. She didn't do too bad. I would have liked a little *more* color and a little *more* cut, but hey! Thats' a lot better than the other way around. Whaddaya think?

A day in Nebraska

Yesterday was a busy day. These folks are early risers - we scheduled our seminar for 8:30am. Then there were people and computers to help. Seeing Jim with 3 computers going at once in our motorhome/office/computer lab made me think of the old vaudeville acts where they kept a dozen plates spinning! It really is amazing (and disturbing) how the condition of a computer affects its ability to connect to WiFi. If you don't keep everything up-to-date and clean on your computer you may not be able to use a WiFi hotspot ... even though everything else *seems* to be OK on your computer. It's like your body. You may be feeling fine, but try to do a cartwheel or touch your toes and you just can't do it. For a computer, connecting to a WiFi hotspot is like doing a cartwheel! Then, in the evening we just hunkered down for the storm. We learned that, if we hear sirens, that means run - don't walk - to the bathroom building. It is a concrete block structure and designated at the tornado shelter here. We kept the TV on so we had the latest updates. Luckily, the tornado warning lasted less than an hour - but we did get the golf ball sized hail in this warning. Wow! What a racket that made hitting our roof!

Weather and Wheel covers

Here we are in North Platte Nebraska, working at a Coach Connect park called Holiday Park. When we got here it was a warm, beautiful day. We really need to wash our rig and most RV parks don't let you do that. I'm really not quite sure why - use too much water, make too much of a mess or something - but here they said 'no problem', just make sure to get as much of the water on the grass as possible! We really had a lot of work to do the first day - no time for washing. And, I don't think we'll get to it today, the weather has turned cold, windy and generally yukky. After our seminar this morning, we might take a drive back down the road we came and see if we can spot our lost wheel cover. There was a really rough stretch of highway just before getting here. It's SO ugly without it. And, they are hard to replace. We know, we've already done it once. We had to buy them in the complete set of 4.