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RE: Help! How can I install computer permanently in MH?
We wired the bus with Cat 5 cable because I don't like and don't trust wi-fi. He have 2 plugs in the bay on the curb side so we can sit outside and two plugs in the living room. Everything is hard wired - my Hughes modem is hardwired to a router under the bar table. I have a swing arm mounted behind the driver's seat that I can attach my laptop to. The laptop swings around beside me for GPS navigation or beside Marilyn if she is doing co-pilot duties. Right now I'm sitting in the co-pilot seat swung around to face the living room with the laptop conveniently located in front of me. We have an HP all-in-one printer that also does photos.
I also have a large flat screen monitor that I can use as a 2nd monitor on the laptop but we are looking at ways to either use a flatscreen TV for that purpose or some way of permanently mounting the flatscreen computer monitor. I do a lot of editting so I like to be able to have two monitors set up.
The only thing missing from the system is a data vault of some kind. Currently I run backups to an external hard drive but I don't like that system because I forget to do it. I need some kind of permanent, easily accessible backup system but otherwise we are pretty happy with our system.
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bobofthenorth
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10/05/08 11:04am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Canadians Fulltiming..
So how do you handle voting Roy? What is your address for voting? How do you get enumerated? Is the UPS address good enough for Elections Canada?
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bobofthenorth
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10/05/08 10:56am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: no-see-ums/sand fleas
Autan is what the locals use at San Blas. I think the little buggers actually are attracted to Deet. And the Autan appears to lose its zip with time. Last winter we had some that was 3 or 4 years old and it worked about as well as the Deep Woods Off but when we bought some new Autan it worked like it was supposed to. The only place we have ever been bothered by biters is south of San Blas at Miramar. I think San Blas is bad too but we have never stayed there.
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bobofthenorth
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10/03/08 07:13pm |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: Canadians Fulltiming..
All we've had for the past 22 years for an address is a post office box. There's a surprising number of rural Canadians who could say the same thing. Its on my drivers license, my hospitalization card, my passport - everything. When we went on the road a year ago nothing changed. The only time the box number is ever really an issue is when I buy something online and the shipper refuses to ship to a box number.
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bobofthenorth
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09/29/08 08:17pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Favorite Long Term Location
Barra de Navidad, Guadalajara, Guasave. Each of them for different reasons - we like the beach at Barra, the culture at Guad and we have an extended Mexican family at Guasave.
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bobofthenorth
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09/28/08 09:23am |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: satellite internet connections
I'd be surprised if you can get coverage for that range of latitudes on one satellite so a provider who is willing to switch satellites for you will be essential. We have a similar situation - we travel in northern Saskatchewan and the BC interior in the summer and in Mexico in the winter. Our provider is Galaxy Broadband. http://www.galaxybroadband.ca/ As far as I know there is no restriction on how many switches we can make in a year.
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bobofthenorth
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09/25/08 11:23am |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Name Your Favorite Campground - Vancouver to Edmonton
You can leave #1 Hwy at Revelstoke, go down through Nakusp, west to catch the valley at Vernon and then south through the Okanagan. That makes a nice trip with some pretty good scenery including some ferries.
We haven't found a good campground near Edmonton - let me know if you do. At all costs avoid any of the ones around Lac St. Anne. I can't remember the one we stayed at but it was a hole and the lake is a swamp.
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bobofthenorth
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09/12/08 10:21am |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Name Your Favorite Campground - Vancouver to Edmonton
Rather than staying on the Transcanada for both legs of the trip why not drop down to #3 for one leg? You could go south of Calgary and in through the Crowsnest, south from Castle Junction through Radium, south of Revelstoke or south at Sicamous. Each route gives you some different options but all of them get you off #1 highway for one leg of the trip.
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bobofthenorth
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09/11/08 04:15pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Help me, I think that I am getting bus fever!
I would think that the biggest problem with an older bus would be driveline maintenance costs.
We fulltime in a 1981 Prevost conversion. In the past year I have put 4 tires on the drives ($2,000), replaced all the airbags ($1000) and put on new shocks ($600). I'll stack that up against the depreciation expense on the new ones any day. And our coach has been from La Ronge in northern Saskatchewan to Puerto Vallarta in the the last year. Right now we're on our way to Vancouver.
People who don't understand busses wonder why anyone would travel in a coach that is older than our oldest son but anybody who has spent any time around heavy machinery instantly understands why we do it. This thing is so massively overbuilt it is hard to believe. We're heavy (about 35,000 lbs) and that likely costs me some fuel. But I've seen what happens when a production motorhome gets in a wreck and all that's left is a pile of kindling. That doesn't happen in a bus wreck.
Don't buy an older bus if you are afraid of doing the work yourself. Don't buy an old bus if you don't understand diesel engines and drivetrains. That doesn't mean that I spend all my time up to my elbows in grease - in fact I tend to pay for most of the work we get done but I diagnose the problem and then hire somebody to do the work. The problem is that very few people know anything about older coaches and I'm not interested in participating in any earn as you learn program for mechanics. Once you find a bus mechanic that is willing and able then look after him like you do your wife.
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bobofthenorth
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09/10/08 09:13am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Full Timing with small children.....FAIR?
I have never seen home schooled kids that I thought were "normal". I don't know what normal is but home schooled kids are different. I'm sure their parents think that is an advantage but I think the kids are getting robbed of an important part of their childhood. Parents tend to home school for a bunch of very selfish reasons: because it suits their lifestyle, because they know so much more than the teachers, because it suits their religion or political theories. None of those reasons are centred on the kids and the kids lose out because of it.
You made the decision to have kids - that entails some responsibility. Part of the responsibility is putting them in school. Like it or not, there are reasons why society mandates education. There are economies of scale to educationg kids in a common environment - they get exposed to more knowledge from a variety of teachers, there are social effects from learning in a group and they have common access to resources that an individual parent can't afford. You can justify home schooling 40 ways from Sunday but at its heart it is selfish on the part of the parents.
Justifying home schooling in order to allow the parents to full time is a mistake, IMHO. Taking the kids in the RV for an extended summer vacation is another matter altogether.
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bobofthenorth
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09/09/08 10:24am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Are Reservations Needed?
We've never had a reservation anywhere in Mexico and have never spent a night on the street as a result. We're not big fans of reservations anywhere. Other than our summer spot I don't think we've had 10 reservations for more than 24 hours anywhere.
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bobofthenorth
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09/03/08 08:06am |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: Be aware border crossing
What this thread has highlighted is the difference between crossing points and between the people that man them. We just spent 3 days with some friends who farm right up to the US border. On Saturday we were cutting wheat on the quarter section that houses the crossing. Last night we went across the border to the bar in Turner - got waved through both ways but....
Our friends grew up in the community and have crossed the border several times a week all their life. They have seen crossing guards come and go. A very few of them are unpleasant by nature. Al called the US guard once to tell him that his dog had moved into Al's yard. The guy came over immediately to pick the dog up. Later that day Al was crossing the border and the guy started off his questioning dead seriously by asking "where are you from sir". Al said he did a double take and then answered "same place I lived this morning when you picked your dog up". He said the guy did lighten up a bit from then on but some of them are just plain officious by nature.
It seems to me that getting a pardon or whatever its called would be wise but there's probably people with old convictions crossing every day without anyone worrying about them.
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bobofthenorth
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09/01/08 08:15pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Mabel Lake Resort and Airpark
We've been up to Mabel Lake and its very pretty. We prefer Mara and the Shuswaps but I can't think of anything bad about Mabel Lake. We spend every summer out there but don't usually bother driving up to Mabel Lake because we are pretty content where we are.
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bobofthenorth
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09/01/08 08:02pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: What if you don't have a front License Plate?
We were on a bus tour in Mexico close to 20 years ago now. The bus driver double parked in front of the Hotel in Hermosillo and lost a plate off the bus to the transitos. That eventually meant a trip for all the inmates on the tour to the cop shop so the driver could get the plate back.
I have never heard about it happening to anyone else & I seriously doubt that tourists are targetted. We've had single plates for years and nobody has ever noticed that I am aware of. They get way more excited about the block heater cord hanging out the front. Now they probably think its some kind of hybrid vehicle but it used to attract a lot of attention.
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bobofthenorth
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08/23/08 10:33am |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: Most direct route please!
We went through Matamoros a few years ago, down to Victoria, over to San Luis Potosi then down to Dolores Hidalgo & San Miguel de Allende. From there we went over to Guadalahara but you could just as easily go through Morelia & Patzcuaro and then out to the coast. There's likely some way to get through Toluca and go south from there to Acapulco but I don't know the roads in that area so I can't advise.
On the balance of the route I outlined the only exciting part is 101 going west out of Victoria. We did that with a 30' fifth wheel several years ago with no big problem but it was pretty scenic in spots. If you end up going through Morelia plan on stopping there a while because its a really pretty city. And you might want to climb the mountain to the east to see the monarch butterflies. That's where they winter.
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bobofthenorth
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08/22/08 05:40pm |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: Canadian Discounting on new fiver
I never understood why people are reluctant to make a low ball offer. Put a cheque on their desk for what you are willing to pay - regardless of how low that number is. And be prepared to walk. If its really a number that you are prepared to walk from then it will be a number where you have some other alternative in mind. If they turn you down - walk.
They are in business. If they get offended by a low ball offer then they shouldn't be in business. The most important asset when you are buying is patience. Particularly in this market there will always be another deal coming along. OTOH, if you are in love with one particular unit at one particular dealer and you want it now then get prepared to pay more for it.
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bobofthenorth
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08/22/08 05:22pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: NIce RV parks in Mexico
Make sure that your Mexican plans fit with how you like to travel in the US and Canada. We don't like destination resorts anywhere so we don't usually need to make reservations when we travel. We find out of the way places, spend a while and then move on. We've never had to spend a night in the street yet and I don't expect that to change any time soon.
Mexico is a big country - there's lots of places to see. As you have already been advised, don't expect US or Canadian standards for power, water or sewer. I think its common courtesy to learn at least a smattering of the language of any country you intend to travel in, others may disagree. I'm sure you could survive in Mexico in English but I question why anyone would want to. Mexican maps can be hard to find. I prefer the Guia Roji series - they put out a Mexican atlas which isn't bad but their best maps are the individual state maps which are hard to find but well worth looking for. Your best starting point is the Church book and their website for updates.
Phone service has steadily improved over the time we have been traveling to Mexico to the point where my Canadian cell phone actually worked part of the trip this winter. Mexican cell phones are CHEAP so we just bought one of them to use once mine quit working. I think some of the American carriers have coverage over a large portion of the republic.
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bobofthenorth
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08/14/08 04:15pm |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: El Caracol Sold
We've been going to Alamos for about 15 years now & I can't remember ever seeing Caracol when it was actually busy. There have been times when there were rigs out there but that had to be their choice, not because they couldn't find some other spot. I'm sure it was a great spot but I never could understand why anybody would want to be that far out of town. Alamos is such a wonderful community that we always want to be part of the town while we are there.
I stopped in to have a visit with Dee last winter. At that time she thought that the new owners might be amenable to RVs staying there after the change of ownership. We have some friends who like staying out there so I was asking on their behalf. Its a good thing it sold because she clearly wasn't capable of looking after it anymore.
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bobofthenorth
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08/14/08 04:02pm |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: What if you can't speak Spanish?
You could probably travel in the U.S. without speaking any English and you could probably travel in Mexico without speaking any Spanish. But why would you? The travel experience in either country will be infinitely richer if you make an attempt to learn some of the local language. You don't have to be fluent but it seems to me that it would be common sense to learn a few words. Our experience has been that the Mexicans are much more welcoming when they see that you are trying to speak the local language.
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bobofthenorth
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08/07/08 10:37am |
RVing in Mexico and South America
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RE: A Newbie Look at RVing
Strathmoreguy we're leaving Tuesday so we'll likely miss you but I'm sure you will have a good time, especially so if you have kids.
And I've always wondered about the pine thing too cuz all I see is cedars, cherries and weeping willows. There might be some pines back along the creek - I'll pay closer attention tomorrow night when I take the cat for his walk.
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bobofthenorth
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08/01/08 09:49pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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