{ "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title" : "Blog Posts on Geeky Nomads", "description": "Recent content in Blog Posts on Geeky Nomads", "home_page_url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/", "feed_url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/index.json", "icon" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/apple-touch-icon-180.png", "favicon" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/icon-64.png", "author" : { "name" : "Fredrik Jonsson", "url": "https://xdeb.org/fredrik", "avatar": "https://www.geekynomads.com/site/fredrik.jpg" }, "items" : [ { "title" : "So We Got Hacked", "date_published" : "2018-07-03T22:52:28-04:00", "date_modified" : "2018-07-03T22:52:28-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/so-we-got-hacked/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/so-we-got-hacked/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/so-we-got-hacked/images/articleimg_hu0fb810c3553b2515c93b3b7937fefb09_162781_1280x0_resize_box_2.png\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/so-we-got-hacked/images/articleimg_hu0fb810c3553b2515c93b3b7937fefb09_162781_300x0_resize_box_2.png\" alt=\"Was it Anonymous? Probably not but...\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eWas it Anonymous? Probably not but...\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n We\u0026rsquo;re back! The site got hacked as part of a big \u003ca href=\"https://www.drupal.org/sa-core-2018-004\"\u003eDrupal vulnerability\u003c/a\u003e that took out many sites. In fact every single Drupal site I know of and work on has gotten hacked both personally and professionally. For the professional sites I cleaned the sites but for my personal sites I decided to take the unusual step of taking it down. Why? Because I never wanted to fix it again.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor the uninitiated MOST blogs or sites are running on Drupal or more likely Wordpress. There are many many other CMS\u0026rsquo;s (content management systems) but Wordpress is by far the dominant player. These applications act as a kind of publishing platform vastly easing the knowledge and experience necessary to create a compelling site. But due to their success and enormous attack surface they are a super low hanging fruit for attackers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhy would someone want to attack my blog? In my case it was to send spam. For various reasons I have an AOL Feedback Loop setup on my main mail server. What this does is when an AOL user marks an email as spam that came out of my server, AOL forwards me a copy of the email. Imagine my surprise when a spam got marked for watches or something like that. Right away I knew I had something wrong. At this point the hope is that the attacker has access to create new files and folders on your server and execute some bad code but doesn\u0026rsquo;t completely own the server yet. This was the case for me. All of the drupal/php sites got renamed and a blank placeholder got installed until I could deal with it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe way I chose to deal with it is to convert the site to Hugo. Hugo is a bit of a different approach to web serving (and actually a much older approach from a time when servers weren\u0026rsquo;t very powerful). You see whenever a request is made to a wordpress blog various database requests and code snippets are executed in order to pull together all the various bits and bobs necessary to make up a page on your site. Hugo instead pregenerates all content statically. Static pages versus dynamic are far less hackable\u0026hellip; I dare not say impossible but 99.9999% more difficult. Instead an attacker will have to exploit a vulnerability in the web server platform itself and there aren\u0026rsquo;t very many of those these days.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMore to come about the hows and whys of which CMS, blog publishing, cleaning a wordpress and drupal site as well as migrating from Drupal to Hugo. It\u0026rsquo;s not very travel related but I don\u0026rsquo;t do that much travelling anymore. What I do do is work from remote and that is something that is relevant to any and all Geeky Nomads.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Fin", "date_published" : "2015-12-30T11:14:09-05:00", "date_modified" : "2015-12-31T12:10:14-05:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/fin/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/fin/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s done. At least for now. We are no longer nomads. We\u0026rsquo;re still full time rvers just stuck in one spot. My kid is enrolled in school so we\u0026rsquo;re going to be here 9 months out of the year which means owning a house/land becomes a sane proposition again. I plan to keep the motorhome and travel still for business, racing, and summer vacations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhenever something comes to a close it\u0026rsquo;s fun to look back and assess what you\u0026rsquo;ve learned that might not be immediately obvious to a newcomer. There are plenty of sites out there that talk about the rvs themselves. That your first one you will replace very quickly because it won\u0026rsquo;t be enough. That driving a huge rig is intimidating but you get used to it quickly. That pretty much 99% of rvs are junk on wheels. The select few good ones are just better safer junk. But here are some things I\u0026rsquo;ve learned that might not be so obvious.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/fin/images/fin_hub6591652fe77c0e3c401eba72d6276b6_25001_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/fin/images/fin_hub6591652fe77c0e3c401eba72d6276b6_25001_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"All Done!\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eAll Done!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBlogging is unfulfilling\u003c/strong\u003e: And I dare say that this is true even for the successful ones. Over our time travelling I\u0026rsquo;ve intently followed the other popular full time travel blogs. Some of them seem to be truly blissfully happy while others seem to do everything they possibly can to convince themselves that they\u0026rsquo;re happy while in reality they are miserable angry people. Now that they\u0026rsquo;ve found success they feel somehow indebted to writing new entries. Once they write them and the internet responds in the typical internet way, panties are bunched and drama ensues. The natural response would be to say \u0026ldquo;stop writing\u0026rdquo; but they pretend the blog has no commerical purpose when it really does. Their notoriety gets them contracts, amazon referrals, etc. It\u0026rsquo;s a commercial endeavour in reality so they trudge on. So one would say blogging is unsuccessful for me because it\u0026rsquo;s one sided. I have a very reasonable readership of about 200 unique people but for the most part nobody engages. That one sidedness is rather lonely. I\u0026rsquo;d much rather write facebook posts to family and friends with a few pictures than write blog posts in that instance. Blog posts take a heck of a long time to write. 1 hour+ And for what? Hate from the internet trolls, little to no money, and that time could be out spent drinking with family and new friends. So to blogging I say F that! And indeed you can tell by the frequency of posts I have really run with that notion. This site has been little more than scratching an itch, learning drupal and learning how to keep an interactive site secure from hackers and spammers - knowledge which passes through to my actual commercial endeavors. To recap - some people may be fulfilled by running some loser blog that nobody reads, but I\u0026rsquo;d bet not when people with even successful blogs are still ancy.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSimplification and Decluttering\u003c/strong\u003e: I have seen this same refrain for years and years. People are so overburdened by all the crap they\u0026rsquo;ve accumulated that they try to liberate themselves from it by full time rving. But this is a total farce! For one thing, even if you have less space to fill you will still acquire junk, it will just sit outside your rig. I\u0026rsquo;ve seen it over and over again. RVing is \u003cem\u003enerve wracking\u003c/em\u003e, especially moving. Anyone who isn\u0026rsquo;t a little puckered is NOT paying attention. Think about this, you put all of your worldly possessions - you know the ones that survived the cut. The things that really matter. Into a box with you and drive down the highway. There are drug interdiction cops just itching to snatch it all up from you as a \u0026ldquo;civil forfeiture\u0026rdquo;. There are thieves. There is the fact that the average rv is incredibly unsafe barely stronger than paper. Then there is the fact that it\u0026rsquo;s VERY expensive and your insurance company will be ticked. Then there is the fact that if it breaks down you can\u0026rsquo;t just say F it and get a hotel, you probably want to stay with your rv and get it fixed. The reality is that it\u0026rsquo;s all VERY stressful and the average person will really need to devel a zen like calm to deal with it all. I have but it took YEARS. In the rv life, something bad/interesting is ALWAYS happening. It\u0026rsquo;s not like driving your honda to work on a daily basis where you can achieve some level of stability for years. A LOT of people thrive on that stability and cannot handle what full time rving brings. The idea that full timing will simplify your life is a laughable joke, and that\u0026rsquo;s even if you have money to pay for all the crap that rolls downhill. It will not simplify your life because damn near nothing worth doing is simple. It\u0026rsquo;s complicated, it takes effort and the rewards are immeasurable.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThings\u003c/strong\u003e: Furthering what we discussed above here, if things make you happy and those things are big, you will be less happy in certain ways. For me I collect vintage computers and have a car obsession. The computer hobby has somewhat come along with me but it\u0026rsquo;s very sedate compared to what it used to be. The car hobby is absolutely and completely stopped. Besides never being near the race track when I need to be, all the tools are stored in various garages and attics all over the country. Even if I had my car, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have the facilities to properly track prep it and the race car isn\u0026rsquo;t exactly family friendly. Yes, if you have a car hobby you probably won\u0026rsquo;t have it much longer when you start travelling. Even if you get a stacker trailer and all the other goodies it\u0026rsquo;s just not the same. A lot of people just wander aimlessly through life but I have a razor sharp focus on what makes me happy at very least. My cars and racing made me VERY happy. If you have a similar passion such as carpentry, metal working, etc that requires a workshop or space\u0026hellip; You will miss it. Guaranteed.\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFriends and Family\u003c/strong\u003e: This one is interesting to me. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure if the average nomad is just such a crotchedy assface that nobody wants to interact with them but they don\u0026rsquo;t seem to have friends or family. They spend the holidays by themselves in the middle of the desert. Perhaps they find some single serving friends and pretend like they have some kind of meaningful relationship with these people but I\u0026rsquo;d argue otherwise. If you are the type of person that thrives on relationships, friends, and family you will be less happy. Not entirely unhappy as fulltiming allows you to see people you can never see otherwise such as family who has moved far away. But your core base of friends will move on without you and it just won\u0026rsquo;t be the same for you. Our travels were always heavily limited by our common desires to see our families which are located half way across the country. Indeed after getting the whole see the country thing out of our system, full time rving became a vehicle to be closer to friends and family. This was pretty unexpected. My mother has gotten to see her grandson grow up in a way that she never would have otherwise.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou want a trailer\u003c/strong\u003e: Trailers are for the most part junk but you still want one over a motorhome. Even a fancy really nice motorhome like a Foretravel or Prevost. A motorhome is a nightmare and that is reality. Here you are with a vehicle that can never be driven except when it comes time to travel. Why? Well parking is generally a slightly complicated affair, hookups take time, and then your family proceeds to unload all their stowed stuff everywhere. Preparing and decompressing from moving all in all takes about an hour each way. All of the parts of motorhomes are VERY big and VERY expensive. Instead of making sure the small box pulling the rig is safe, the entire giant motorhome has to be safe exponentially increasing engine and drivetrain size, etc. Your chances of breaking down while in the middle of nowhere on a lonely highway are 100%. Because you never drive it around town! When you have a trailer you drive your tow pickup everywhere so you can hear issues developing before you\u0026rsquo;re in the middle of nowhere. You can also get them fixed while safely camped. A motorhome makes sense for NON full timers. The person towing a trailer to the racetrack who has weeks in advance to shake things down and make sure all will be well. The full time traveller is MUCH better served by a beefy pickup and fifth wheel or bumper pull trailer. The ONLY downside to this setup is that if you break down in the middle of nowhere, you don\u0026rsquo;t have a backup toad to get you out of trouble. Therefore I\u0026rsquo;d argue you should get a fifth wheel toy hauler and keep a motorcycle of some sort. Literally the perfect rig. I got the motorhome so that I could tow my race car to the track - but if we\u0026rsquo;re honest here, you\u0026rsquo;re not towing jack to the track until you\u0026rsquo;re done fulltiming. So racer joe, get the pickup and fifth wheel. TRUST ME. If you settle down again, sell it and THEN get the diesel pusher.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTo recap our travels - basically we drove across the country twice. We only did this a few years and finances as well as time were a consideration limiting travels a bit. Unfortunately I still have to work full time so we basically had very little free time to see the actual areas. Doing this full time rv thing in retirement would be very fulfilling. Doing it while working is great - but more difficult.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ll probably be back to write a few more articles and reviews\u0026hellip; eventually. I have all the content but have been far too lazy. Blogging just isn\u0026rsquo;t very fulfilling at all when it comes down to it, and commercially it has little chance of paying much at all. I\u0026rsquo;d much rather spend my time with real live people, my family and more rewarding hobbies. Some day we might home school and resume full time travel but until then, ta ta! Wish us luck on finding a sweet \u0026gt;5 acre homestead.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Nearly a Year", "date_published" : "2015-09-19T11:38:59-04:00", "date_modified" : "2015-10-13T01:03:09-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eSince my last post that is. We\u0026rsquo;re still alive and kicking and all of my intent to update this blog has been met with a combination of apathy and extreme busyness. I suppose I could summarize things pretty well though. In 2014 we travelled all the way to California and back. We broke down in Iowa, I had other issues there besides that and then we also had trouble with a woman in California. If you plan to go to California and camp in the state parks, it\u0026rsquo;s probably worthwhile to just bite the bullet and get a little Honda or Yamaha generator that you can place where you want in your campsite than using the big generator. People can be\u0026hellip; well people. To give context though it was running for 10 minutes at 5pm before she went nuts. 10 minutes. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/bubbles_huc0da114eef465ec44ca35773ff9283a1_2323774_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/bubbles_huc0da114eef465ec44ca35773ff9283a1_2323774_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Bubbles!\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBubbles!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut in retrospect looking back on the trip those few bad moments are overridden by an overwhelming majority of mostly food related good memories. There was Fasta Pasta in Tahoe, Sprouts in Tahoe, Ikes Sandwiches and more. We inadvertently parked at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds right when there was a wine festival so we got drunk on free tastings of amazing wine repeatedly.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOverall though I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t go back to western California. The coast was scenic and I\u0026rsquo;d probably make the Pacific Coast Highway drive again but really I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t try to camp anywhere along there in a serious motorhome, near the Valley anyway. Maybe a lack of familiarity with California and the \u0026ldquo;personality\u0026rdquo; is what got me into trouble. Eastern California, that is the drive down US 395, was amazing. Pretty much the whole drive has amazing views of the Sierra Nevadas awesome free and low cost places to stay and tons of breathing room. 395 itself is actually a very high quality road which is odd compared to some of California\u0026rsquo;s highways.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBesides Tahoe though, which had it\u0026rsquo;s own share of weirdos, my favorite place was Lake Havasu. Imagine my surprise to find out it is pretty much the spring break capital of the US. There are annual cigarette boat races there. The amount of money people spend on these boats is absolutely preposterous, exactly how I like it. People are noisy, boisterous, friendly, and drunk. Havasu has the actual London bridge that was broken down piece by piece and setup to connect an island to the main land. People cruise at idle speed through the channel and under the bridge, some of them over and over again. I did it once or twice with the family on our rented wave runner but for the most part I flew at full throttle all around the lake. It was a really great experience tarnished only by killer attack fire ants that invaded our rig (which is very uncommon for them). We had to sit there killing them one by one with a spoon because their shells are so strong smashing them with a paper towel was ineffective.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf I had to take another trip now, I would try to see more of Utah, Colorado, New mexico and Texas. I probably would hit Tahoe again but this time I would just go straight down 395. And this would only be after visiting Colorado and Utah. Our trip had to be cut short, around 2 months because of a promise to my mother to be back for Thanksgiving. This time I would make no such promises. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/annual_maintenance_hu7d6d39cd56b98a715935128cef80e1cc_2623017_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/annual_maintenance_hu7d6d39cd56b98a715935128cef80e1cc_2623017_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Annual Rig Maintenance\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eAnnual Rig Maintenance\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLong time readers know that I started an IT consulting company at the same time we started travelling before. The idea was to see the country and build the business during my forced unemployment while I find clients. This was a bad idea! We saved up enough money that we were okay but nothing could ever get me past the stress. The idea that instead of sightseeing I should really be back at the rig because what if nothing ever develops? Alas it didn\u0026rsquo;t go that way and since then I have developed a diverse yet equally needy client base. This year we didn\u0026rsquo;t get to travel at all and I\u0026rsquo;ve been working 12 hour days 7 days a week most of the summer (except on the random days when family and rig or car maintenance pulls me away). The hope is that these projects will settle down towards winter as I have nothing at all lined up other than maintenance and support agreements which thankfully are enough to tide me through even the longest dryspells now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout all of this we\u0026rsquo;ve been with our 3 year old son. He\u0026rsquo;s developed a rather strong personality and we are theorizing that a lot of it is due to him thinking he is an adult. We\u0026rsquo;re in a small space and everything here is very accessible to him. He\u0026rsquo;s a restless kid and wants to learn how to do everything whether we want him to or not. He\u0026rsquo;s capable and smart yet would prefer to not learn to talk. He\u0026rsquo;s bilingual which doesn\u0026rsquo;t help. As travellers we really haven\u0026rsquo;t found much of any full time families that are similar to us. There are fulltime families but they often have either 20 kids or seem to be aimless with no real ambition or goals, both of which just are just indicative that we\u0026rsquo;d probably have nothing in common. I know, I know, the point of fulltiming is to calm down and live a simpler life or something. No thanks, not for me. I don\u0026rsquo;t mind the complexity of an old diesel pusher. I like tinkering with race cars and I\u0026rsquo;m willing to take on anything. To be fair there are a several blogging couples and families out there that fit the bill who post on facebook groups, etc but we never seem to cross paths. I certainly never see such groups in our usual places. There are plenty of older fulltimers that are nice and I\u0026rsquo;d love to hang with but they are often at over 55 parks. So we\u0026rsquo;ve decided that he goes to school and the good school we got him into in Florida near her family starts in September and if you\u0026rsquo;re not here in September you don\u0026rsquo;t get in. So now we\u0026rsquo;re stuck 9 months out of the year for the sake of our son - which to be honest is worth it because in a few short weeks his personality is really coming around as he has to deal with the routine and sees all the other kids falling in line and realizes that he\u0026rsquo;s the problem. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t surprise me that he is the way he is, as I have a really serious problem with anyone at all telling me what to do. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/born_racer_hu363f14fe3231d18c8568a7e889b6a366_5138201_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/born_racer_hu363f14fe3231d18c8568a7e889b6a366_5138201_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Born Racer\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBorn Racer\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo at this point if we\u0026rsquo;re in Florida 9 months out of the year we might as well look for real estate. We\u0026rsquo;re bouncing back and forth between building a small home on 5-10 acres or buying something used and already there. I\u0026rsquo;m torn as if I have a big expensive house I really won\u0026rsquo;t feel comfortable leaving it for months at a time to travel in the summer when he\u0026rsquo;s off school. There was an opportunity that passed by primarily because someone else decided to pay way too much for it. The real estate market in the rural sarasota area is very strange. Or even in non-rural area. Basically you can buy a run down mobile home or block house that\u0026rsquo;s 40 years old on 3-5 acres for $150,000. You can buy reasonably large to massive house for $300,000-$400,000 but the pickings for this are SLIM. We would like something closer to $200,000 that needs some work but is a nice chunk of land and a house and that is impossible. People think their 10 acres, \u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026frasl;\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e of which is unbuildable unsubdividable protected wetlands are worth insane amounts of money. So we wait.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s very strange though becuase if you pony up $600,000 or so, the houses are absolute mansions. I mean guest houses, pools with fountains, crazy crazy stuff. It would almost be better to find another family willing to spend $300K and go in and live there together. Heck they\u0026rsquo;d get full run of the house when we leave over the summer too. In the end it\u0026rsquo;s not that we\u0026rsquo;re looking for a 3000 square foot house. After all we\u0026rsquo;ve lived in an 8 foot wide box for years. The only thing we\u0026rsquo;d really need is a 2nd bedroom for my son until he realizes he\u0026rsquo;s a kid and has to follow rules. But the trouble is all the small houses are \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c/em\u003e run down and far from hurricane safe. So we\u0026rsquo;d have to build I think.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/stealth_wifi_hubea6ce5b08cf8d4286b64555250d25a6_3820533_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/nearly-year/images/stealth_wifi_hubea6ce5b08cf8d4286b64555250d25a6_3820533_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Stealth Wifi and a Huge Mess\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eStealth Wifi and a Huge Mess\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n So that\u0026rsquo;s where we\u0026rsquo;re at. Stuck in Florida.. But Florida is beautiful and I really like it here. I\u0026rsquo;m working long long days, in fact I worry that if I post here and my clients notice they\u0026rsquo;ll get pissed that I\u0026rsquo;m spending time on this instead of their already missed deadline. But such is life. The one thing is for sure, my business is a success, my family is happy and healthy and everything else will just fall into line.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePS: The pics really don\u0026rsquo;t serve any context to the post, but everyone loves pictures.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Off Road 4x4 on Federal Lands", "date_published" : "2014-10-01T16:58:28-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T01:32:49-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eWhen we set out to full time, one of the things I wanted to do but wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure I\u0026rsquo;d be able to do was to go off roading in our toad. It was an important part of my decision to select the Lexus GX470. The car we bought had aged out tires so we replaced them with Goodyear Wrangler mud/snow tires as well so we were really ready.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut finding out how to do this is easier said than done. There are trail sites that charge you money to find the trail head. There are iPhone apps as well that are paid. We generally have a policy to avoid purchasing applications or website subscriptions that don\u0026rsquo;t help us more than a few times per year so we really needed to find a free solution to make this happen and this is it.\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/DPP_1311_hu32ed66eb9b8108d0a13e55e6a6bc1f97_11568914_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/DPP_1311_hu32ed66eb9b8108d0a13e55e6a6bc1f97_11568914_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Our GX470 Toad\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eOur GX470 Toad\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eImagine you have a pretty good idea where a trail is that you can go on. You drive down the road and you find a trailhead. It\u0026rsquo;s completely unmarked. Maybe there is a number there. There are no no tresspassing signs but do you really feel comfortable going down the road? I really didn\u0026rsquo;t until I figured out our current solution. There is an iPhone app called PDF Maps. The app is free and can be readily downloaded. They make money by charging for some maps but as it so happens some federal maps are free on the app.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe unique thing is that the app will overlay your GPS position on the map thereby showing you when a trail is approaching or whether or not you are on the right trail or the immediately adjacent \u0026ldquo;you will be shot on premises\u0026rdquo; private property. There are maps in this application called MVUM. Motor Vehicle Use Maps. They literally show you federally owned trails which you are allowed to take your off road vehicle romping on. Sweet! There are some restrictions which are outlined in the PDFs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe first thing you would do is start the application and then click the search map button in order to browse the available maps for your area. There are various topographic and almanac maps but you want the MVUM.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/IMG_0541_hu96db406b23418e0bf3ef4523413015b3_462345_1280x0_resize_box_2.PNG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/IMG_0541_hu96db406b23418e0bf3ef4523413015b3_462345_300x0_resize_box_2.PNG\" alt=\"Click the Map You Want\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eClick the Map You Want\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnce you go in further you can see more information about the map and any pricing. Again, MVUM\u0026rsquo;s are free.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/IMG_0542_hu690e468f6f6a4719498245a3f4837b7f_163250_1280x0_resize_box_2.PNG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/IMG_0542_hu690e468f6f6a4719498245a3f4837b7f_163250_300x0_resize_box_2.PNG\" alt=\"Detailed Information\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eDetailed Information\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnce you\u0026rsquo;re happy with your selection you can download the map and then launch it, showing your GPS overlay.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/IMG_0539_hubeb3db4e4474f8b6e1994aa85cce3e2b_242814_1280x0_resize_box_2.PNG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/road-4x4-federal-lands/images/IMG_0539_hubeb3db4e4474f8b6e1994aa85cce3e2b_242814_300x0_resize_box_2.PNG\" alt=\"GPS Overlay on Map\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eGPS Overlay on Map\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThose black and white striped roads? Those are basically traversable dirt roads, someimtes with large rocks, climbs and center height clearance needs. Worked fine for our Lexus and should work fine for a Jeep. I enjoyed going down these roads to learn more about offroad driving while simultaneously showing the family a view from the mountaintops that others don\u0026rsquo;t always get to see. We saw remains of campsites, evidence of bears and more. When you have a toddler this is pretty much your only option to go about this versus an ATV, hiking, etc.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHave fun!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "We've Made it to California", "date_published" : "2014-09-28T02:32:25-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:16:46-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eWe decided to drive immediately and as quickly as possible across the country. After we got to California we would slowly make our way back towards PA with a mid November deadline. I\u0026rsquo;m trying to be back on the east coast to run my M3 with Track Daze on Virginia International Raceway and then it would be nice to have Thanksgiving with the family. After our previous blown air spring incident I had hoped that it would be smooth sailing. It was except for what I am calling the trifecta of crap. We were travelling through an unnamed mid-western state when SO decided she needed to mail a package and return something to Bed Bath and Beyond. Fair enough, we found a place and pulled in. Junior and I had lunch in an empty hospital parking lot while she went off on her errands in the toad. We left and on the way out to pick up I80 again I felt the steering get heavy. The rear view camera was clouded and we started to overheat. We turned into the nearest parking lot we could find which happened to be one of those megachurches. Looking back was a trail of oil. The rest of the 6 gallons of hydraulic oil laid to rest under our rig in the parking lot. We blew a hydraulic hose. Oil. Was. Everywhere. It sprayed on the entire engine, compartment, tires, brakes, transmission, etc. Everywhere. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/DPP_1245_hu51b92d2288dd260f9afbcddd93eb7d5f_9845717_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/DPP_1245_hu51b92d2288dd260f9afbcddd93eb7d5f_9845717_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Bonneville Salt Flats\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBonneville Salt Flats\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo my first reaction was to utilize the Good Sam membership. We decided to utilize the service to send a mobile mechanic. I rationalized that dealing their random pick of potentially bottom of the barrel mobile mechanics would still be better than paying the call out fee which Good Sam covers. The guy they sent out though. Holy moly. First, understand we informed them during the call that we blew a high pressure hydraulic hose, most likely our power steering hose, and that the driver would need to have some method of repairing said hose. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know at the time but you cannot repair these hoses as a small but certainly not handheld press is required to attach the fittings. There are hand versions of the press and repair couplings. The guy they sent out had a tiny lunch pail sized toolbox, an air compressor and a generator. He said he never worked on a single RV or bus before. He was not in a uniform, covered in tattoos (not that that matters but was interesting enough), He left his truck running the entire 4 hours time he was with us which was spewing raw unburned gas out the exhaust. The truck was covered in dents, scratches and other trauma. It had a single lowly flashing yellow light. It was literally the opposite thing you think of when you think professional. I knew where this was going but I still gave it a chance. I really should have just accepted that I was on my own and started repairs myself but I must be a glutton for punishment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/oilleak_hu2e3f754ca45c0e590cb425b0c2dd611f_2048328_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/oilleak_hu2e3f754ca45c0e590cb425b0c2dd611f_2048328_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Blown Hydraulic Hose\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBlown Hydraulic Hose\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n First, he had no male to male line for the compressor to raise our coach so that he could safely get under it to take a better look. He didn\u0026rsquo;t understand the blocking required to be safe under the coach, even after I showed him. He didn\u0026rsquo;t undo the bundle of hoses to figure out which one was bad. He told us that we would have to get parts from an rv dealership and that we\u0026rsquo;d probably have to be towed. He said \u0026ldquo;oh I know a dealer nearby that sells these RV\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo;. Interesting since Foretravels are direct from the factory. The guy had no clue and he continually fed me a stream of lies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVery early on I decided this was done and told him we were finished and since he was not equipped to help me, could not possibly have helped me and offered no solutions or diagnostic work of any sort. They decided we owed them $140 for doing less than nothing. Discussing these fees took hours and the situation was eventually resolved to our satisfaction. To Good Sam\u0026rsquo;s credit, they called back days later and apologized for how bad our experience was. The guy threatened to impound our rig and this and that. It was a really bad experience when we were already down and out. The repair person really seemed ill equipped to do any repairs whatsoever. It seemed like they just collected the fees and said \u0026ldquo;yeah it\u0026rsquo;s broken, you need towed\u0026rdquo;. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/DPP_1207_hu38a606380920bb3f84dd8ff552c801e4_9230865_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/DPP_1207_hu38a606380920bb3f84dd8ff552c801e4_9230865_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Moving Again, Laramie, WY\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eMoving Again, Laramie, WY\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the guy finally left I tore into it myself. I unbundle the hydraulic lines zip tied together and rotate the radiator fan. Oil spews out. I reach my hand up and feel the \u003csup\u003e3\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026frasl;\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026rdquo; radiator fan hose has a giant hole in it rather than the power steering. This means I need a 3 foot hose, not a 42 foot one! This means I don\u0026rsquo;t need to pull a new hose through the wire tray in the center of the rig! A ray of sunshine! I managed to get the hose out around 11pm that night and the next morning went to Napa first thing to get it. Great, we\u0026rsquo;re going to be back on the road hopefully.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/DPP_1210_hudffa0c7e1a9ecb873aa89288f3f3b24c_10820283_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/weve-made-it-to-california/images/DPP_1210_hudffa0c7e1a9ecb873aa89288f3f3b24c_10820283_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Rest Stop... Wyoming?\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eRest Stop... Wyoming?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n On my way back from the third NAPA store I visited, I got to the final leg of the trifecta of crap. A run in with police that was a very bad experience. I won\u0026rsquo;t go into details for various reasons but I will say that I am a good, honest, law abiding citizen who has a habit of speeding. I do not have any relations with anyone that partakes in illegal drugs. \u003ca href=\"http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/09/11/1856223/cbc-warns-canadians-of-us-law-enforcement-money-extortion-program\"\u003eThis is a very real thing.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "Walmart-ing along the way – Lexington, Nebraska", "date_published" : "2014-09-18T00:17:13-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:14:43-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/walmart-ing-along-way--lexington-nebraska/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/walmart-ing-along-way--lexington-nebraska/", "author" : { "name" : "angel" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eWe decided to save a bit on lodging along the way, and stay in a few Walmart’s overnight. We use a very helpful RV Parky app on our iPhones to see overnight friendly spots to stay along our route. We drove for a little over 300 miles today, and our day was very peaceful sans any surprises. We started driving around 10 in the morning, and experienced mostly empty roads. We pulled over at a rest area for lunch, and after eating delicious sandwiches and stretching our feet for a little bit, got on our way again. After hours of driving and listening to truckers chat mostly illegibly on CB radio, we arrived at Lexington, Nebraska Walmart. We shared the parking lot with about 3 other RV’s.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI was happy to park and relax. We had a quick dinner of Tuna salad and gave our little one a bath. He stayed up for about an hour and then it was bedtime.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI decided to venture out to get some groceries at this Walmart, as we were running low. I find it easier to get groceries at Walmart instead of disconnecting our toad and exploring a new area in the dark while tired.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis Walmart grocery section was catered to the Hispanic population of the town. At first, I did not realize this, but could not find our usual food brands, like Boboli pizza crust, and Barilla sauce. I actually had to buy a few Great Value brand groceries, simply because this was the only selection available. I also found a case of different beans that you could buy by weight, as well as various rices, and spicy peppers. Mark would in paradise shopping here, as he is a huge fan of Mexican food.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/walmart-ing-along-way--lexington-nebraska/images/10574529_10152263395716008_2154258997868662917_n_0_hu61214f36a8c65e6f9ac9a511bca6543f_84232_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/walmart-ing-along-way--lexington-nebraska/images/10574529_10152263395716008_2154258997868662917_n_0_hu61214f36a8c65e6f9ac9a511bca6543f_84232_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n Once I got back to the RV and unloaded the groceries, I finally sat down to relax on the couch, when we heard a startling noise outside. It sounded kind of like a gunshot but we were not sure quite what we heard. We opened the blinds and looked outside to see that a tractor trailer across the street had a tire that caught fire and I guess exploded! We grabbed a fire extinguisher and headed outside to help but were unable to get there quickly due to a wire fence in our way. This trucker had the situation under control though, got his own fire extinguisher and put out the burning tire. He continued driving after a few minutes and turned in the Walmart parking lot to deal with his tire situation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter all this excitement, we decided to head to sleep. More driving tomorrow. :)\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "And We're Still Stuck", "date_published" : "2014-09-05T23:50:52-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:16:35-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/and-were-still-stuck/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/and-were-still-stuck/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eSo as it turns out, not all problems are solvable quickly. The airbag we need for our Ridewell RIA-207 tag axle is the Goodyear 1R11-202. If you look on a popular site like \u003ca href=\"http://www.sdtrucksprings.com\"\u003eSD Truck Springs\u003c/a\u003e it shows as being available and same day shipping. Well no. As it turns out all of these sites drop ship directly from Goodyear who happily informs them that this is a specially made built to order part that has a wonderful 3-4 week lead time. The deal is that this part is just like another part but the bottom is clocked 90 degrees so that the bottom mounting studs are perpendicular to the top. Apparently this bag is only used on Foretravel and Newell tag axles. Perhaps some others too but regardless it\u0026rsquo;s hard to come by. The two spares I have of the other 8 bags this coach has just aren\u0026rsquo;t the right size. The Firestone equivalent also had a huge lead time. The end result is that I ordered it from Foretravel who had 4 of them in stock for a $100 price premium. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/and-were-still-stuck/images/backorder_hu2580c94b99388991ae2797c63e60c86c_62250_1280x0_resize_box_2.png\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/and-were-still-stuck/images/backorder_hu2580c94b99388991ae2797c63e60c86c_62250_300x0_resize_box_2.png\" alt=\"Backordered\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBackordered\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut when it comes down to it, it\u0026rsquo;s nice to know that there is someone somewhere I can pay $100 more to to get it to me NOW, not a month from now. Can you imagine waiting for a part for a month? What if you had to go back to work from a vacation?! I\u0026rsquo;m curious to see what can be done to the existing bag once I pull it out. Perhaps I can repair it can keep it as a spare for the other tag axle bag. Perhaps I\u0026rsquo;ll order the cheap one with the 4 week lead time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn other news I have this HP Laptop that looks very similar to the one that \u003ca href=\"http://www.gonewiththewynns.com\"\u003eThe Wynns\u003c/a\u003e use, the HP dv6t-7000 quad edition. I spent good money on this machine to get the top end Core i7-3820QM chip, 8GB ram and a high end Nvidia discrete video chip. As it turns out, this is a \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c/em\u003e bad laptop. The thermal cooler package is woefully inadequate to handle the load, especially in our boondocking RV environment where we often let the interior temps go close to 90 before we give up and run the A/C. The screen is messed up and is not repairable. It has a tendency to just randomly reboot once every couple days for reasons that are unrelated to the motherboard or overheating, or the RAM. The power supply and hard drive both failed and were replaced as well. This is a 2 year old machine.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo it\u0026rsquo;s well out of warranty so I decide after it crashes during a presentation that I really need to get it going. I order a motherboard from an ebay seller called JKComputerParts. They represent the board as a new pull. The first one arrives and it won\u0026rsquo;t charge the battery. Their RMA process strongly advises against going through eBay. I should have sniffed the stank before I purchased but probably the reason is because they RMA SO MANY BOARDS. I RMA\u0026rsquo;d the first board and the second one came when I wasn\u0026rsquo;t around to receive it. I run Linux and didn\u0026rsquo;t touch the discrete nvidia chip for a while. When I finally decided to I discovered\u0026hellip; Tada! It doesn\u0026rsquo;t work at all! The rest of the board works fine but try to access the Nvidia chip and boom. Reboot.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePut my old board back in and everything works\u0026hellip; Except the keyboard backlight which inexplicably stopped working with the old board only. I\u0026rsquo;m well past their 30 day warranty but their site happily gave me an RMA number. We\u0026rsquo;ll see if I get another one or if I got screwed out of $135. Between my latest experience on Amazon using a bad marketplace seller and this, I\u0026rsquo;m not a happy camper.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a bright side though. I got so thoroughly fed up with this HP laptop that I just bought an \u003ca href=\"http://www.msi.com/product/nb/gs70-stealth.html\"\u003eMSI Stealth GS70\u003c/a\u003e instead. Holy moly this is a GREAT laptop. If you had and miss the macbook pro 17\u0026rdquo;, I \u003cem\u003ehighly\u003c/em\u003e recommend this machine. The only ding I have is that they have a warranty void sticker over one of the screws so you can\u0026rsquo;t upgrade it without voiding the warranty. The screen\u0026rsquo;s pixel refresh is a little slow for a gaming laptop, and the battery time for me is 2 hours if you\u0026rsquo;re lucky. But it\u0026rsquo;s a NICE laptop. I love it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking of all things that consume electricity. We can\u0026rsquo;t help but notice our utility bills in this motorhome are through the roof. During August we used the a/c only a few days and our electric bill was $166. That\u0026rsquo;s at $.15/kwh. I\u0026rsquo;ve decided my 2 AMD based desktop machines are the culprit and turned them off for good. The one served as a NAS and backup machine. The other served as my primary machine since my laptop was so unreliable. Both of them have 125 watt TDP CPU\u0026rsquo;s in them. The NAS has 4 desktop hard drives. The desktop machine had 3. Some quick calculations showed me that they could easily be the consumers. We also have a basement Norcold fridge chilling some beer as well as the aquahot which runs on electricity \u003csup\u003e24\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026frasl;\u003csub\u003e7\u003c/sub\u003e. I guess we\u0026rsquo;ll see what was going on once we get back on metered electricity. I don\u0026rsquo;t doubt the computers are to blame. I don\u0026rsquo;t think our Dish DVR sips power either though and runs \u003csup\u003e24\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026frasl;\u003csub\u003e7\u003c/sub\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "We're Stuck in a Good Place", "date_published" : "2014-09-02T16:16:11-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-12-28T21:59:00-05:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/were-stuck-good-place/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/were-stuck-good-place/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been cold all summer long.\u0026nbsp; All summer long I would have had an enjoyable time performing repairs on the bus.\u0026nbsp; But nooooo it has to break when it is 90F outside.\u0026nbsp; But I\u0026rsquo;ll get to that in a minute.\u0026nbsp; My festidious planning seems to be helping as of late.\u0026nbsp; First we were to attend my younger brother\u0026rsquo;s wedding on Sunday (just before labor day).\u0026nbsp; We then were supposed to go to my mother\u0026rsquo;s house on Monday.\u0026nbsp; The church where the ceremony was held didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough parking so we secured parking down the street at another church.\u0026nbsp; The hotel also allowed us to park overnight, saving us some lodging costs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the way over we stopped at a Walmart to have some lunch.\u0026nbsp; When the rear end was rising to level we heard an explosion and the coach shook as well.\u0026nbsp; I knew immediately an air bag had blown but I was confused after a walk around to find all of them holding air.\u0026nbsp; I restarted the main engine and saw air leaking from what I thought was a height adjusting valve.\u0026nbsp; Leakdown was acceptable so I decided to just roll with it as we had places to be.\u0026nbsp; Watching the gauges the rear air tank was falling much more quickly than the front but shortly on the leak stopped and we were fine.\u0026nbsp; After we left the hotel in the morning I had to fight with it raising and lowering the coach until it stopped leaking.\u0026nbsp; It wasn\u0026rsquo;t until we got to my mother\u0026rsquo;s house that I realized it was actually the tag axle bag leaking. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/were-stuck-good-place/images/photox1_hufe7c65975cfa2daabc0db6d4c40d4134_1473773_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/were-stuck-good-place/images/photox1_hufe7c65975cfa2daabc0db6d4c40d4134_1473773_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"You Can See Something Wrong\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eYou Can See Something Wrong\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt turns out the bead at the top plate unseated and kept reseating itself.\u0026nbsp; This worked for a little while until the bead bent and pinched.\u0026nbsp; Now it\u0026rsquo;s not going to seal.\u0026nbsp; But I got under there, cracked all the nuts and ordered the replacement bag so with any luck we\u0026rsquo;ll be on the road in a few days and we\u0026rsquo;re at a friendly place to sit until that occurs.\u0026nbsp; The only problem of course is that it\u0026rsquo;s crazy hot so we have to run the generator during the day.\u0026nbsp; But with the closest campground $50/night we can run the generator \u003csup\u003e24\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026frasl;\u003csub\u003e7\u003c/sub\u003e and it\u0026rsquo;s still cheaper. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/were-stuck-good-place/images/photox4_hu9d0aad834be0010fe2b014fc31acf472_1930566_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/were-stuck-good-place/images/photox4_hu9d0aad834be0010fe2b014fc31acf472_1930566_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Inside View Bent Bead\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eInside View Bent Bead\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo our trip west is off to a rough start but at $134 it\u0026rsquo;s a cheap problem to fix.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "Rolling Stone Gathers no Ants", "date_published" : "2014-08-25T22:34:10-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:18:02-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/rolling-stone-gathers-no-ants/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/rolling-stone-gathers-no-ants/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eIf you\u0026rsquo;ve been following along, you\u0026rsquo;ve probably noticed the conspicuous absence of posts all summer long (despite the visual overhaul which did take quite some time (I still hate it btw)). The difference between now and before is that my client load has come on pretty heavily and I\u0026rsquo;ve been quite busy all summer with projects. I could probably update the site but I have huge issues with balance of time. When there is work to do, generally I will worry only about that. I mean after all, what would a client think if he\u0026rsquo;s waiting for work from me and can see me updating this site? It\u0026rsquo;s kind of a conflict right? But time management is one of those things you don\u0026rsquo;t really think about when you go to work for yourself. In the beginning you\u0026rsquo;re just happy to hear that phone ring, that word of mouth and that potential income source. Nobody thinks about what happens when you bite off more than you can chew but it\u0026rsquo;s a big problem. If you blow one of your projects or ignore one of your clients, the positive news that got you the clients to begin with will change to negative news, serving to sabotage future prospects. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/rolling-stone-gathers-no-ants/images/photo_hu70fc95f300b5a9ad3e3f6f2ecefe6d68_1826536_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/rolling-stone-gathers-no-ants/images/photo_hu70fc95f300b5a9ad3e3f6f2ecefe6d68_1826536_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Detailed Information\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eDetailed Information\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo what do you do when each one of your clients expects an 8 hour workday on each of their projects? Manage expectations I suppose. I\u0026rsquo;ll let you know when I figure out how to manage my time properly. Until then I tend to work from sunrise to sunset when I do, and then take days off when I need to. That\u0026rsquo;s not to talk about the fact that we are in Pennsylvania which means repeated visits to family, friends, weekends on the race track and more. Not to mention the availability of my beloved supercharged E36 M3 which is not normally available to me. It means lots and lots of very fun activities consuming my time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSO is pretty content with sitting around but she would prefer to be in Florida near her family, if for nothing else, for babysitting services. Myself, I get pretty ancy. We\u0026rsquo;ve been here for 3 months now and for me it is well past time to go. But not yet. First I noticed last winter that the bedroom zone of my aqua hot system was not producing heat. That problem now compounded itself with an odor of diesel fuel in the central storage bay. The aquahot on our rig is buried dead in the middle of the storage bays. It\u0026rsquo;s not that hard to get to, but you do have to crawl INTO the storage bay.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI found a pan wet with diesel fuel and somehow one of the brushes for the circulation motor backed itself out. Fixed the brush and decided to test diesel and sure enough it was spraying diesel fuel everywhere! Turns out my generation of aquahot has issues with the high pressure fuel pump. $350 bill later and we\u0026rsquo;ll see how easy replacement is in a couple days. You have to pull the webasto burner out and then you can do much of the work on the bench which is a bit easier on the back.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe other thing we\u0026rsquo;re up against is a highly aged set of 8 tires. Tires which are over $400 each. So tomorrow or one of these days I have to get over to the commercial tire place and drive them insane picking the absolute youngest tires they have in stock. We\u0026rsquo;re going with Continentals versus the stock Michelin XZA3\u0026rsquo;s. I guess we\u0026rsquo;ll see if that decision proves foolish or not. Btw the front tires are about 7 years old while the tags are 8. The drive tires I can see are nearly 9 years old(!). We\u0026rsquo;ve certainly gotten the previous owner\u0026rsquo;s money\u0026rsquo;s worth out of these tires but there is no way I am leaving the east coast on them. There is only signs of exterior dry rot on the youngest front tires ironically.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter that we head to my brother\u0026rsquo;s wedding, and then we boondock our way to California(ish). We intend to hit over the next 2 months the Grand Canyon, Arches, Moab, California coast, Vegas and a few other places. Should be fun. We have 2 years left until child can enter Florida\u0026rsquo;s voluntary pre-kindergarten program (and he will) so I intend to make the most of these magical years of location independence we have for now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs for the strange title? ANTS! Tons of tiny little ants seem to be finding their way in every tiny crevice we have! Clearly it\u0026rsquo;s time to get moving.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Compounding Tasks", "date_published" : "2014-07-07T00:17:14-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:19:21-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/compounding-tasks/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/compounding-tasks/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eHave you ever had an unfinished task just sitting there mocking you? Every time you went back to revisit that task you realized it\u0026rsquo;s grown bigger and bigger. So you put it off longer and longer. Posting a blog entry has become that task for me. We\u0026rsquo;re alive, we\u0026rsquo;ve been living, and things are wild and awesome. I\u0026rsquo;m getting work and we\u0026rsquo;re hanging with friends and we\u0026rsquo;ve been seeing and doing great things. There is so much to post here and honestly this blog is my very bottom priority as it should be. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/compounding-tasks/images/DPP_1144_hu497a16ea5038ec7f818e04e272c2ae50_14262849_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/compounding-tasks/images/DPP_1144_hu497a16ea5038ec7f818e04e272c2ae50_14262849_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Chillin in Paradise\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eChillin in Paradise\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo much real life and real people and moments take precedence and then by the time I am done with my day I\u0026rsquo;m pooped. Oh well. So this post is a way to break the ice and maybe start updating this site again. After all it\u0026rsquo;s been more than 2 months!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "Blogging's Back Burner", "date_published" : "2014-05-04T18:43:23-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:20:54-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/bloggings-back-burner/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/bloggings-back-burner/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;ve been on the move for a few days now. First we visited Howard Park in Tarpon Springs, then we went to Ashburn, GA, then Atlanta to see the Vintage Computer Festival 2.0 (not that SO had any interest in that) and now we\u0026rsquo;re at Walmart again. I had visions of getting the travel cam running and this and that but I never did. See I\u0026rsquo;m driving a brand new to me 42\u0026rsquo; motorhome and it\u0026rsquo;s a beast and I decided at the last minute, you know what. Let\u0026rsquo;s just focus on the task at hand. So far there have been no real problems with the motorhome - which surprises me a little. I have gone over 2 curbs sadly. Hopefully no damage was done as I hit it fairly squarely and slowly. Knock on wood I guess. I haven\u0026rsquo;t smashed into anything yet either but there have been a few close calls as I\u0026rsquo;m starting to get more experience with 10 additional feet in length. The experience of driving this thing is like night and day compared to the Winnebago. I can use just the chassis A/C in temperatures up to about 90F and we\u0026rsquo;re all perfectly comfortable. The alternator is an externally excited alternator meaning it\u0026rsquo;s properly charging the battery banks at the right voltage as we drive. The coach has impressive performance - riding up all but the steepest of hills in 6th gear without even downshifting. The ride is silent. No tire noise, no engine noise, nothing. It\u0026rsquo;s just crazy. I have come to love the Allison joystick transmission retarder. I at first thought it was good mostly for mountain descents and stuff like that but it actually is incredibly useful just starting and stopping in traffic. I\u0026rsquo;ve gotten a lot better at dealing with the air brakes and can drive a lot more smoothly now. So far we\u0026rsquo;ve gone about 650 miles and used less than half a tank so fuel consumption isn\u0026rsquo;t too bad (when you consider we\u0026rsquo;re running the generator and the aquahot on diesel a lot due to the walmart nights. This means the big engine is getting somewhere around 7+mpg on average. Not great but admirable for such a heavy rig. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/bloggings-back-burner/images/bird_huc2fac4717e3773f38e02b64b77d43d8e_542930_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/bloggings-back-burner/images/bird_huc2fac4717e3773f38e02b64b77d43d8e_542930_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Once in a Lifetime Shot\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eOnce in a Lifetime Shot\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRegarding the subject of the post, I\u0026rsquo;m just not sure how other people do it. In my role at least, there is a lot to do in a day. Each day we travel I have to find the next place. Whether I am one or two days ahead is irrelevant I still need to keep up and keep planning ahead. I need to figure out which Walmart\u0026rsquo;s and campgrounds we\u0026rsquo;re staying at, etc. This can take up to an hour a day. It sounds insane to some of the freer people driving around tiny RV\u0026rsquo;s but we have to find a campground that can take a 42\u0026rsquo;, has good entry/exits, figure out ahead of time via google maps what streets routes and turns we can take so that we don\u0026rsquo;t hop curbs (not that I didn\u0026rsquo;t fail at that once) or worse have to disconnect our toad in the middle of traffic to back up\u0026hellip;. yes it\u0026rsquo;s happened in the Winnebago. After that I have work which is infuriating without real internet. We didn\u0026rsquo;t start up the millenicom because we\u0026rsquo;re not going to need it for more than a couple weeks this time out. Instead I am winging it, tethering my phone which does NOT want to be tethered or scrounging wifi when I can find it (thank you Lowes and scruffy436). That\u0026rsquo;s another subject, btw. Scanning, aiming and connecting to wifi can take half an hour with an external directional antenna. Then I drive, hook and unhook the toad. I wash the bugs off the front of the rv. I manage our energy, energy consumption, fuel, rest stops, etc. Perhaps I don\u0026rsquo;t lean on SO enough but frankly she handles the lion\u0026rsquo;s share of child tasks and that is an enormous job all by itself.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo when there is too much to do blogging, and especially live blogging with the camera go on the back burner. But I\u0026rsquo;ll get there ;) I also didn\u0026rsquo;t think about that I like to use my phone for google maps directions which doesn\u0026rsquo;t exactly work simultaneously with the webcam app. Hmm.. Time to solve another issue.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Some Downtime", "date_published" : "2014-04-21T00:44:43-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:23:20-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/some-downtime/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/some-downtime/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eAs I wrap up some $ work I\u0026rsquo;ve been working on, I will now have time to tackle some less important (not $ earning) things. Not that this isn\u0026rsquo;t a nailbiting time as it always is when a client beats up your work and decides whether or not to give you that final payment ;) We\u0026rsquo;re FINALLY taking off from Florida in a week so I have to wrap it up here. My hit list for the Foretravel includes changing the transmission fluid and filters as well as repairing the aquahot. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/some-downtime/images/dpp_hue07630a5a49f832ca9149ac0b4f96b38_1050668_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/some-downtime/images/dpp_hue07630a5a49f832ca9149ac0b4f96b38_1050668_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"What it said\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eWhat it said\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur motorhome has the Allison HD-4060R transmission. This transmission is much like the 3000 series transmission that comes with most diesel pushers but is a little bigger, the filters are larger, and it has a larger fluid capacity. I\u0026rsquo;ve read conflicting reports of anywhere from 7 to 9 gallons of fluid will come out. The transmission pan sits lower than any other part of the engine so I needed to find a different tub that will fit under the transmission to collect the fluid. Walmart rewarded me with a 10 gallon roughneck tub today that is literally perfect for the job. $6. The cheapest 10 gallon proper oil drain pan is over $100. The Transynd transmission fluid set my wallet on fire at around $40/gallon. For 10 gallons, you can do the math. As for the aquahot, the installation in the Foretravel is err.. Well it\u0026rsquo;s space efficient but not easy to access. The boiler liquid (which is just regular engine coolant) has a very long hose that runs from the boiler tank cap to a very accessible overflow tank. In order for this system to work there can be no breaks in the line, no cracks in the hose, etc. Otherwise when the system cools, it will draw in air instead of coolant from the overflow tank. This seems to be the case as the level never moves in the overflow. Recently I discovered that when you run a faucet on full hot, you can feel the temperature gradually change from lukewarm to actually hot. The fresh water heating in an aquahot is a copper coil that runs around the coolant tank. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that there is an air pocket in the tank and the fresh water in those sections is not being fully heated. As a result the hot water temperature goes up and down up and down as it switches between the water that was sitting against the air pocket and the hot coolant. So I\u0026rsquo;ll have to turn off the unit, let it cool, get in there, fill the tank back up, drain the overflow tank a bit (since it is stuck on the full hot level), and then finally find whatever crack exists in the overflow line and repair it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the 3 circulation pumps (ironically the one that has been replaced before) was not functioning a few weeks ago when we exercised it. I\u0026rsquo;m going to try to beat on it to free it up but it may need replaced. It\u0026rsquo;s one of those things that is close to $1000 from the aquahot people themselves or $80 if you get the March pump part number and go hunting from the HVAC supply houses.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLike most things involving rv\u0026rsquo;s (and stick homes) and especially diesel pushers, the world is ready to fleece you if you allow it - but there seems to always be a way around it. I\u0026rsquo;ve done roughly $7,000 of maintenance so far for a little over $1,000 in materials. Yeah it took some time but it\u0026rsquo;s not a bad pay rate even compared to IT work. I gain a familiarity with my coach that will help ease my fears of tackling the repair of a breakdown in the middle of nowhere and that\u0026rsquo;s worth something too.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe other no $ thing I want to hit is this site. When I originally created this site, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure how long we\u0026rsquo;d be living in an rv full time or if we would at all. I threw it up really quick and dirty like. My primary motivation for building the site to begin with was to play with the time lapse video. A friend of mine did a live feed from one of their trips and I was fascinated by it. Since it seems like it\u0026rsquo;s not going anywhere, for the first time in my life I\u0026rsquo;m going to try to not immediately discount my web/graphics design capabilities. I\u0026rsquo;m going to learn the tools I need to learn and spend the time to make the site really nice. There will be plenty of new features and some of the content will be a lot more intuitive to access. I also came up with some gangbuster ideas for a new site that have been brewing in my head. It\u0026rsquo;s a bear of a job so I\u0026rsquo;m still stewing over it and will be for some time before I actually decide to go forth and code. The interesting thing is that counterintuitively the entire idea for the site came from an awesome monetization idea. Usually you come up with a site and then beat your head against the wall figuring out clever ways to make money from it. That seems like a good sign to me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePS: I\u0026rsquo;m both excited and scared of the truck fuel islands I will be required to use. They don\u0026rsquo;t seem to have a consistent procedure as far as pump authorization and I\u0026rsquo;ve heard the truckers don\u0026rsquo;t really like RVers. We have \u003csup\u003e1\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026frasl;\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e tank left of our 200 gallon tank and that means we will be taking on $600 of fuel the first fillup!\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Moving on From Siesta Key", "date_published" : "2014-04-15T00:55:50-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:25:41-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a while so I figured I would post an update. Things have been a bit uninteresting as of late. Highlights include replacing the latching relay that controls our front water pump motor. The one Foretravel included is a solid state job which is supposed to handle like 2 amps. The pump is 7.5 amps so it\u0026rsquo;s no surprise they go. I\u0026rsquo;m surprised to see Foretravel made such an oversight. Perhaps the manufacturer told them it\u0026rsquo;d be fine. I also changed the generator oil, filter, fuel filters and air filter. Couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been easier (or cheaper). The Foretravel has been well behaved. I\u0026rsquo;ve run some more wires and fixed the antenna setup so that the DVR can properly record network TV again. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0652_hu5794d3a7b92383446b45bf2744213d82_825867_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0652_hu5794d3a7b92383446b45bf2744213d82_825867_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Siesta Key Sarasota Sunset\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eSiesta Key Sarasota Sunset\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n This is especially important since we\u0026rsquo;ll have limited internet again soon and thus can\u0026rsquo;t be downloading video content willy nilly. We\u0026rsquo;ve been using Brighthouse cable the last few months (no complaints, great service, great customer service). Since the DVR is dual tuner we can watch the tuner/network/dvr content on the old tube tv in the bedroom. That way we don\u0026rsquo;t need any of those DTV converter boxes for the bedroom TV. It works very well. I\u0026rsquo;ve spent a lot of time messing with the King Dome dish we have on the roof and have come to the conclusion that it\u0026rsquo;s a turd. Basically in order to provide full HD service you need to be able to see 3 satellites. But you can get reasonable service sans locals with just 2 and SOME service with 1. So wouldn\u0026rsquo;t it make sense that if the dish can see 2 of 3 satellites it should just go with it? Nope. It just shuts down and errors out and won\u0026rsquo;t even point at any of the satellites it found. Worse, the satellite it can\u0026rsquo;t see, the receiver can see just fine with acceptable signal. It\u0026rsquo;s just not enough for the King Dome for whatever reason. The King Dome also has a very dumb (but future proof) search algorithm. It simply scans the entire sky for all satellites. Even after it found the satellites you want, it\u0026rsquo;ll just keep on searching for like half an hour. That\u0026rsquo;s fine, but it\u0026rsquo;s annoying if you\u0026rsquo;re trying to position your rig in the site to get coverage and you have to wait for it to scan satellites you don\u0026rsquo;t need even after it found the ones you have. And of course you can watch it find the satellites you are looking for on the reciever, think you are safe, and then find out it\u0026rsquo;s unhappy with the signal level. I could be wrong about the way this works or what is wrong with my unit and if I am, I\u0026rsquo;ll update this later on.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA more ideal algorithm would be to perform the scan in stages. First use whatever hints it has as to where you are to find one of the satellites in the trio you are looking for. From there you can easily calculate the elevation/azimuth range you need to move to point to the others. Do so, and if DVB confirms they are the right satellites, done searching. Total search process? Maybe 2 minutes. Now if things change it will fail. Simply increase the search radius slowly and if you still can\u0026rsquo;t find them, just revert to the whole sky search. This isn\u0026rsquo;t a ton of programming, especially since the unit costs over $1K to begin with. And wouldn\u0026rsquo;t it be nice if they sprang for a 30 cent 2 line LCD display to go inside the rig to tell you what is going on, what satellites it has found and what issues it has if a search fails? Kind of optimistic in the performance of their product! They don\u0026rsquo;t even blink out an error code.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0342_hu3323c41cf292be7d76a6f86219118627_825823_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0342_hu3323c41cf292be7d76a6f86219118627_825823_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Lazy Days Entrance\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eLazy Days Entrance\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0343_hud7fbb88c3b45fc9941f6404e026f6d1b_1311752_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0343_hud7fbb88c3b45fc9941f6404e026f6d1b_1311752_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Lots of Little Touches\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eLots of Little Touches\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe went to Lazy Days to check out the LivinLite all aluminum camper trailer. Holy cow this place is \u003cem\u003ehuge\u003c/em\u003e. It\u0026rsquo;s like a city all by itself. The number of service bays, campground sites, etc was amazing. The trailer was pretty cool. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t as polished perfect as an Oliver but it had a cool unique industrial look. All of the cabinets and everything were aluminum. It\u0026rsquo;s clearly the kind of trailer that will last a long (LONG) time. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t appear to be designed for all season use. One of the things I noticed was an enormous CCC. Kind of uncommon as far as trailers go. The slide really made it feel a lot larger so and the bunk beds were cool for children (or even storage).\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0344_hu48430135438c21181c83b5c3a7c1ca6d_1127650_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0344_hu48430135438c21181c83b5c3a7c1ca6d_1127650_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"LivinLite\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eLivinLite\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0361_hu2a022cda52703e3130c6a94736c62d1e_663984_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0361_hu2a022cda52703e3130c6a94736c62d1e_663984_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Enormous CCC\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eEnormous CCC\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMost of my days are spent behind the computer screen. My current workload is very high so I haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to dedicate time to implement the features I plan for this site (as well as an actual proper design that took more than 5 minutes of effort). We still have one more maintenance item left on the Foretravel. We ordered the 9 gallons of Transynd full synthetic transmission fluid as well as filters. This is a post all of its own but the professionalism of heavy truck shops leaves a lot to be desired. Would you believe that basically nobody has ever called me back with an estimate for any work I\u0026rsquo;ve done so far which is largely the reason I\u0026rsquo;ve done the work myself? I just don\u0026rsquo;t accept incompetence at any point in the cycle. As soon as I encounter it, unless I\u0026rsquo;m heavily invested, I\u0026rsquo;ll back out and move on. I tend to avoid things that will cause aggravation as best I can. The worst thing about the truck shops is that they don\u0026rsquo;t have book rates and refuse to give estimates. Even an \u003cstrong\u003eAllison\u003c/strong\u003e dealer can\u0026rsquo;t quote me a price on a fluid and filter change (which is basically the same process on all Allison transmissions). Instead they just tell me the rate is $130/hr. Are you ready to roll the dice? Or I could buy a $9 tub from Walmart, a $4 fluid transfer pump from Harbor Freight and do it myself. In the case of the transmission fluid, a \u0026ldquo;conversion\u0026rdquo; to full synthetic fluid allows you to extend change intervals dramatically. When we converted our F53 transmission to full synthetic the Ford dealer had a machine to pump out all of the old fluid so that a complete change was done. An automatic transmission hangs onto a bunch of fluid in the valve body and torque converter if you just drain it like an oil change. Much to my dismay I found out that even the allison authorized shops do the drain -\u0026gt; fill -\u0026gt; drain -\u0026gt; fill conversion rather than use the machine. Well ok. If there is no machine involved I guess I\u0026rsquo;ll do it myself. It\u0026rsquo;s a wasteful process because the old fluid still present in the system causes you to have to drain and fill at the shorter non-synthetic intervals the next time. As a result, you are throwing a \u003csup\u003e70\u003c/sup\u003e\u0026frasl;\u003csub\u003e30\u003c/sub\u003e or so mix of good transynd down the drain whenever that shorter interval rolls around.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0448_hufd093534e310d840920913fe1b44a8ff_672496_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0448_hufd093534e310d840920913fe1b44a8ff_672496_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"The Beach\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eThe Beach\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0539_hu4aedcda513a4f9a09d182c15e60881f8_1266358_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-siesta-key/images/DPP_0539_hu4aedcda513a4f9a09d182c15e60881f8_1266358_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Angry Birds\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eAngry Birds\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGoing forward we\u0026rsquo;re going to see my mom in North Carolina, friends in Lewes, DE, then up to Pennsylvania to do some work on the M3 and go racing. Later on in the summer we head out.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "Mo Cars, Mo Problems", "date_published" : "2014-04-06T11:54:09-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:56:13-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/mo-cars-mo-problems/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/mo-cars-mo-problems/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;ve just recently passed our 1 year anniversary of fulltiming but our past life in a stick house still constantly nips at our heels in the form of insurance bills, storage unit fees and other bits. We have just finally disposed of one of our problems, my 2002 BMW 540i. We are car enthusiasts and this is a \u003cem\u003especial\u003c/em\u003e car. It has a ride that is soft enough to be supple yet firm enough to reliably corner at high speeds. It has a nice high revving V8 and this is as far as I know the only high end luxury car to be available with a 6 speed manual. Other than the M5 that is. We had a lot of trouble selling this car in Pennsylvania but when we listed it in Florida it was gone in days. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/mo-cars-mo-problems/images/540i_last_huab58c800f84728db8e801cc0d35b657e_2085328_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/mo-cars-mo-problems/images/540i_last_huab58c800f84728db8e801cc0d35b657e_2085328_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Saying goodbyte to Beast\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eSaying goodbyte to Beast\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n Apparently these are a unicorn down here. The closest other one is in Texas. The guy came and paid a little extra to get the amp and subs. Oh and for all the greenomaniacs this car gets 26mpg highway. Not bad for a car that came with the gas guzzler tax.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNext step - sport bike on a hitch hauler. Then I can take my aggression out all over the midwest!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "We Saw the New Oliver Travel Trailer!", "date_published" : "2014-04-04T00:35:24-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:58:37-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eMy significant other is quite the afficionado of molded fiberglass trailers. In fact before we got the Foretravel we looked at the 25\u0026rsquo; Bigfoot trailer. Now we got the opportunity to see a brand spankin new Oliver IIS. Wow, it\u0026rsquo;s the first trailer I have ever liked. To me everything always seemed like a giant compromise the but the Oliver knows what it is and tries to be the best for the purpose.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome things I noticed: Aluminum frame, very high ground clearance, tons of boondocker options, designed for off road use, easy to clean, very little use of materials that can rot (mainly just kitchen drawers). \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1152_hu7df736ca16cfe26264eddfda2f89c45e_1956888_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1152_hu7df736ca16cfe26264eddfda2f89c45e_1956888_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Skinny Butt\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eSkinny Butt\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n It also had a very effective floor plan and made the best out of limited space. It\u0026rsquo;s not ME. I am a luxury bus kind of guy. But I was seriously impressed and I would easily consider one of these in the future for non-fulltime purposes. It occurs to me that my pics are terrible. Sorry about that ;)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1153_hue7e0aa45f71b1811e5abd34f20e6dd6a_2063014_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1153_hue7e0aa45f71b1811e5abd34f20e6dd6a_2063014_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Interior 1\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eInterior 1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1155_hu2fc6dd16e53416b52ec37bcb22464bb0_2195753_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1155_hu2fc6dd16e53416b52ec37bcb22464bb0_2195753_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Interior 2\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eInterior 2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1147_hu07413522cda23f3b747dea5974e56044_1796392_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1147_hu07413522cda23f3b747dea5974e56044_1796392_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Battery Trays\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBattery Trays\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1149_huf67a3f9763089cac3af9b413d42a3846_1898508_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1149_huf67a3f9763089cac3af9b413d42a3846_1898508_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"King Dome\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eKing Dome\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1156_hudc9e1a0cf66b2976f8b03c823c6a508b_1698903_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-saw-new-oliver-travel-trailer/images/IMG_1156_hudc9e1a0cf66b2976f8b03c823c6a508b_1698903_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Poo Room\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003ePoo Room\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "Our new old RV. The interior", "date_published" : "2014-03-04T11:54:34-05:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T03:01:23-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003ePreviously I posted about the exterior of the new old RV. In case you didn\u0026rsquo;t see it, we recently purchased a 1999 Foretravel U320 42\u0026rsquo; motorhome. Now that we\u0026rsquo;re settled in and getting used to life in it, I feel more comfortable taking and sharing some pictures. When we originally started looking for a new motorhome I gravitated towards the American Dream/Eagle line of motorhomes. These are very decent but my better half found this Foretravel motorhome. Once I saw a picture of the built in desk I knew I had to see it. And here it is, we own it :) \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4005_0_hu7cb8dc995659ecd8b6b62569433ed3a9_5513052_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4005_0_hu7cb8dc995659ecd8b6b62569433ed3a9_5513052_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Built in Desk\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBuilt in Desk\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n The U320 42\u0026rsquo; is a special model and has a couple features that no other model has. One being the extra large desk. No other model has the desk with 2 sides of drawers. Other noteworthy things are porcelain tile throughout which is too weighty without the extra capacity of the tandem axle. The desk has room for the 7 computers, 2 tablets and IP phone (the Geeky Nomads name doesn\u0026rsquo;t come out of nowhere!). It has the same nice halogen indirect lighting that the rest of the coach has but the desk lighting is independently controlled.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3976_huaf672101aace9dab048475c7ee9c66ef_3721488_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3976_huaf672101aace9dab048475c7ee9c66ef_3721488_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Intellitec Controls\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eIntellitec Controls\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n The Foretravel U320 is the highest end Foretravel motorhome. It\u0026rsquo;s basically the same as the U295 but is equipped with a Cummins ISM 450HP vs an ISC 350HP engine. The 42\u0026rsquo; version has some additional special features on top of that. One of those is Intellitec Multiplex light switches. This system runs power for 12v devices in the RV back to a central relay panel. Various switch panels (8) in total can control both items relevant to the panel location as well as other things you might care about. For instance you can turn on all of the bright outdoor docking lights while laying in bed. This system didn\u0026rsquo;t work when we put down our deposit (and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t the only thing) but the dealer got everything fixed up and we enjoy the system immensely.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4013_0_hu72fec299808226f923a548dc26fc223c_6437008_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4013_0_hu72fec299808226f923a548dc26fc223c_6437008_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Household Toilet\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eHousehold Toilet\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n This is a very unique motorhome - even for a Foretravel U320. It\u0026rsquo;s the only one I know of where the previous owner opted to install a normal wet trap household flushing toilet. This like most things has pros and cons. The toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush and fills our black tank within 3-4 days with 2 users. We simply always hold both the gray and black tank since the black fills first. We\u0026rsquo;ve gotten used to this part of the routine and it\u0026rsquo;s not a very big deal. When boondocking, this would be a big deal! We are fighting over whether to get a traditional RV toilet or a dual flush household toilet to replace this one with. We\u0026rsquo;ll work on that when the time comes. A lot of people indicate that a flush toilet would have water splash out of the tank and bowl when under way, or the entire toilet will break or have other problems. Nope. It\u0026rsquo;s just a household toilet and it works surprisingly well in an RV. No face full of poo smell for us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3968_hu6ff689d0c99f51be9a24be38a1a55963_3925931_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3968_hu6ff689d0c99f51be9a24be38a1a55963_3925931_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Dash Lighting\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eDash Lighting\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n I still smile every time I turn on the headlights. This is the electroluminescent backlight of the dash. It looks even better in person. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know it did this before we took it home. What a pleasant surprise.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4015_0_hu2f09697381fb3554c7f45c3c39e093d6_6196102_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4015_0_hu2f09697381fb3554c7f45c3c39e093d6_6196102_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Shower\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eShower\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n I don\u0026rsquo;t weigh an insignificant amount and banging my elbows in the bathroom and shower of our previous motorhome was starting to get old. Enter our new shower - bigger than the master shower of our sticks and bricks home before we sold it!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4033_0_hu49b71081afccf5da91bc6fb7009dff29_5491076_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4033_0_hu49b71081afccf5da91bc6fb7009dff29_5491076_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Bedroom Accent Lighting\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBedroom Accent Lighting\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n Every window and countertop has accent rope lighting wired up. There are also beautiful halogen indirect lighting in the cupboards along the sides. This thing lights up like a christmas tree and I love light! That\u0026rsquo;s pretty much it for the notable stuff. Below you\u0026rsquo;ll see images of the pots and pans drawers and our dishwasher and laser printer in lieu of a washer/dryer. Our apologies for not making the bed - it\u0026rsquo;s just not something we do.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4012_0_hu68f316f0f38b37d6646b8646df44e734_6269171_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4012_0_hu68f316f0f38b37d6646b8646df44e734_6269171_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Vanity\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eVanity\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4024_0_hu7f2140269e6973591810ce2717893df2_6118981_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4024_0_hu7f2140269e6973591810ce2717893df2_6118981_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Controls\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eControls\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4027_0_hu74f06077d019dba448c65711cd00235b_5320776_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4027_0_hu74f06077d019dba448c65711cd00235b_5320776_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Counter Accent Lighting\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eCounter Accent Lighting\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4030_0_hue5adefb98834610551e9b8a9839ec44b_6871714_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4030_0_hue5adefb98834610551e9b8a9839ec44b_6871714_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Kitty Approved\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eKitty Approved\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4038_0_hu742eb4cdb82cfaaf14746ced204b00ac_6034067_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4038_0_hu742eb4cdb82cfaaf14746ced204b00ac_6034067_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Bedroom Indirect Lighting\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBedroom Indirect Lighting\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4039_0_hu0480b44326e41ac4ad68cbc656b9c384_6951652_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4039_0_hu0480b44326e41ac4ad68cbc656b9c384_6951652_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Bedroom Drawers\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBedroom Drawers\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4042_0_hue3c42b22b859603a0ba4ea1bf5f1f335_7016104_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_4042_0_hue3c42b22b859603a0ba4ea1bf5f1f335_7016104_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"We don\u0026#39;t make the bed\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eWe don\u0026#39;t make the bed\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3977_hu0cc075143f54fc8370332d2b1e2f0286_6593076_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3977_hu0cc075143f54fc8370332d2b1e2f0286_6593076_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Living Room\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eLiving Room\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3981_hudc024651e92d0a8f1fe326b0629902b3_6465325_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3981_hudc024651e92d0a8f1fe326b0629902b3_6465325_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Dining Area\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eDining Area\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3982_hu37f2cfde936d9e6c56a70d58e9418d76_7326089_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3982_hu37f2cfde936d9e6c56a70d58e9418d76_7326089_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Kitchen\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eKitchen\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3986_hue611cadf7f748210a8b1d92ae974cc9b_5890691_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3986_hue611cadf7f748210a8b1d92ae974cc9b_5890691_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Inverter Controls\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eInverter Controls\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3987_hu90c6ac93125126ac171ea2a194d29683_6494645_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3987_hu90c6ac93125126ac171ea2a194d29683_6494645_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Pots and Pans Drawer\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003ePots and Pans Drawer\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3988_hu81dd3bf535f69e48f4f8a2b3886c600c_6700392_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3988_hu81dd3bf535f69e48f4f8a2b3886c600c_6700392_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Gaggenae Cooktop\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eGaggenae Cooktop\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3992_hu871ce1e2a2fc8a2c3e715e730fb12d6a_7349552_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3992_hu871ce1e2a2fc8a2c3e715e730fb12d6a_7349552_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Dishwasher and Printer\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eDishwasher and Printer\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3994_hu3c5b099a638d14675753c256ffdf1cdc_6186946_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3994_hu3c5b099a638d14675753c256ffdf1cdc_6186946_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Pantry Drawers\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003ePantry Drawers\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3995_hu1b2d0169ac78b4bb8fdf3f6b5f3214e7_7140320_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3995_hu1b2d0169ac78b4bb8fdf3f6b5f3214e7_7140320_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Huge Fridge\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eHuge Fridge\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3996_hu0b0280fa436306219d6b43c850324c4f_7319300_1280x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-interior/images/IMG_3996_hu0b0280fa436306219d6b43c850324c4f_7319300_300x0_resize_q75_box.JPG\" alt=\"Fridge\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eFridge\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "Our new old RV. The exterior", "date_published" : "2014-02-28T12:48:59-05:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:22:03-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eWe got a new RV! It\u0026rsquo;s a 1999 Foretravel U320 42\u0026rsquo;. It has a tandem axle, pantograph bay doors and a monocoque chassis so it is very \u0026ldquo;bus\u0026rdquo; like. I would say it has more bus features than non bus features. The thing that makes this decidedly not a bus is that it has a fiberglass shell and the skin is not part of the structure in a meaningful way. It took us around 6 months between thinking about making this purchase and finally making this purchase. It couldn\u0026rsquo;t be taken lightly as a Foretravel costs somewhere between the same and double your average diesel pusher which costs double or more your average gas motorhome. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3830_hu4ae8b6ea72c8c68c0d6926be75695a2f_2460646_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3830_hu4ae8b6ea72c8c68c0d6926be75695a2f_2460646_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Our 1999 Foretravel U320\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eOur 1999 Foretravel U320\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n This was certainly quite a step up from our 1998 Winnebago 32\u0026rsquo; but the circumstances are quite different now that we have committed to fulltiming. I\u0026rsquo;m planning to do a series of posts on how we got to this point but for this post I\u0026rsquo;ll discuss the finer points of the exterior features.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3890_hu4d4b8f8355e3517ad859bdc0b0b1158c_1584801_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3890_hu4d4b8f8355e3517ad859bdc0b0b1158c_1584801_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Cummins 450HP Engine\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eCummins 450HP Engine\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n A heavy duty Cummins 450HP turbo diesel engine. A Foretravel U320 generally has a far more powerful engine than other motorhomes in the class. This is similar to the Wanderlodge and prevost buses which tend to have 500HP detroit series 60 engines (similar vintage anyway) but those machines are quite a bit heavier. Thus the Foretravel U320 is known as the hotrod of motorhomes. Indeed they make a 36\u0026rsquo; single rear axle variant that still carries the 450HP engine. I\u0026rsquo;m told it accelerates faster than many cars. Our trip out west really freaked us out. You can see that enormous Lexus toad. We like it, so we\u0026rsquo;re not getting rid of it, so we decided we want a motorhome that had capable power. With our loaded Winnebago the poor Ford 460 really started to die in the high altitudes. We crawled at down to 15mph on some mountains. It was really stressful on us and really stressful on the engine. Probably hte only reason it worked at all is because we massively upgraded the radiator before we left to a 3 row copper radiator. Temperatures were never a problem even in the hottest of weather.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3889_hud1e7f9faa3385313ee798c6721b913e4_1974871_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3889_hud1e7f9faa3385313ee798c6721b913e4_1974871_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Engine Access\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eEngine Access\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n Take note of that engine access. Foretravel is unique among fiberglass motorhomes for being amazingly accessible. That door is HUGE and it lifts right up with one hand. The fuel and holding tanks can all be slid out. About the most complicated service on this machine is the aquahot which is buried but accessible. The generator is also on a slide out tray.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMoving to the passenger side you can see the first of two large bays. The doors are pantograph doors. They come out a minor amount and swing vertically. This helps more than you\u0026rsquo;d think as when you\u0026rsquo;re setup you don\u0026rsquo;t need to move everything out of the way just to open the door. Also you don\u0026rsquo;t tend to hit yourself on the head with the doors, nor do you need to bend over under the door to access the bay contents as much. Each side of the large bay has what is called a Joey bed. It is an enormous heavy steel tray that slides the entire contents of the bay out for accessibility. Overkill? Perhaps, but it\u0026rsquo;s really cool. \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-right\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3870_hu092fd4a7440c3660dea032436fe3809b_1655376_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3870_hu092fd4a7440c3660dea032436fe3809b_1655376_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Passenger Side Storage\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003ePassenger Side Storage\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n See that box on the storage bed? That is a factory installed Dometic 12v/120v dual powered compressor freezer/fridge. The unit itself costs over $600 new plus the installation cost but when you buy used things like this tend to just be thrown in and not thought much about. It can be run in fridge or freezer mode. We currently use it in freezer mode as the inside fridge is proportionally much larger than the inside freezer. It\u0026rsquo;s interesting that this coach actually has a good bit less bay storage space than other 32\u0026rsquo; Winnebago, How is this possible? Winnebago was VERY clever with the bay storage considering the limitations, and the Foretravel loses space due to larger tanks, tandem axle, more batteries, etc. Ours is particularly interesting as it has a factory installed second water tank. This means it has over 200 gallons of freshwater capacity while having the same sized black/gray tanks. This seems useless to us but we weren\u0026rsquo;t going to argue.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLet\u0026rsquo;s move to the front and driver side. Similar bay and storage situation but you can see the full body paint job. This was done at Foretravel in 2010 to the tune of over $30,000 by the (insane) previous owner. It looks \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c/em\u003e good. It\u0026rsquo;s a big part of the reason we pulled the trigger on this coach versus waiting as the dealer we bought it from was pretty slimy. Here you can see the second storage bay joey bed and our storage management issues thanks to having smaller bay storage. The new motorhome came with a full compliment of accessories the prior owner no longer wanted from tow bars to add a rooms, hoses, pipes, tools tables, chairs, and more. We\u0026rsquo;ve been gradually selling things off to help defray the huge acquisition cost (and repair costs we are now encountering). \n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3878_hu223a4007d19bef313eb412fea7dc3a0c_1710357_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3878_hu223a4007d19bef313eb412fea7dc3a0c_1710357_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Driver Side View\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eDriver Side View\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere are a few other things that are nice but not nice about this coach. It has an aquahot radiant domestic hot water/heat system that runs on diesel fuel and electric. As nice as these are, we hear a lot of reports of repairs and they are super expensive to replace, $7,000 minimum. We use the hot water portion but since our electric is included in the rent, we use the roof mounted a/c\u0026rsquo;s for heat since they include heat pump functionality as well. We\u0026rsquo;re in Florida right now so our heat needs aren\u0026rsquo;t exactly great. It has a Xantrex Prosine 2.5 inverter/charger. This is a really nice unit that has a remote control panel and tells you amp draw. It is a pure sine inverter so appliances with induction motors like fans don\u0026rsquo;t buzz and run right. Unfortunately, it also is quite expensive and has a history peppered with failures.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo that\u0026rsquo;s our new motorhome. The ultra special 42\u0026rsquo; model of a Foretravel U320 graced with excess from all angles. From the 12kw generator to 3 roof a/c\u0026rsquo;s, this motorhome is equipped like many brand new motorhomes but has one magical feature that we sought out but nobody offers. No slides. We didn\u0026rsquo;t want the headache and problems of slides for the \u0026ldquo;fake space\u0026rdquo; that they offer (aka empty space where you can\u0026rsquo;t actually carry anything to put in said space).\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3871_hu47700ba351a52d6581267e9ae4e49b30_1293786_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3871_hu47700ba351a52d6581267e9ae4e49b30_1293786_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Xantrex Prosine 2.5\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eXantrex Prosine 2.5\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3872_hub073ce43dd2479fafd3df86688f0ef30_1274373_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3872_hub073ce43dd2479fafd3df86688f0ef30_1274373_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Fuel and Propane\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eFuel and Propane\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3875_hucea3c6e3ae1d76a8274c60102dd72bad_1407311_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3875_hucea3c6e3ae1d76a8274c60102dd72bad_1407311_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Bose Sound System\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eBose Sound System\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3883_huebe26ebc3decdb1f5457b98b5988a125_1632995_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3883_huebe26ebc3decdb1f5457b98b5988a125_1632995_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Driver Side Joey Bed\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eDriver Side Joey Bed\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3886_hu46f1192ab63d25c883be61cb15343aa1_1430937_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3886_hu46f1192ab63d25c883be61cb15343aa1_1430937_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Water and Sewer Hookups\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eWater and Sewer Hookups\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3894_hud0c62cc671918fb0ec98bfc99a7a5769_2113468_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3894_hud0c62cc671918fb0ec98bfc99a7a5769_2113468_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Fabric Awnings\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003eFabric Awnings\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption caption-left\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"caption-inner\"\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3891_hu614b659bd67f43c2503dc282f006b045_1820755_1280x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003cimg class=\"image-medium\" src=\"https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/our-new-old-rv-exterior/images/IMG_3891_hu614b659bd67f43c2503dc282f006b045_1820755_300x0_resize_q75_box.jpg\" alt=\"Passenger Side Rear\"\u003e\n\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"caption-text\"\u003ePassenger Side Rear\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"clearfix\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n" }, { "title" : "We are alive actually", "date_published" : "2013-12-08T13:39:32-05:00", "date_modified" : "2014-02-28T18:22:51-05:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-are-alive-actually/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-are-alive-actually/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eRewind back to our last post. What happened? We were travelling and the dog and the kid got sick. Waking up every morning to a literal storm of poo combined with the child being hideously deformed enough that we felt that we shouldn\u0026rsquo;t take him out in public (he had something called hand foot and mouth disease) made us decide to call the trip. My mother thought someone beat him up after looking at a picture. Things were really taking their toll on us. When I originally set out to do this, I was planning to travel for 6 months to a year. I had a general route planned. We saved up mostly enough funds to keep the trip going and we had a basically working plan. We made it all the way from PA to yellowstone and while we were having fun and unique moments, the entire thing as a whole had become well.. not fun. We had not preplanned where we were staying in terms of what to see, where we wanted to go, what to do, where to stay, crime rates in areas. The midwest was wholly unfamiliar to us so we felt like we needed to be exceedingly careful about how we went about our trip which in hindsight probably was a bit overblown. The biggest stressor was that we considered this a once in a lifetime opportunity so we didn\u0026rsquo;t want to \u0026ldquo;miss anything\u0026rdquo;. This lead to us literally stressing out over recreational things. Insanity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnother unexpected thing happened. I figured out that driving our motorhome is something that can be described as sitting somewhere between excruciating and hell on earth. When we were out and about it was hot. Super hot. Our air conditioning could not keep up, even running both roof airs as well as the chassis A/C. I was hot and miserable. The highways in the midwest are not great and our motorhome has a horrendous ride. I would be super tired from driving after only 300 miles while in a proper car I can do 1000 before I really can\u0026rsquo;t drive anymore. Driving through the mountains and hitting steep climbs accidentally and getting slowed up to 20mph or worse was incredibly stressful. All of these stressors caused us to fight on top of things. This was all combined with the hidden fact that my significant other really didn\u0026rsquo;t want to do the trip to begin with.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut wait there\u0026rsquo;s more. Preceeding this trip was the requirement that I quit my excellent job. I figured I\u0026rsquo;d kill several lifelong dreams at once by attempting to start my own business doing remote IT work. Listen\u0026hellip; Trying to see the country and start a business are 100% incompatible. Starting a business (versus keeping an established one going) requires 12 hour days, 7 days a week minimum. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar. Anyone who thinks otherwise is lying to themselves. If you are developing a product, you need to work FAST so you are first to market which requires long long hours. If you are trying to be a contractor, you need to be available. You have to be able to fly out at a moment\u0026rsquo;s notice. You have to cold call for hours, network, maintain connections and in general communicate in ways you may not be used to. Most importantly, you have to be focused because the mind can only stretch so far. Seeing new things constantly clouds the mind and really prevents focusing on something like starting a business. On top of this there is a literal buttload of administrative work. Corporate taxes, various filings that need to occur, tracking mileage and expenses, logging hours worked (it\u0026rsquo;s important even for stuff you aren\u0026rsquo;t getting paid for), research of potential issues and more. The idea that I could move once a week and effectively start a company was laughable. It was a mistake. I bit off more than I could chew.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo we made a beeline straight for Florida. Florida is where her family lives and I figured we could regroup, figure out our future, and revisit travelling at a later date. One of the reasons we were so hard up to do everyhting now is because we have one child who is not school aged yet. Unless we home school, we will not be able to go anywhere for 6 months at a time again. Another reason is that entrenching yourself in a company really makes you have to be stationary and that is incompatible with picking up and travelling so the fact that I was starting a company and quitting my job made it seem right. As for our motorhome, we made extensive trips with it and it seemed fine before. Short 1-2 hour trips to the race track were no big deal. Towing an SUV up a mountain in the middle of nowhere where you have no idea what service you\u0026rsquo;d get or even if you have cell phone signal to call someone is an entirely different league.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo what did we learn?\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you are going to take such a trip, do so in a well sorted out diesel pusher with air suspension OR a fifth wheel with a properly equipped powerful tow vehicle. Don\u0026rsquo;t skimp. Don\u0026rsquo;t use the 20 year old ford chassis motorhome, drop a toad behind it and overload it with stuff and think you\u0026rsquo;ll be happy. Even though we didn\u0026rsquo;t overload enough to cause damage we certainly weren\u0026rsquo;t comfortable. And it matters. As of right now we are shopping for and have found a Foretravel motorhome. We have a deposit on it and are completing inspections and hopefully it will be ours soon.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth people need to be honest with themselves about who they are and what they want out of life. If one person wants to take the trip and the other just wants to be around the person, that\u0026rsquo;s a problem. Both people need to want to live the lifestyle and take the trip. In my case my significant other had no trouble living in the RV, but being away from civilization for extended periods was a different story.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eHave your finances straight. Even if you have enough money for the trip, if you are going to be worried about money or your future the whole time you won\u0026rsquo;t have as much fun as you could. If you plan to start a business, move into the RV after selling your house and focus on that FIRST. If you need to be sure your clients will accept that you are remote, just move to an rv park a couple hours away. You\u0026rsquo;ll have time to focus and you can still drive back if there is anything you didn\u0026rsquo;t think about. Some clients just can\u0026rsquo;t deal with or don\u0026rsquo;t get the remote thing.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou will run into problems as a phrase our friends at Technomadia say \u0026ldquo;serendipity\u0026rdquo;. You\u0026rsquo;re going to need to know that word. Things will happen and you\u0026rsquo;ll have to look at the bright side of thing. A positive outlook is required to do a trip like this. If your partner is a negative person, don\u0026rsquo;t bother, it can\u0026rsquo;t work.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreplan the entire trip - as much as possible. Plan what you\u0026rsquo;ll see, where you\u0026rsquo;ll stay, crime rates, which walmarts to stay at and more. Do the best you can to be realistic so you don\u0026rsquo;t have to change the plan. If you can\u0026rsquo;t manage to plan the trip before it becomes time to take the trip while you\u0026rsquo;re not travelling, what makes you think you\u0026rsquo;ll be able to do it when you are FAR BUSIER because you are seeing sights? It\u0026rsquo;s actually much harder to sit down and spend hours on this stuff AFTER you think you\u0026rsquo;ll have more time available.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat did we do right?\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany many people end the dream because they run out of money. We saved enough that although money was a worry of mine, we were never in danger of actually running out. More my concern was striking the market I\u0026rsquo;m in while the iron is hot. If my business ideas are going to fail, I\u0026rsquo;d rather know sooner than later so I can begin attempting to get remote contracting jobs and keep my skills fresh. Once I have regular work and income, that is an easier thing to maintain on the road. But we had enough money.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur RV was well prepared. We broke down, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to replace the known issue fuel pump in our motorhome before we left just for fun. Perhaps I could have bought a spare and kept it on hand. That might have been smart. But before we left we replaced the cooling system, tires and other consumables. We resealed the roof and in general tried to help improve our chances of not breaking down. It paid off we think,\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe had a tow vehicle. As much as I love 5th wheels I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine the situation if my tow vehicle broke down 100 miles from the nearest cell phone signal in the mountains of Indian country. A motorhome and toad are the way to go. The only way I would do 5th wheel is if I had a motorcycle hanging off the back.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe had a dish network dish on a tripod with a DVR. We used to download our TV over hte internet. This can\u0026rsquo;t work. Dish DvR worked flawlessly. Trying to use an antenna mounted to the roof wouldn\u0026rsquo;t work well. The tripod and a long cable allowed us to get signal in all cases even when there were obstacles to aim around. It eventually got easy. Our $150 tripod setup afforded us the same channels a $1300 automatic unit did. We\u0026rsquo;re still proud of our TV choice.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eInternet. Your BEST internet bet is served by a TP-Link TL-WA5210G to connect to a long distance signal as well as a millenicom hotspot plan with 20GB. We are heavy users and though we had to tone it down a bit, we got by. We were never longing for internet. When we did get wifi we were able to make big downloads. When we didn\u0026rsquo;t the verizon 4G of the hotspot plan was brutally fast. Faster than most wifi hotsposts.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe brought the right things. Very little of the various tools and accessories we brought were not used. Very few times did we find that we needed something we packed into storage. There were instances but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t bad.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe left at the right time. We hit yellowstone during the summer which is important unless you want to play in the snow.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach of the above items warrants it\u0026rsquo;s own post which I will work towards in the future. But it should suffice to say that attempting an endeavor like this is full of trials, tribulations and amazing memories. Looking back we can identify our favorite moments and places and after months of being settled we\u0026rsquo;re eager to take off again after making the fixes we need.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Moving Fast - For an RV", "date_published" : "2013-09-14T10:18:59-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-02-28T18:21:27-05:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-fast-rv/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/moving-fast-rv/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eIn case you haven\u0026rsquo;t noticed I haven\u0026rsquo;t had a lot of time to update the site lately.\u0026nbsp; The reason is because we decided in Yellowstone to head straight to Florida (we have family in Florida).\u0026nbsp; There were various reasons that I won\u0026rsquo;t get into much but we have been driving 300 miles or so every other day including today.\u0026nbsp; So if you\u0026rsquo;re sitting at work and bored, check out the roll with us page.\u0026nbsp; There\u0026rsquo;s a good chance we\u0026rsquo;ll be driving though we only have 2 driving days left before we sit for a while.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; I got the problems with the front camera worked out and it all works out to cheap chinese components.\u0026nbsp; I use CCTV to siamese CAT5 baluns so that there is only a single cable entering through the roof and those baluns are pretty crappy.\u0026nbsp; I had to resolder the factory solder job on 2 of them and they had various other build issues.\u0026nbsp; The other issue I had was with the $15 ebay DVR card.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; We\u0026rsquo;re now using my much older 16 channel card and the quality and reliability is a whole lot better.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Once we get settled I\u0026rsquo;ll start posting back updates for reviews and other stuff.\u0026nbsp; There\u0026rsquo;s a lot to say about our experiences.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Campground Wifi is Not Created Equal", "date_published" : "2013-09-05T15:06:29-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-02-28T18:23:24-05:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/campground-wifi-not-created-equal/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/campground-wifi-not-created-equal/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eOne of the more interesting things I\u0026rsquo;ve learned as an IT worker is that a lot more of my bandwidth is consumed by the basics than I thought. The basics are things like a OSX Mavericks developer preview updates weighing in a 1GB each. There\u0026rsquo;s been 7 so far. I have some weird neurosis that requires me to keep my systems up to date. I have 4 physical machines in our rv, 2 android tablets, iphones, etc and all of those devices have their own hefty updates to install. So I will allow a couple of weeks to go by but eventually I have to find a campground with good wifi. We\u0026rsquo;ve found that most larger campgrounds have a heavily managed infrastructure. They are typically tengo internet or some variant. Usually bandwidth is limited to 1Mbps which after playing the game with a Verizon LTE mifi is painful. The worst part is that the arbitrary 1Mbit limitation is usually done poorly so when one application is saturating the connection downloading updates, trying to do anything else simply doesn\u0026rsquo;t work. On a Tengo internet connection individual packets are processed but delayed. If you run a ping session you\u0026rsquo;ll start seeing 10 second latency on packets. Total nightmare.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSomewhat unexpectedly what we found is that smaller campgrounds with basic unmanaged wifi are amazing. When we stayed at White River campground in Cicero, IN we found that they had a 30mbit business cable connection in their office on a standard wifi access point. Sure nobody can use it normally but point a high powered WISP antenna at it and the precious nectar of bandwidth is at your beck and call. Another campground we recently were at is Shady Grove Wifi Campground (yes they put wifi in the name). This place does not get very good reviews. It\u0026rsquo;s in some dude\u0026rsquo;s back yard but there is a place to walk, it\u0026rsquo;s completely empty, the owner is super friendly, the utilities work and the internet? A relatively unmanaged 6mbps.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThen there was Red Barn Rendevous in Edwardsville, IL. Their wifi signal was very strong but was backed by a Ku band Hugesnet system. We were warned against doing basically anything and our mifi was substantially faster even after considering the satellite latency. It also ceased to function very often. Before we started travelling I was heavily considering a satellite internet connection but IMHO this is a waste of time. Simply choose to stay in Verizon coverage area and all will be fine.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe other campgrounds we review will mention wifi and bandwidth. You can use our experience as a guide if you need to have fast internet always available. We don\u0026rsquo;t because of the mifi but every 2-3 weeks we do need to connect to make big downloads. Additionally we will talk about all of the wifi tech we\u0026rsquo;ve acquired and knowledge. For someone like me, establishing a long range wifi link is interesting and fun. My record so far is 2.5 miles (according to google maps).\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Cameras Better - Maybe", "date_published" : "2013-08-26T02:46:31-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-02-28T18:24:14-05:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/cameras-better-maybe/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/cameras-better-maybe/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eI try to never proclaim anything anymore, but I think the problems with the cameras are solved. Today we are underway to head to Yellowstone. Some thorough troubleshooting during this hot week in Hardin, MT has lead me to the conclusion that the problems we have been having are not in fact the cameras themselves but the $16 ebay DVR card I was using. Luckily our NAS box also had a DVR card in it that we used to use in our sticks and bricks home. I moved it over and found that the driver hasn\u0026rsquo;t been updated since the Linux kernel 2.6 days (kernel version is at 3.10 now). The DVR box has Fedora 19 on it and I took a kernel from Fedora 17 and I am freaking shocked that it works ;) Booted right up, no issues and now the TW68 driver compiles and runs without panicking. A nice side benefit is that the images are higher resolution and clearer because this is a better card. It seems like the simplest of things to provide a real time live feed from a moving vehicle but what a headache!\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Missouri Routes are Letters", "date_published" : "2013-08-21T10:00:00-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T02:22:22-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/missouri-routes-are-letters/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/missouri-routes-are-letters/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eThis is something that I've never seen before.\u0026nbsp; Apparently in Missouri most (all?) of their state routes are actually letters instead of numbers.\u0026nbsp; Either a single letter or a double letter but I didn't decode the meaning.\u0026nbsp; I'm not sure what the rationale is, I would think numbers would be easier especially since there might be illiterate people out there driving around.\u0026nbsp; I just thought it was strange.\u0026nbsp; [caption align=left caption=\"Missouri Letter Routes\"]\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"http://www.geekynomads.com/sites/default/files/styles/cblarge/public/IMG_2668.jpg?itok=IsRss0gp\" rel=\"gallery-all\" title=\"Missouri Letter Routes\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Missouri Letter Routes\" class=\"image-medium\" src=\"http://www.geekynomads.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/IMG_2668.jpg?itok=MM7x4aVx\" title=\"Missouri Letter Routes\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[/caption]\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "Fix Or Repair Daily", "date_published" : "2013-08-20T16:25:37-04:00", "date_modified" : "2013-08-29T01:32:02-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/fix-or-repair-daily/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/fix-or-repair-daily/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eIf you had to break down where would you choose to break down?\u0026nbsp; Perhaps near an inexpensive well stocked city with cheap pull through sites.\u0026nbsp; Our rig broke down just after climbing a mountain in Lame Deer, MT.\u0026nbsp; Deep in the heart of what appeared to be Native American sovereign lands.\u0026nbsp; You had to drive 60-100 miles in any direction in order to get cell phone service.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis all started many hours before the actual breakdown.\u0026nbsp; About 1 hour into our trip I felt like the rig was slow.\u0026nbsp; I had to depress the throttle much more than I thought I normally had to and it was to the point where that I actually even pulled over and checked that our tow vehicle was properly setup and not dragging us.\u0026nbsp; For the rest of the way the power would come and go.\u0026nbsp; Sometimes it felt like we were dog slow and other times it felt normal and fully powered.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; It may have actually started well before this because we've had a check engine light for about 400 miles for \"HEGO lean Bank 1 Sensor 1\".\u0026nbsp; This is actually rather telling but I ignored it because in our rig the single o2 sensor is only used in coasting (ours is an OBDI system) so I didn't put two and two together.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe engine basically died after cresting a mountain.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; It was stumbling around and you could get some power.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Me being the smart guy that I am stuck it in neutral and it promptly died completely.\u0026nbsp; Since it's an automatic trans, putting it back into gear did nothing and we were completely dead.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Power steering and braking was gone and we were flying down a mountain going faster and faster.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; In all my past vehicles as a teenager I would do experiments under controlled conditions to see how the vehicle was without power steering or brakes but I never thought to try this with the motorhome.\u0026nbsp; I'm happy to say that it was controllable but BARELY.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Steering effort is huge and I had to stand on the brakes to get normal stopping power.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; We eventually came to a stop in the area where you are supposed to take off your tire chains at the bottom of the mountain.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI instinctively thought the problem was fuel pump so I had my darling crank the engine while I got out and under the rv and listened to the fuel pump.\u0026nbsp; Indeed it was making unhealthy noises.\u0026nbsp; The ignition module on the distributor can go on these but there is no stumbling involved when that happens, it either is running or is toast.\u0026nbsp; We waited like half hour to 45 minutes and tried to run it.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; It would run for 5 seconds or so and die.\u0026nbsp; I figured the situation was hopeless so we went through the ritual of unhooking the tow vehicle and went into Lame Deer to a gas station and used their phone to call Good Sam roadside assistance.\u0026nbsp; When I asked to use a pay phone, the nearly toothless 20ish year old female attendant simply pointed at a pay phone behind me.\u0026nbsp; For the next agonizing hour random Native Americans came into the store giving me varied looks that made me seriously ponder what was going through their heads.\u0026nbsp; While on hold I stared impatiently at the papers hung on the wall detailing individuals banned from the store marvelling at the names on there like \"Maria Littlefoot\" and \"Greg Strongbuffalo\".\u0026nbsp; Even after this agonizing hour was up Good Sam still hadn't located even one person to tow me and couldn't guarantee anyone was coming, leaving me considering switching ERS providers.\u0026nbsp; We left and drove back to our motorhome.\u0026nbsp; Of course the motorhome generator died while we were gone but our pets were still alive and it barely heated up much at all inside.\u0026nbsp; I spent the next half hour fixing the generator which involved cleaning the carbon off the plugs and then adjusting the altitude setting properly and then went inside and tried to start the rv.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTo my surprise it actually ran.\u0026nbsp; I spent the next 15 minutes backing up and pulling forward in the pullover lane like weirdos trying to kill it again and it wouldn't die so we made the decision to push on towards Billings.\u0026nbsp; At the first sign of civilization (and cell phone service) we called Good Sam to cancel and were surprised to find an rv park that actually answered their phone.\u0026nbsp; So here we are to stay.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe've had an unblemished record of colossal screwups by \"professional service facilities\" repairing our rv (including body damage from backing into random objects) so after pondering the situation, reading forum posts, and hanging out under the rv in my \"garage clothes\" I decided I can do the job.\u0026nbsp; Our RV park host graciously agreed to let us do the work on site and even offered a site that accomodated the drop to the rear that makes dropping the tank easier.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; So we have a fuel pump on order and will be going to Billings to pick up a Harbor Freight racing jack which will help us lower the tank.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe tank is huge, nearly as long as I am tall, holding 75 gallons of gas.\u0026nbsp; The replacement process involves actually crawling up onto the tank to do the repair.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCrossing my fingers I succeed.\u003c/p\u003e\n" }, { "title" : "We Slept at a Rest Stop", "date_published" : "2013-08-13T10:02:44-04:00", "date_modified" : "2014-10-21T03:02:10-04:00", "id" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-slept-rest-stop/", "url" : "https://www.geekynomads.com/blog/we-slept-rest-stop/", "author" : { "name" : "mark" }, "content_html" : "\u003cp\u003eWe slept at a rest stop and apparently lived to tell the tale.\u0026nbsp; No axe murderers and no sex criminals were detected (Big Bang Theory anyone?).\u0026nbsp; After a day of biting off a bit more than we could chew, we never made it to our destination.\u0026nbsp; Perhaps it was the epic argument that a careful observer might have witnessed on the live feed or problem with our toad but we burned off many hours on nothing and didn't get our driving done.\u0026nbsp; Last night after we crossed another time zone line and the clocks turned yet again to 9:30pm I couldn't help but to think that I was tired enough to say forget it. \u0026nbsp;[caption align=right caption=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\"]\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"http://www.geekynomads.com/sites/default/files/styles/cblarge/public/sd_rest_1.jpg?itok=PuITDeBT\" rel=\"gallery-all\" title=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\" class=\"image-medium\" src=\"http://www.geekynomads.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/sd_rest_1.jpg?itok=ssILh3wm\" title=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[/caption]\u003cbr /\u003e\nThe rest stop is actually not too bad once you get used to the noise.\u0026nbsp; All the trucks shut down their APU's after a certain amount of time and it gets genuinely quiet for 6+ hours.\u0026nbsp; We've been getting into the habit of not running the generator and air conditioners all night because it's pretty wasteful.\u0026nbsp; We had become very dependent on the white noise to sleep.\u0026nbsp; Instead we use a small inverter and fan, a fantastic fan and our coach batteries handle this without issue (now that the chassis alternator charges them)The problem with the toad was that we found the battery dead.\u0026nbsp; In a lot of vehicles you can just plug in the brake buddy and turn the key to ACC to unlock the steering wheel and you're good to go.\u0026nbsp; In our car, ACC lights up the dash like a christmas tree.\u0026nbsp; Navigation is on, as is the enter climate control system.\u0026nbsp; After 1.5 days of driving this completely drained the battery.\u0026nbsp; To resolve this issue we unhooked the car and pushed it beside the rv to jumpstart it and then left it idling as we pulled it for a couple of hours.\u0026nbsp; I also did an emergency conversion of our electric trailer brake system to toad battery charging system. We used to pull a trailer and so we have installed a nice proportional electric brake controller, complete with 12 gauge wire running back to power the trailer brakes.\u0026nbsp; Our 7 way connector however did NOT have the 12v battery line connected much to my dismay.\u0026nbsp; This line would be used to charge/maintain a battery in a trailer and in our case with a small adapter it would be used to keep the toad battery charged.\u0026nbsp; Since it's not hooked up I abandoned plans to run the battery maintainer and just hope for the best.\u0026nbsp; This obviously didn't work, so I jumped the electric brake line directly to the battery and moved the charge controller to draw on the electric brake terminal vs the 12v power terminal.\u0026nbsp; It works but the voltage is still pretty low.\u0026nbsp; It will also thoroughly destroy a trailer with electric brakes if it is hooked up so it's a situation that must be resolved. \u0026nbsp;[caption align=left caption=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\"]\u003ca class=\"colorbox colorbox-insert-image\" href=\"http://www.geekynomads.com/sites/default/files/styles/cblarge/public/sd_rest_2.jpg?itok=00wpO6H_\" rel=\"gallery-all\" title=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\" class=\"image-medium\" src=\"http://www.geekynomads.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/sd_rest_2.jpg?itok=vleCHBb5\" title=\"South Dakota I90 Rest Area 1\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[/caption]\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe reasons for the epic argument are personal but it is sufficient to say that even when you are supposed to be having fun and travelling stress can still get the best of you.\u0026nbsp; Expose two insanely stubborn individuals to that and that's what happens.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so we move on...\u003c/p\u003e\n" } ] }