Here’s a long overdue shout out to the fine folks at EagleSat. This small family-owned business in Longmont, CO serviced our MotoSat satellite internet system the last time we had problems. Which was apparently not the last time.

At the time we had trouble locking on to our Satellite, with frequent motor stall errors. My usual multiple calls to MotoSat for support, and their routine responses about upgrading firmware, resulted in determination that a shop repair was necessary.

We weren’t about to return to Salt Lake City again, and pickings were slim for mobile internet experts in Wellington, CO. Our choices were an upholstery shop that sold MotoSat systems in nearby Fort Collins, or driving a couple hours to EagleSat. We opted for the latter and were glad we did.

One phone call to Frank, and we had an appointment scheduled and parts on the way. The next week we spent a day with he and his son Adam working on our rig, and we were home before dark. They cleaned up our entire system, replaced all the motors, and yes, even upgraded the D3 firmware.

So here we sit now, waiting for another elevation motor set to arrive. As soon as we set up here on the slabs, the dish wouldn’t budge. After troubleshooting all I could, the first person I called was Adam. He was polite, generous with his time, and helped me determine that both our elevation motor was shot, and I could do the repair myself. All I had to do was call MotoSat for the part. Oh that, and find an address for shipping.

Solar Mike was kind enough to let us ship our parts to him. I’d be on the roof reassembling everything right now if MotoSat hadn’t left a message saying the part is on back order and it may ship out next week. At least they were kind enough to call and let me know! In fact, Matt was the nicest tech I’ve dealt with at MotoSat in a long time. Maybe he hasn’t been there long enough to develop the characteristic arrogance and impatience I have encountered in the past.

But there I go digressing once again. It’s just a good thing we now have our MiFi for internet service redundancy! I could think of worse places than Slab City, USA to be waiting on parts. Ones that cost money for instance. But if I run into any challenges putting our F2 mount back together, I know who I’ll be calling …

EagleSat is a satellite communications company specializing in remote site connectivity and network interoperability. They offer premium mobile satellite solutions for commercial use and the recreational consumer (Motor Coaches and RV’s). EagleSat offers a full-line of mobile satellite systems for Internet access (voice and data) and/or television reception. And they know their stuff – there is a reason they service MotoSat systems, but not sell them!

Our rig has been parked on the streets of L.A. for the last few weeks, while we catch up on the chisme with family and friends. Life here is as hectic and noisy as it gets, and every day Jim and I are reminded of why we chose to leave urban living behind.

We started 2009 with one goal; find Jerry’s Acres. Seven months into it, we did. Our Colorado retreat now sits underneath several feet of snow, waiting for our return.

With that behind us, we’re getting the other big part of our life in order, namely, making a real income again.

Our defnition of “real income” is different from most people’s. While we would love to be able to spend money on the finer things in life (like picking up a $20 bottle of wine instead of our old standard, Two Buck Chuck), we also aren’t willing to surrender our freedom in order to do so. My very short gig at Satan’s Castle was a good reminder about that.

People wonder, what do we do. How do we make any money? Well, we don’t do any one particular thing anymore. We don’t want to have one business again. And we don’t want to rely on one job to bring in money. We believe that putting all of your eggs in one basket is risky business, much moreso than varying your skills and finding multiple ways to generate income.

For us now, tiny bits of money trickle in from various web-based outlets that utilize our technical, design and writing skills. In 2010, we’ll work on building up our income revenue streams in these areas.

The money is iffy, the hours are long and uncertainty always looms over our heads, but we are much happier than we ever were in our previous lives. While we are still officially in the red and dipping into savings, I know that 2010 will be the year we are back in black, finally. It would be great if we could actually contribute to our retirement accounts once more. When that happens, I’ll know that we’ve truly been successful these last two and a half years.

On that note, I’ll say “Adios!” to 2009, and give 2010 a great big welcome. May this year bring the prosperity, joy and peace that we all need more of in our lives.

And many thanks to all of you for being a part of our world. Life would be pretty boring without you!

Regular readers may remember that Jim and I aren’t exactly big gearheads. With our frugal lifestyle and relatively non-existent income right now, we must carefully choose the gear we need, to get the most out of our budget. And we understand that there’s a difference between being cheap, and being frugal. Buying cheap gear is always more expensive in the long run.

Take for example, this North Face jacket I’m wearing during our stay at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado. The jacket has served me well for the last 8 years, but lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time for a replacement. This one was cutting edge at the time, but by today’s standard it’s bulky, heavy, and army green isn’t exactly the most flattering color. It’s also overkill for our winter travel adventures in the temperate southwest and should probably be left at our Colorado home base.

Coincidentally, I was introduced to The North Face Resolve jacket today, through Webtogs, an online retailer specializing in quality outdoor gear.

The North Face Resolve jacket features include:

• seam sealed, waterproof, breathable fabric
• soft, lined collar
• stow-away hood
• mesh-knit liner
• storm baffle front zipper with double front closure
• big pockets on both sides
• athletic cut with a drawstring cord for tailored fit

As you might be able to see in the photo, I’m a walking billboard for North Face gear. My boots and jacket are North Face and so are the base layers I wear. Their products last forever and hold up beautifully, making them a frugal RVer’s dream.

The North Face Resolve jacket looks compact enough to fit in our tiny RV wardrobe closet, yet sturdy enough to give me the protection I need from the spring rains in Texas.

With Christmas around the corner, I think it’s time for an upgrade, don’t you?

Now that we’re getting a new iPod, maybe I can convince René we need an iPhone! Just check out this amazing new iPhone app that lets you easily find any satellite…

This next generation satellite finder is straight out of Star Trek! What will they think of next? Simply point your iPhone anywhere towards the sky and all the satellites will appear on the live video screen. Kinda surreal and freaky, if you ask me.

The best part? Again, if you ask me … Now you can easily tell which trees will block which satellite. That’s a good enough reason for me to buy a new iPhone! Sure, like that’s gonna happen.

This new DishPointer Augmented Reality application uses the accelerometer and the compass of the new iPhone 3GS. The compass apparently has a bit of a lag, so when spinning the phone right or left the satellite belt is shifted with a slight delay but up and down works in real time.

Of course, I would have first hand experience with this if I had an iPhone. I only know because Alan let us know about this and other cool satellite iPhone apps he’s been working on over at dishpointer.com. My first post about his DishPointer satellite alignment widget has been one of our most popular posts here, so I just had to share this new cool tool!

Here’s another one of those “luxury” purchase decisions that make one contemplate that old want vs. need dilemma.

In reality, we want a new iPod because the refurbished one we bought over two years ago no longer works. But we believe we need one because traveling cross country can drive one batty when forced to consistently fuss with the radio dial only to find the same static, classic rock, and religion. And two batty people can only take being trapped in a truck for hours a day with Eddie Money and Styx for so long.

So, we are getting a new new Apple iPod Classic 120GB MP3 Player from Best Buy. Why an iPod? Why New? Why BestBuy.com? Why Now?

To answer the latter first: Because I discovered Best Buy is having this Fall 2-Day Sale, Sunday – Monday, Online Only (Valid 9/27-9/28), and offering Free Shipping on All New iPod® Players (Valid 9/20-10/3).

And the former is easily answered not only because I am a Mac Addict, but I did my homework. I had no idea  iPods even came with such great capacity now, so we need not be selective now about which music we add. And I am still upset over the short lifespan of our refurb – the one we originally had to return for another unit. The same one in which I replaced the battery without improving it’s playtime. But there I go digressing again. I also I discovered certain lesser capacity third-party MP3 players cost even more than the Apple iPod. That, and because we don’t need an iTouch.

It was always apparent that we didn’t get rid of enough stuff when we left Eureka in June 2007. Our $250 a month storage bill said it all.

When we hit the road, we hired a moving company to store our stuff, thinking that someday we would be willing to pay to ship it to us, wherever we landed. But until the moving company actually put it all in their warehouse, we had no idea how much our storage bill would be. By the time we learned what the damage was, it was too late.

The Horrors of Excess

While in storage, our stuff took up five crates at 4′ x 7′ x 7, for a grand total of 980 cubic feet. Once we closed escrow on our house and saw what our finances looked like, that there was no way we were going to shell out the $5k the moving company wanted to deliver our stuff, so we opted to go get it ourselves.

The only problem was that I never actually saw how much space our junk took up, until we landed in Eureka for just one stealth night in August. When we arrived at the moving company’s warehouse with our 26′ moving truck, our jaws dropped.

A massive amount of boxes were stacked  and waiting. At first, the two movers we hired to help load weren’t even sure if it would all fit. As they started loading, I began making piles of stuff that we would ditch if it didn’t.

I wanted to cry. All this time I thought that we had really downsized. Who was I kidding?! The excessive boxes of clothes, kitchen stuff, and knicknacks, was unreal. I kicked myself up and down the parking lot, cursing at our naivety in thinking we had gotten rid of all but our essentials.

Eventually, the movers made it all fit. We left Eureka in less than 24 hours, and lugged it back to Colorado.

Note to Self: Lesson Learned

Two years ago, I thought we were keeping only the essentials. But I’m not the same person I was then. The road has taught me that I don’t need much to have an enjoyable life. I don’t need eight pairs of jeans, or three different sets of dinner plates to feel complete.

Sure, it’s nice to have some of my favorite things back under our roof, like my card making stuff and my bread machine. But when it comes down to it, I’ll take the incredible journeys we’ve had over all of our material possessions any day.

Fort Collins is great because it’s a small town with big city amenities, especially when it comes to food. With three farmer’s markets, and plenty of natural foods stores, including Whole Foods (aka “Whole Paycheck”), I haven’t experienced the gourmet foods deprivation I’ve felt in other small towns.

But too much of a good thing is wreaking havoc on our budget. Yesterday I went into Whole Foods chanting the usual mantra “I just need a few things.” All I wanted was some produce, some bulk foods, and good lunch meat for Jim. Two bags and $56 later, I walked out while shoving the receipt in my wallet without giving it a second glance.

To my horror, today while going over the receipt, I discovered that those tasty organic “essentials” included a small bag of bok choi that cost $5.10, and two apples at $1.56!

In preparation for our upcoming home purchase, I’m freaking out about money. We’ve been kind of careless about our food bill since escaping the grind of homeownership two years ago. So today Jim and I discussed things we can nix from our spending habits to make life a little less expensive.

At the top of our list of things to avoid is Whole Foods. Unless we want to go broke before we settle into the new digs and get another business off the ground, we won’t be setting foot in that upscale foody store again.

Too bad there isn’t a Trader Joe’s here!

We got our home inspection report back and among all of the other things we know need to be fixed, it pointed out that the house is sitting on a poorly constructed foundation.

Jim isn’t as concerned as I am, he’s confident the house is still a good investment.  Me, on the other hand…I”m freaking out. We’re getting estimates on the repairs now.

Today I was just about ready to back out of the deal. Foundation work is expensive. We had to put a foundation under our last house, and it cost in the neighborhood of around $25k.

But then we talked to our realtors. They wanted to help us feel better about our decision (whether we went forward or not), so they helped us come up with a negotiating tactic that might lower the cost. Whether or not the bank will go for our demand is anyone’s guess.

Meanwhile, our realtors dropped everything to spend the entire day with us, and showed us a dozen other properties in our price range. Every single one was a dump, none were as cool as our current one. After seeing the junk we could get with our money, I did feel a little better about the scary foundation report.

At least there aren’t any earthquakes here, right?

In Colorado, it’s easy to find biodiesel distributors in major cities along the Front Range. We recently fueled up in Fort Collins, and were pleased to find that the cost of biodiesel was more reasonable than ever. It was about nine cents higher per gallon than regular diesel, but not as bad as the last time we went looking for it.

But my joy at the cheap price quickly disappeared a few days later, when I read the latest news about the biodiesel industry’s assault on the rain forest and orangutans. As oil prices rise, the industry is  accelerating rain forest destruction, just to grow the palm trees needed to produce this alternative to oil. Manufactured biodiesel is now as morally corrupt as anything big oil manufactures, if not worse.

I used to be a real believer in biodiesel. But these recent relevations are just so depressing. From now on, we’ll only be purchasing biodiesel if it’s made from 100 percent waste oil, or we’re making it ourselves.

What are we thinking?

When we left our stick home behind over two years ago in search of the next big thing, we had dreams of homesteading on one of those affordable 35-acre Colorado ranch parcels we kept seeing in the United Country magazine. Now we know most of those are in wide open flatland or covenanted communities that don’t want our type.

At some point we re-focused our search on smaller lots in more accessible subdivisions. Maintained roads are a good thing, and you can still be surrounded by vacant land, or at least situated so it feels like it. But a fixer-upper?!? We never thought twice about the idea. Been there. Done that. In a big way.

But then a realtor showed us an unfinished new home in the Rosita Hills of Westcliff – very unfinished, but a doable project. Small lot, secluded feeling, beautiful views, and someone else’s nightmare.

Later we discovered the most awesome piece of land in Badger Creek area of South Park County, CO. Much farther out there, way off the grid. And a much bigger nightmare.

This old earthen “home” from the seventies has an unpermitted septic, some ancient looking well equipment, and trash strewn everywhere.

But it does have a lot of awesome terrain and a Quansut hut we could insulate for storage. Yeah, right. The views weren’t that great.

The solar power system in our trailer is more robust than the makeshift one installed at this place 30+ years ago! And upon our second visit, we realized this property had become a dumping ground after two old RVs mysteriously appeared, both without license plates.

Then we saw this cute little Indian Mountain cabin on one acre with the awesome garage, big deck and snow capped views. It had everything we needed. Everything that is except a Certificate of Occupancy. After our offer was accepted we found out why this place seemed to good to be true. It was.

A trip to the Park County Building Department revealed an insane amount of work, back fees, and red tape required if we ever wanted the property to appreciate in value. I mean really, why would any property owner put so much work into something the bank owned, and not do it legitimately or up to code? But I digress. We ran from that deal. Fast.

Then there is the house going up for auction on two acres and a cistern. Again, everything we need, except a well, easy trailer access, and that “This is it!” feeling. While we understand we must bend somewhere with our extensive property criteria list, we’re not about to settle.

We are thinking smart.

The whole fixer upper thing idea just makes sense. If we can find that perfect place which meets our immediate needs and offers projects we can take on over the years. After all, we already have our own home. We just need a place to park, a place to dump and an insulated place to store some stuff. Water and power would be nice too.

For the same amount of money, we could develop raw land and end up with only a garage. And that’s  still an option. But when you factor in effort and equity, a project house is just smart thinking.

As long as the home we find doesn’t have serious structural damage, we can manage. Unlike this ultimate nightmare we saw. A tragedy really. Which could have been avoided with proper engineering, I’m sure. Call it a lesson in cutting corners …

We didn’t even think of considering the condemned show home in Glacier View. Even if it was brand new and half price.

This beautiful log cabin has overstressed structural members and rafters that no longer bear on the ridge beam – the ridge beam that is held in place with come-alongs. The beam that is out of plumb with the log post below. Not to mention the basement beam that is missing a center support post.

What are we thinking? We are thinking that perfect project place is out there. Somewhere. And we’re thinking that somewhere is here near Fort Collins, CO – one of the top ten places to buy in the nation. So we’re thinking we’ll just be hanging out here until we find it, or until it starts getting cold again.