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.
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.
I always knew that our stuff took up five crates at 4′ x 7′ x 7, for a grand total of 980 cubic feet, but i never actually saw how much space that takes up until we landed in Eureka for just one night, to get our stuff into our moving truck.
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.
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.
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.
I was bad last month and forgot to post our road trip expenditures, so here’s two months worth, April and May, check our a PDF of our RV Road Trip Expenses for April and May 2009.
Some of our biggest expenses in those months weren’t really suprises, just the unpleasant realities of what it costs to maintain a fulltime RVing rig, such as $823 to repack the trailer wheel bearings, four new tires, a water heater repair and $111 on truck maintenance.
April also included paying taxes and our CPA, and $200 to join Escapees. Our phone bill went up, because we dropped our Virgin Mobile account after getting sick of their poor coverage in rural areas. Now we have Verizon, which gives us better service, but at a higher cost. Finally, all of these expenses seemed to have led heavy drinking because we overspent on booze again!
With these hefty spending months behind us, we’re hoping for some low budget months ahead. The plan is to find some land, get our remaining stuff out of storage in CA and bring it to Colorado, and then camp for “free” on our own property until the snow files.
I called that first NüRVers Rally Review “part one” because nearly everyone who attended moved on to Landa RV Park in New Braunfels and they talked us to joining them. We ended up staying a month.
Needless to say, there were quite few more get-togethers with the Nü Crew. But thankfully, not nearly as debaucherous.
Landa was the first RV Park where we ever stayed a full month. And when the month was over, we were definitely ready to go. Don’t get me wrong, the company of fellow NüRVers was great, and the price was right. But you get what you pay for at Landa.
A month paid for in advance at Landa RV Park only cost you $225. I’ll do the math for you. That’s $7.50 per night, for full hookups. Utilities are not included, but we only paid another $50 and were comfortable running our heater and air conditioner plenty. More math averages out to about $9.17 per night for our full month in New Braunfels.
That’s cheap! Especially considering we could float down the Comal river from our doorstep and walk to nearby bars, restaurants and stores in old town, including the oldest bakery in Texas.
But stay longer than an hour or two at Landa and you find out why its so cheap. The train. Or trains, rather. Loud ones, that rumble right through the park. Many times a day.
We left nearly a month ago and I still hear them in my sleep. I fear our stay may have killed the romance of a distant train whistle for me, for good. But I am digressing.
If you’re hanging out with NüRVers, it’s a good thing you’re staying somewhere cheap. Because you’ll end up spending money on other things, like good food and alchohol. Once again, a good time was had by all, and we look forward to another fun gathering some time down the road. Just not at Landa.
Ever since we got our rig, we’ve been fortunate to have a wealth of information at our displosal. I’m not talking about the obligatory gaggle of retired full-timers who gather any time you attempt to back up your rig. I’m referring to our rig’s solar power system.
My brother in law Rich O’Connell is a brilliant electrical engineer. He has grown a successful solar business with my sister, built his own off-grid home, designed multi-gigawatt systems, and patented a solar panel washing system. He also designed the RV power system we rely on for boondocking.
Recently, I got to meet another expert; Solar Mike. He operates The Sun Works from his solar powered rigs on the slabs. Mike knows the DC side of the business and how to get the absolute most out of what you got.
That’s why I was happy to be at Slab City when we considered upgrading our system. I had access to experts from extreme ends of the solar industry. Either one of them could have easily told me I had a bad battery. Which I would have known, and could have avoided, had I been servicing my batteries as they required.
It just didn’t seem like we were getting the run time out of our batteries that we expected. Loving to boondock as much as we do, we explained our issue to Mike and asked him for an estimate for upgrading the system. He immediately discovered one of our batteries was weak, and pointed out how dry it was. Bone dry.
I might have kicked my feet and mumbled a bit, but – don’t tell Rene – I still think it was worth the $95 we spent on two new batteries to have not been pulling them out and checking them every month for the past year. Truth is, we just forgot.
Yup, our upgrade cost us less than a hundred bucks. And it was so cheap because Mike took our good battery as a trade-in. The ones he carried were a bit better, and I wanted a matching pair. Not bad since we were considering spending over a grand on couple new panels.
Had we spent the $4000+ on the original system design Rich gave us, we might have never even had this discussion. But having worked this over with Mike, I now know where in our 24′ trailer we can fit six maintenance free 6 volt batteries – much better suited for our use than the two 12 volts we have.
And having done it a couple times now, I know it’s not such a big deal to pull our batteries and check on them. We even carry some distilled water now so we have it when needed.
I also know now that an MPPT charge controller is where we’ll invest our dollars the next time we complain about our system. That’s one thing Rich and Mike both agreed on – that any Maximum Point Power Tracking charge controller will boost performance performance of our PV array. Then we can start talking about boosting the battery bank and adding panels again.
When we will make that investment is the $3000 question. But that all depends on where we’re going to be purchasing property come Spring, and whether we will need to upgrade what we have or build a larger off-grid system in a shed or trailer. And we’re not even sure where we’ll be next month.
Here’s another one of those “luxury” purchase decisions that make one contemplate that old want vs. need dilemma.
Yup, our upgrade cost us less than a hundred bucks. And it was so cheap because Mike took our good battery as a trade-in. The ones he carried were a bit better, and I wanted a matching pair. Not bad since we were considering spending over a grand on couple new panels.
Entries (RSS)
