RV Fridge Vent. Internet! 6v.Batteries. Outside Sink. 4-Bike Rack. Generators. Daniel Boone. Motorola Radio. Shannon Lucid. Computers and Cancer.

 

For "tRaVersing, or RV Day":

RV refrigerator rear venting
"An RVer recently asked if it was possible to install an LP-fired RV refrigerator so that the lower venting of the 'fridge would come from the "toy hauling" section of his RV. No, we don't mean stepping into the cargo area to get access to the refrigerator, we mean installing the refrigerator inside the "living area" of the RV, on a common wall to the cargo area. If you're thinking about it, in a word, "Don't."" Read more.

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The olden days when mobile Internet access was slow. . . very, very slow

RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury received this email from reader Bob Hoffman in response to his essay in RV Travel News 519 about his early days on the road when he carried a small portable darkroom and typed on a manual typewriter.

Dear Chuck,
"Your story about using a typewriter reminded me of my first RV computer experience back in 1984. On that first RV trip, I carried along a VT-100 computer terminal, a 300-baud acoustic coupler, a 100' extension cord, and a 100' phone line. I'd stop at a pay phone, dial the 800 number of the computer I accessed in Huntsville, Alabama, then put the phone on the acoustic coupler and run back to the RV to access it from my terminal. At the time, I thought I was the height of technology. Though 300 baud was slow, it was much faster than the 110 baud that I'd been using back in Huntsville on a teletype machine back in the 1970s.
You can imagine the strange looks that I got from passers-by, wondering if I was doing something illegal or just plain crazy. Sitting there with my generator running and strange wires running 100' from my RV to the phone booth certainly raised a few curious looks. But, it got the job done and I was able to continue making a few bucks while traveling, which was and is always my intent."  Visit Bob's website InternetOnTheRoad.com

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How are your RV batteries connected?
Dear RV Doctor,
"The two house batteries in my motorhome have been removed to be replaced. They were 6-volt batteries but the person who removed them does not remember if they were wired in series or parallel. The motorhome is a 2005 Cross Country. How should the house batteries be wired?" --Will S., (Seminole, OK)
Read Gary's response.

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Sink Away exterior sink keeps dirt outside

"Now have a sink and water supply on the outside of your RV with Sink Away Exterior Sink! The ultimate campsite convenience is an RV sink outside where it's really needed!
Self-contained, portable Sink-Away mounts almost anywhere on RV exteriors and is ready to keep dirt and messes outside where they belong. Its ideal for washing hands, paws, faces, and fresh food–even for cleaning fish.
Sink-Away is lightweight, compact, easy to store, with optional accessories. It comes with the sink and frame, 3/4" water supply inlet connection, unique flexible gooseneck faucet, drainage hose, and mounting bracket. Coiled Hose sold separately." More at: http://www.greatrvaccessories.com/2012/01/sink-away-exterior-sink-keeps-dirt.html

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glideAWAY bike rack enables easy access to hatchbacks and SUVs

"If you tow a hatchback or SUV behind your motorhome you know the difficulty of carrying bicycles on a rack and accessing the rear hatch with the rack and/or bikes in place.
Heininger's Advantage glideAWAY deluxe 4 bike carrier eliminates the irritation with other rear mounted carriers of having to take your bikes off every time you want access to your vehicle from the back.   http://youtu.be/p5iO2TFaDvI
Designed to hold up to four bicycles with 1-2" top frame tubes, the ingenuous accordion style folding arm construction of the Advantage glideAWAY allows it to be pulled away from your vehicle with the simple lifting of the handle of its spring loaded safety latch, located behind its main upright support post. " More at: http://www.greatrvaccessories.com/2012/01/glideaway-bike-rack-enables-easy-access.html

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Tech Tips from Mark Polk

Generators need exercise, too
"When I worked at an RV dealership, every spring our service department was booked with appointments for generators that either wouldn't start, or if they did start they had that all too familiar surging sound. This was a result of letting the generator sit for periods of time without starting and exercising it. Lack of use is one of the biggest problems with generators. In gasoline generators the fuel breaks down and gums up causing hard starting and surging problems. This can happen in as short a period of time as two months." Read more.

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Random RV Thought
"A tiny broom, sometimes sold at toy stores, can do a good job of cleaning a floor, even most carpets. No power is needed except human power and the broom stores easily in a closet. It can also be used to tidy up a campsite."

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On This Day:

The famous frontiersman Daniel Boone dies in Missouri, Sep 26, 1820:

"On this day in 1820 the great pioneering frontiersman Daniel Boone dies quietly in his sleep at his son's home near present-day Defiance, Missouri. The indefatigable voyager was 86.

Boone was born in 1734 to Quaker parents living in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Following a squabble with the Pennsylvania Quakers, Boone's family decided to head south and west for less crowded regions, and they eventually settled in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. There the young Daniel Boone began his life-long love for wilderness, spending long days exploring the still relatively unspoiled forests and mountains of the region. An indifferent student who never learned to write more than a crude sentence or two, Boone's passion was for the outdoors, and he quickly became a superb marksman, hunter and woodsman.

Never satisfied to stay put for very long, Boone soon began making ever longer and more ambitious journeys into the relatively unexplored lands to the west. In May of 1769, Boone and five companions crossed over the Cumberland Gap and explored along the south fork of the Kentucky River. Impressed by the fertility and relative emptiness of the land--although the native inhabitants hardly considered it to be empty--Boone returned in 1773 with his family, hoping to establish a permanent settlement. An Indian attack prevented that first attempt from succeeding, but Boone returned two years later to open the route that became known as Boone's Trace (or the Wilderness Road) between the Cumberland Gap and a new settlement along the Kentucky River called Fortress Boonesboro. After years of struggles against both Native Americans and British soldiers, Boonesboro eventually became one of the most important gateways for the early American settlement of the Trans-Appalachian West.

Boone became a symbol of the western pioneering spirit for many Americans. Ironically, though, Boone's fame and his success in opening the Trans-Appalachian West to large-scale settlement later came to haunt him. Having lost his Kentucky land holdings by failing to properly register them, Boone moved even further west in 1799, trying to escape the civilized regions he had been so instrumental in creating. Finally settling in Missouri--though he never stopped dreaming of continuing westward--he lived out the rest of his life doing what he loved best: hunting and trapping in a fertile wild land still largely untouched by the Anglo pioneers who had followed the path he blazed to the West."

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First day of work at the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, Sep 26, 1928:

"On this day in 1928, work begins at Chicago's new Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. (The company had officially incorporated the day before.) In 1930, Galvin would introduce the Motorola radio, the first mass-produced commercial car radio. (The name had two parts: "motor" evoked cars and motion, while "ola" derived from "Victrola" and was supposed to make people think of music.)"

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Shannon Lucid returns to Earth, Sep 26, 1996:

"U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid returns to Earth in the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis following six months in orbit aboard the Russian space station Mir.

On March 23, 1996, Lucid transferred to Mir from the same space shuttle for a planned five-month stay. A biochemist, Lucid shared Mir with Russian cosmonauts Yuri Onufriyenko and Yuri Usachev and conducted scientific experiments during her stay. She was the first American woman to live in a space station.

Beginning in August, her scheduled return to Earth was delayed by more than six weeks because of last-minute repairs to the booster rockets of Atlantis and then by a hurricane. Finally, on September 26, 1996, she returned to Earth aboard Atlantis, touching down at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Her 188-day sojourn aboard Mir set a new space endurance record for an American and a world endurance record for a woman."

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Yesterday:

Misty and I went to get Jay for shopping day, and we had our stroll down there.  When we got back here, we loaded 2 desktops and a laptop into the van.  The small HP desktop with Windows XP Pro, that I bought refurbished at the beginning of the year has been giving me trouble for quite a while.  I found a computer repair man who lives in a subdivision not too far from here, and so I thought I'd give him a try at fixing it, and my 'molasses' laptop.  I took my big old Dell desktop with me, just in case I could do some 'horse-trading'. 

I had told Rich, the computer man, that the HP's computer clock had stopped a long time ago, and he said a new battery would be $4, and that could have a lot to do with the problems.  Now that XP is on it's last legs, I thought I might try Windows 7.  So he said that he would put Windows 7 in my desktop, and 2 more GB of memory, then it should run like a gazelle.  He also recommended putting AGV in it.  He said he would wipe my 'so-slow-that-it-can't-catch-a cold' laptop clean, and do a reinstall.  He thinks that is what's wrong with it. My old Dell desktop was never even mentioned.  So Jay and I left the computers there and went on into the next town.

We unloaded the paper recycling at St. Mark's Thrift Shop, and bought a few things there.  I have been disappointed with the produce at the Kroger stores, so we went to our new HEB.  I asked the produce guy if any of it was grown locally, hoping that it would be fresher.  I put a lot of raw veggies through my auger juicer, so I want them to be fresh.  He showed me which ones were Texas grown, and they all looked fresh, so I bought some.

Then we stopped at Petsmart.  Last time I was there, I had a 'thrifty spell' and bought some cans of Purina food for Misty.  But when I really looked at the labels, I saw that it has 'by-products' in it.  Now, I am not going to feed that to my old Misty.  So I exchanged them for more expensive Organix organic canned food, which is what she is used to eating, mixed with what I cook for her.  I have kept her in good shape for 2-1/2 years past her cancer 'expiration date', so I don't need to cut corners now.  She is my treasure, and she's worth it….

Later, after I was home, I got the old Dell desktop out of the van and hooked it back up. So that's what I am using now.  With only one computer working, I can't get on RV-Dreams chat, as I have to use this one for work in the evening.  Usually I have two going.  I don't like the keyboard on my laptop, so I don't use it often.

Rich called with some bad news. The mother board was going out on my HP desktop and some of the capacitors were swelling.  He said they don't make the small desktops any more because of overheating.   But that doesn't make sense to me…what about the small space in laptops?  (I bought a laptop fan to sit my old laptop on, so it doesn't seem to have that problem)  But it was obvious that when HP refurbished the desktop, that they didn't go through it thoroughly.  So I will have to get another computer. 

Then my grown granddaughter Michelle (my son's daughter) called, she is doing well, finishing last term of dental hygienist school, as it is already paid for, and then she is going to train to be a game warden.  But her mother, Becky, is now dying of cancer, even though she had that double mastectomy.  Her life expectancy is very short.  That is sad news for anyone, especially someone in her 40's.  So now they are getting future custody organized for Becky's toddler son, and Sheltie dog. 

Last night two sweet starving stray dogs came up to the houses, my house and the guest house.  So Shay and I were feeding them.   Looked like they were litter mates, but one was a lot smaller than the other. Maybe because it is so shy, and the bigger one keeps eating her food.  Shay held the big one so I could feed the little one. Poor babies, they must have been dumped.  Then a stray tabby cat came up, wanting to be fed.  When does it end?  Same old story, different day.