-Gramps-

Based on the amount of pictures I have uploaded and estimating the number of hours streaming video from Amazon, I am pushing somewhere around 30gig and still on my hotspot which is using 4G. When I check my data usage with My Verizon ap, it no longer tells me how much I have used, it just says you have unlimited stream all you want. Cycle starts over in 2 days. By the way, I owned my own IT/Communications company for 25 years before I sold it and retired so I can pretty much figure out what is going on here.

I suspect that I have used a lot more than 10g in the last two weeks with my phone as a hot spot. I manage two websites with loads of large pictures and videos. I stream like crazy, both Amazon Prime and Netflix with no problem, in HD by the way, using a smart Blue Ray Player logged on on to my hotspot. I have downloaded over thirty updates to my phone and laptops that I have been putting off for months. Data has been unlimited for me so far, but then maybe I am special.

Stream all you want, you've got unlimited data My data usage is no longer tracked by Verizon, so I am pretty happy with that.

In some areas Comcast/Xfinity has pay as you go public wifi, but the price is for one device only. You may get around that with a public wifi bridge/repeater. Netgear makes one that sells for about 70 bucks on Amazon. You sign on to Xfinity with the router, then it repeats it to as many devices as you want. Now that Verizon is offering unlimited data per line, I purchased that for one phone which I am using as a hotspot for all my other devices including my wife's smart phone. This should work until we are parked for the summer and then I will turn my Comcast cable internet service back on and use my own modem.

Thanks! I intend to do just that for as long as I can.

Thank you.

Four Months in Pictures (the second half of the last half year)

Thanks Carl, and I appreciate the PM as well. I intend to keep writing and looking thru the viewfinder.

This should be a forum question, not a blog entry. You will get more responses there.

Yes, I know. I blogged here at FMCA.com for seven years (133 entries starting in 2009) before I started my own site which is linked here in the blog section. Unfortunately hardly anyone goes to the blog section anymore. So I put a link here in the forums on this board. This board has this description: Discuss types of Internet connections, including wireless, satellite and cellular. Tips and equipment for using high-speed Internet while traveling. Plus: E-mail, blogging, and other ways to keep in touch while RVing. Blog sites, the design, the content, both words and images, take quite a bit of work if it is going to be a good site. However, like woodcarving, and film photography, I think blogging is a dying art form. People would rather tweet or text or Instagram, for that instant gratification. I am not like that. I like words, no I love words, they mean something to me. They have the power to convey emotion, inspiration and tell a good story at the same time. Combine that with a good photograph and you have something special. I think so anyway. Derrick

What do you call a blog that is mostly photographs? A Plog or Phog? I don't know...here is mine if you are interested. I designed it myself and host it on Squarespace. It is how Diane and I let our kids and relatives know what we are up to, what I am thinking, in more detail than on Facebook. My random views words/images blog site.

June, July, August. I took a lot of pictures because our life in the mountains provided a lot of great opportunities to do so. The rest of the year was even better...you will see! June, July, August Travel Blog Pictures

The movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” starts with snow falling over Bedford Falls, and the sound of people engaged in fervent prayer. These prayers to God in Heaven are coming from many of George Bailey’s friends and almost all of his family. I'm Not a Praying Man....

I thought I would tell a happy story. It is a picture story, about what we have done, and where we have been, the first half of this past year. I have heard that pictures are worth a lot more than words.Take a look, if you please: Half Year in Pictures

Who makes your slide out mechanism?

The house was empty. Well, not quite. The rooms were full of memories and anger, my anger. I was mad at all the people who were jerking us around, and at God who was allowing them to do so. No Power (Buyers From Perdition Part 2)

Where is my wallet? (The Buyers From Perdition Part 1) I was in a panic condition….my head was buried in one of my wardrobe drawers looking desperately for my wallet, which of course, contained all my credit cards, driver's license and other important pieces of plastic. Read More!

Gold Watch and Chain...my latest story posted on my blog site.

LIVING SMALL May 22, 2016 From my Blog: My rules for full time living in a small space, that happens to be on wheels. LIVING SMALL-JUST CLICK HERE (but you knew that already!)

.. We are now fulltimers...no stickhouse to worry about... http://www.myrandomviews.com/blog/2016/4/20/full-time-here-we-are

Here is something worth posting again from my blog here, now moved to my own blog page Depreciation:This subject pops up every now and then in the Internet forums, rv.net, IRV2.com, FMCA.com, where I hang about on a regular basis. It may be a post titled "Is your Class A a Money pit?" or "A motor home costs a whole lot more than you think it does!" The people who post these kinds of entries may or may not really have a problem with what a coach or any other large RV may cost. They might just be bored. It's Sunday night and the DW is watching "Real Housewives of xxx", so there is nothing better for them to do than post some sad story about how broke owning a coach is making them.The last time I saw one of these threads, I responded to it. I said that owning a motor coach is like having kids. You make a huge financial investment, with no return, but they make lots of good memories, are good for the soul, and will greatly improve one's life if you let them.I believe the RV lifestyle is under-appreciated by most people who are not part of it and also by some who are. Becoming a Motor Coacher has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me and my wife. Has owning one depleted my bank account? I suppose it has, but then, maybe not.I might have put away the money that I spend each month paying for my coach. I might have put away the money I spend on trips, including gas and food and camping fees, but I doubt it. I would have spent all of my trip and fuel money on airplane tickets, hotel rooms and cruise ships, or something else. The chances are that even if I did save it, a lot of the money could still have disappeared without me spending a dime of it.The present economic situation has poked a whole lot of holes in a lot of financial balloons. I just try to take advantage of what our coach can do for us. I may have to spend money on gas, a new water pump to replace a squirting frozen one, new wiper blades to replace frozen ones, a new water filter to replace a cracked and frozen one, but considering what our coach does for us it is worth it.I can tell you this that minus the monthly payment, the time I have spent in Florida, which included eight nights at Disney World, didn't cost us much at all. Not when compared to what two weeks would have cost staying in fancy hotels and eating out. I wish I could have stayed there a lot longer. Responsibilities called me home.Home is a very subjective word when you own a motor coach. Home is where my coach is. I felt quite at home in Fort Wilderness. As a matter of fact, the guard who checked us in said, "Welcome home, Mr. Parker."It was home. A few years ago we spent New Year's Eve in Saint Augustine and the next day climbed a lighthouse. My daughter was there and my son-in-law and my grandson. My wife was there and so was Teddy Bear. I had my favorite DVDs, my favorite beer, my favorite books, some of them anyway, and the things I like to eat the most. I also had great cable TV.At night we listened to music coming from the Disney Parks. We also heard the fireworks and, if we walked a little ways from our site, could see them, just over the tops of the trees. If we wanted to ride the monorail, we did. If we wanted to take a boat ride, we did that, too. We went to one park, and saw Cirque Du Soleil, followed by sushi at Wolfgang Pucks. We pin traded, we took Teddy to the Waggin Tails Dog Park. We basked in the 70-degree sunshine. We even had the pleasure of spending time with our friends Gary and Janis. What could be better than that?It was wonderful. It was wonderful until we had to say good-bye. We had to say good-bye to the warmth of our surroundings, our friends and our family. We said good-bye and then made our way back north. We came back to the cold, to work and to our son, daughter and grandsons, whom we missed a lot.It won't be long before we take our motorhome back out on the road and enjoy another great trip. We will make new friends and see new places.So, I don't worry about "depreciation" I try to appreciate the emotional and spiritual return I get from my poor financial investment. I hope that all my fellow Coachers and RVers do the same.Derrickaka "Gramps" My Random Views

Here is something worth posting again from my blog here, now moved to my own blog page Depreciation:This subject pops up every now and then in the Internet forums, rv.net, IRV2.com, FMCA.com, where I hang about on a regular basis. It may be a post titled "Is your Class A a Money pit?" or "A motor home costs a whole lot more than you think it does!" The people who post these kinds of entries may or may not really have a problem with what a coach or any other large RV may cost. They might just be bored. It's Sunday night and the DW is watching "Real Housewives of xxx", so there is nothing better for them to do than post some sad story about how broke owning a coach is making them.The last time I saw one of these threads, I responded to it. I said that owning a motor coach is like having kids. You make a huge financial investment, with no return, but they make lots of good memories, are good for the soul, and will greatly improve one's life if you let them.I believe the RV lifestyle is under-appreciated by most people who are not part of it and also by some who are. Becoming a Motor Coacher has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me and my wife. Has owning one depleted my bank account? I suppose it has, but then, maybe not.I might have put away the money that I spend each month paying for my coach. I might have put away the money I spend on trips, including gas and food and camping fees, but I doubt it. I would have spent all of my trip and fuel money on airplane tickets, hotel rooms and cruise ships, or something else. The chances are that even if I did save it, a lot of the money could still have disappeared without me spending a dime of it.The present economic situation has poked a whole lot of holes in a lot of financial balloons. I just try to take advantage of what our coach can do for us. I may have to spend money on gas, a new water pump to replace a squirting frozen one, new wiper blades to replace frozen ones, a new water filter to replace a cracked and frozen one, but considering what our coach does for us it is worth it.I can tell you this that minus the monthly payment, the time I have spent in Florida, which included eight nights at Disney World, didn't cost us much at all. Not when compared to what two weeks would have cost staying in fancy hotels and eating out. I wish I could have stayed there a lot longer. Responsibilities called me home.Home is a very subjective word when you own a motor coach. Home is where my coach is. I felt quite at home in Fort Wilderness. As a matter of fact, the guard who checked us in said, "Welcome home, Mr. Parker."It was home. A few years ago we spent New Year's Eve in Saint Augustine and the next day climbed a lighthouse. My daughter was there and my son-in-law and my grandson. My wife was there and so was Teddy Bear. I had my favorite DVDs, my favorite beer, my favorite books, some of them anyway, and the things I like to eat the most. I also had great cable TV.At night we listened to music coming from the Disney Parks. We also heard the fireworks and, if we walked a little ways from our site, could see them, just over the tops of the trees. If we wanted to ride the monorail, we did. If we wanted to take a boat ride, we did that, too. We went to one park, and saw Cirque Du Soleil, followed by sushi at Wolfgang Pucks. We pin traded, we took Teddy to the Waggin Tails Dog Park. We basked in the 70-degree sunshine. We even had the pleasure of spending time with our friends Gary and Janis. What could be better than that?It was wonderful. It was wonderful until we had to say good-bye. We had to say good-bye to the warmth of our surroundings, our friends and our family. We said good-bye and then made our way back north. We came back to the cold, to work and to our son, daughter and grandsons, whom we missed a lot.It won't be long before we take our motorhome back out on the road and enjoy another great trip. We will make new friends and see new places.So, I don't worry about "depreciation" I try to appreciate the emotional and spiritual return I get from my poor financial investment. I hope that all my fellow Coachers and RVers do the same.Derrickaka "Gramps" http://www.myrandamviews.com

When or how did you first decide to join the motorhoming family? We each have a story: this is mine

http://www.myrandomviews.com/blog/thecandle

Why have Diane and I kept motorcoaching the last ten years and moving full time next month? Here is the answer to that question: http://www.myrandomviews.com/blog/family