I Like Purim a Lot
Today is Purim, the Jewish holiday celebrating the events of the Book of Esther. There are four mitzvot associated with Purim:
- Hear the reading of the Megillah — The Book of Esther.
- Give Charity
- Give gifts of food
- Eat, Drink and be Merry (I like this one :)
Challah!
By the time we get to Phoenix (2/25/2010)
We took quite a nice ride to day from Quartzsite to Phoenix (and on to Mesa) by way of US Hwy 60. Rather than staying on I-10, we performed what my parents taught me was “shunpiking“. We took Hwy 60 since we had better expectations of breakfast.
Tweeting
I sent out a few tweets this morning while traveling, though not while driving :) Follow me at KM6CG if you like.
Arizona, take off your rainbow shades (2/24/2010)
Well, we made Arizona today. After a home-cooked breakfast in the trailer, we left Rialto at about 8:30 AM.
We traveled east through San Bernadino all the way to Indio, where we stopped for fuel, a grocery store run, and then lunch at Panda Express — Roseann’s favorite. Then back on the road bound for Quartzsite, AZ. We chose Quartzsite since Blythe, CA seemed to have only a bunch of 55 and over RV “resorts.” We just wanted “a flop for the night.” I was also really jazzed about crossing the state line. At about 2:00, we did so, and I noticed that my cell phone now said 3:00. We changed our clocks and watches.
Leaving L.A. (2/23/10)
This is the first blog post from the road!
Staging is complete. All the storage things are in the storage, and all the traveling things are in the trailer! The cable modem is returned, the post office is notified, and were ready to go by 1 pm. Of course, we realized that if we left, we’d immediately be hungry. So off we went to lunch. After a fine Jewish Deli lunch at Weilers, we came back, hooked up the trailer, and by 2:30, we were on the road.
It was destined to be a short travel day, since we left late, but as I told my father earlier this morning, I don’t care if I get ten miles down the road, I just want to start, so I’m not continuing to endlessly prepare.
Traffic was pretty bad, and it took from 2:30 to 4:30 to go 75 miles. We stopped in Ontario at an RV shop to buy a needed part, then traveled another seven miles to the Fontana Elks Lodge, which is really in Rialto.
We got a lovely dinner of burritos and taco salad at the Elks lodge, met Phyllis, the Exalted Ruler (President), as well as a bunch of lovely people. We did not remove the trailer from the truck, and we are snug in our rolling home with water, electricity and a dump station. Verizon Wireless brings us Internet. We haven’t put up the TV antenna.
Tomorrow, we’d like to travel about 185 miles to Blythe, CA, which is on the California/Arizona border. We shall see.
Time for a personal update
As most of the legions of my readers know, we’ve been docked in Van Nuys, California for the past two years, while I worked at Geni, Inc.
The job at Geni ended in mid January, so some choices needed to be made. One choice was to look for a job in the LA area close enough to commute from Van Nuys. Other was to look for something that could be done remotely.
I’m fortunate that two opportunities dropped into my lap just at the right time. One is a Voice Over IP project. The other is a web hosting managment position. Both have long term outlooks, and both can be done remotely.
So, the big news… we’re going back on the road.Full time RVing is a large topic, and I won’t fully explain it here, but suffice it to say that we will have a legal home base, or “domicile,” and will travel when and where we please, across this great country of ours.
There are myriad details to consider. I’ll enumerate some here.
- Mail forwarding: Done. If you didn’t get an email with our paper mail address, and you want to know, just send me a note.
- Drivers licenses and registrations: We’ll on our way to Livingston, Texas to change these things, as well as to register to vote. Livingston, TX is the home of the Escapees RV Club which provides mail forwarding, and other services for full timers. It’s also the basis for a social life on the road, complete with BOF groups on just about every topic. Highly recommended for those in this situation.
- Equipment: The truck got it’s pre-trip sevice yesterday, to the tune of only $600. The trailer could use some work, but it’s roadworthy, so off it goes.
- Organization: We cleaned out the large front storage hold yesterday. I took everything out and we vacuumed out the leaves and other junk. Picked out some things to sell, give away or throw away, and packed back in. Lots more room in there. We’re doing the same inside.
- Utilities: We’re putting our Netflix membership on hold for now. If we find that we have Wifi often enough, we’ll turn it back on so we can use the streaming features. I cancelled the cable Internet (takes two weeks leadtime!) and must call today to cancel the electricity. We don’t have a landline phone. I got a Cradlepoint router for my Verizon service, which was detailed in a previous post. We expect to be nicely connected, with the exception of Satellite TV.
- Medical: We’re visiting our various providers and making sure our prescriptions are up to date, our doctors are dialed in to the fact that we’re on an extended trip, and so forth.
The list goes on, but we’re pulling it together, and on March 1, 2010, we’ll be making like a full-term baby, and heading out.
Cradlepoint MBR900 Router
My Cradlepoint MBR900 router showed up today. It seems like a typical wifi router, with one extra feature. If you plug in your USB cellular data device, it’ll use it for a WAN source, and share it out to all connected users. (I figure that wifi security is a good thing in this mode :)
The device offers priority on the Ethernet WAN source with fallback to the Cellular source.
I’m using it now, with my netbook, to do this posting.
Sometime this weekend, I’ll substitute it for the “other” router, and see how it works in actual practice.
If I don’t post again on this topic, you can assume it worked out fine.
A link… to me!
I got linked to. I recently made some comments on another blog about changes in the LADOT CitiRide program, and when they were picked up by The Bus Bench, I found that Browne had linked my name with my blog.
Unfortunately, I never blogged about this, just commented elsewhere, so if you’re coming over here to see what I had to say, I don’t have anything posted. It’s too late now to post something, since Browne got it better than I did.
If your interest is in the CitiRide changes, please return to The Bus Bench posting since it’s pretty complete over there.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum
We’ve lived in the San Fernando Valley for 18 months now, and we recently had our attention called to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
I’ve never been a fan of President Reagan. His politics and priorities didn’t line up with mine very well. The idea of going to his museum didn’t really resonate with me. Until I found out that they have SAM 27000 on static display. SAM 27000 was President Reagan’s Air Force One.
I found the museum to be an excellent way to spend the afternoon. The exhibits were varied and transcended partisan politics. The museum offers a look not only at the former President, but also at the events of his Presidency (and Governorship) and the nature of the office of President in general.
Some highlights for me included:
- A display of Chanukah Menorahs presented to President Reagan at various times.
- A display of gifts presented by foreign governments, ambassadors and heads of state.
- Civil defense items from the days of the cold war.
- Artifacts of the Reagan Governorship (having grown up elsewhere, my California history is a bit fuzzy)
- A full scale reproduction of the Oval Office, including the “Resolute Desk.”
There will be pictures. Sooner or later.
While out at the Presidential Library, I also found and logged the “Road to the Presidency” Geocache.