Road Warriors Live

We are still “on the road”.  

We spent all last week just outside of Indianapolis.   Didn’t get to put the Foldcat in the water or do any fishing but we did manage to hit the Indiana state fair and eat all the wrong things.  Saw a horse show and made new friends with a couple ponies.  Jon turned 6 on the 9^th so the 4 of us had a little party  and blew out the birthday candles. 

As a special treat to him I started to teach him how to drive my Radio Control truck.  It goes almost 40mph so he has never been able to touch it until now.  I started him off going straight on a dirt road and he caught on pretty quickly.  We are going to give it another shot tomorrow.

We got into a campground outside of Lexington Kentucky early last night.   The roads around here are crazy narrow and winding.  It reminds me of the mountains of Colorado but with tons more trees and vegetation.  By the time we hit the campground I was ready for a stiff drink and an hour of quiet time.

It turns out we are at the wrong campground.  We are staying at a state park and the GPS’s were not much help getting to the right place.

We stayed here for the night anyway and we were going to go to the other one today.  I was talking to another camper this morning and he said there is no way he would take our rig down the road to the other place.  We decided to scout out the other place before we took the RV.  Good thing we did.  The other campground is awesome but like Bill said the road was terrible.  Even worse it’s only one lane for a good 12 miles.  I have no idea what I would do if another rig was heading the other direction.

We made the decision we are staying here until we have to head back home on the 22^nd.

Business Stuff:

Jen’s meeting went well and the swim team is signing up as a non-profit when we are getting back. 

We are still getting our workouts in.  I close all the blinds so no one can see.  I can just imagine what people think when they see this thing rocking back and forth.

Other stuff

I know I still owe everyone a review and video of the foldcat and our madien voyage.  I have the review written but have not got the videos edited yet.  I will have them done this week pkus some extras to include this trip.  I have a couple things planned that should make it worth the waut.

I am off to teach Samantha and Jonathan how to ribe a bike.  WISH ME LUCK!

Stayed tuned for pics and videos.

Steve

I’ve had a little boat problem ever since we got our RV last August.

Every time we hit a campground that’s near water. I always wished that we had her boat along with us. In fact at times it’s gotten so bad that we’ve even rented boats to go out on the water. It just kills me since we have a perfectly good 15 foot jet boat and a jet ski sitting in the garage at home.

The only other option we’ve had up until this point is to bring an extra vehicle and tow the boat behind it, or to actually tow the boat behind the RV. I feel for the folks that have a fifth wheel. Since latter is not even an option. I have talked to a ton of people that own fifth wheels, and since their heavy duty towing vehicle is towing the fifth wheel. They really don’t have the option to bring their boat.

For me the idea of launching our boat, with the motor home brings up nightmares of RV floating slowly across the lake, due to loosing traction on one of those slippery boat ramps. Even if we bring the boat towed behind our SUV. There are lots of places that don’t have slips available, or restrict the use of gas motors and their size. So except for a few select campgrounds it was either take the RV or take the boat for the day.

Up until last week we broke down and rented paddle boats for the kids or a pontoon boat for a full day. Now days most of the places we go, want to charge you anywhere from a $100 all the way up to $300 a day to rent a boat.

I don’t even want to tell you what it cost to us to rent a boat at Fort Wilderness in Disney World just to see the fireworks. We also rented a couple canoes to go around the little river in the center of the campground.

I spent all winter trying to find a solution to this problem. I have been on dozens of web sites and must’ve looked at a hundred different boats, but was not able to find a solution and until two weeks ago.

I created a list of must haves, and unless I wanted to make some serious compromises. These were the things that I absolutely had to have if I was going to drop hard-earned cash on another water craft.

1. It had to be portable enough to fit in the storage under the RV, or at the very least able to stow inside still have room to move around while her on the road.

2. It had to be lightweight, since I was concerned about gas mileage, and the amount of weight in the RV. I did not want to reduce my towing ability if we decided to bring the car as a toad.

3. It had to be quick to assemble. So we can take advantage of some of the early morning fishing at campgrounds we were just passing through. I also want to make sure it gets used. If it’s going to take more than 15 minutes to put together I know I won’t bother unless I am spending a weekend or more somewhere.

4. It had to be big enough for four of us to fit in. Since I do not want to deal with the flights of bringing one of the kids without the other. I also do not want to leave the wife at the motor home while I was out having fun on the water.

5. It had to be comfortable to fish out of since kids were getting to the age where they liked fishing and wanted to spend the time with Jen and I.

6. It had to be small enough that I can launch it in fish out of it by myself if no one wanted to go with.

7. It absolutely had to be safe. I can take some risks on my own, but no matter what. I make sure the kids are safe.

8. It needs to be cost effective. I am always looking for the ROI on whatever I buy, especially when it comes to the RV. In other words, could it pay for itself in what I would save on rental fees for a season. After the first season it’s almost like it’s free.

9. It had to be able to be rowed and also be able to use a small electric trolling motor. On some campgrounds you can only row or use an electric motor. Plus I did not want to have to carry along gas for it in the RV storage.

As you can see the list was pretty extensive. I found boats that matched a few of the must haves from above, but nothing matched them all.

I found one company that was very close, but the only REAL option would be a two seater. So there was a real problem with leaving Jen behind with one of the kids.

I gave up and figured we were just going to have to make do with the situation.

A couple weeks ago I went to show someone the pontoon boat I had found, since they didn’t have any kids. It was perfect for them. To my surprise, they just released a four seater. It’s a perfect and match to all of my must haves from above.

I talked to Jen about it and we put in our order.

The boat arrived a few days ago and I will be posting videos of how easy it was to put together. You’ll also get to see videos of the kids, Jennifer, and I out fishing at a few of our favorite campgrounds.

I am extremely pleased with the quality, construction and price we paid for it. There are a few things that I have picked up for our RV trips that have made the experience much better. I would have to say that this purchase is at the very top of the list.

Here is a link for the boat so you can check it out yourself. Even if you’re not looking for a pontoon boat. All the boats that these guys have are perfect for anyone who uses an RV, fifth wheel, or just like us to hit the water while camping

Stay tuned for some new videos.

Steve

I really hope everyone’s having a great summer.

High gas prices have come with a mixed blessing for us. As most of you know, we had planned a trip down Route 66 that would take a couple months this summer. As it turns out $5.00 a gallon for gas put those plans on the back burner pre-quickly.

As we revise plans and scouting locations a couple of things have come up. If you are around last year you know on a not for driving long distances. I guess it comes from years of traveling with my grandparents and even as an adult I would make the trip to from Chicago to Florida in one.shot without stopping.

Our last trip took almost 3 days, but we took a couple detours to miss in bad weather. I still managed to drive 10-12 hours a day. When we got the RV we had originally planned to stop and smell the roses but old habits die hard and when I planned the driving parts of the trip we would leave early in the morning, get in after it was dark, set up watch a little TV, and go to bed. Then we get up early the next morning and start the routine all over again. it was definitely more about the destination than the journey getting there.

Over the past couple months, just like everyone else. We have been taking our trips and staying closer to home in order to save a little gas. Over the Fourth of July weekend we had actually planned to take a longer trip down south. With our schedules and the current price of gas we decided to take a shorter trips to spend a little bit more time at a campgrounds closer to home.

Instead of an 8-10 hour drive we decided to hit a campground that we’ve spent time at before. The best part was we are able to leave a day later than we’d planned and stay a day longer at the end of the trip. We pulled into our campsite Friday afternoon after everyone had already got there. We were set up within 20 minutes. There was an added bonus of staying the extra day. As you can imagine the campground was packed all weekend and I don’t think they had one extra spot available. By Sunday night almost everyone in the campground had gone home so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was the perfect end to a great weekend.

Over the Fourth of July weekend I had one of the biggest treats a dad could possibly have. Both my four year old girl and my five year old boy caught their first fish. They have these tiny rods and reels that they practice casting with on almost every trip. We never seem to find a easy fishing spot at our destination campgrounds, and we’re in and out so fast at campgrounds along the way that we were never able to really stop. Since we slowed everything down this trip we are actually able to fish for a couple days.

I let the kids go with their own pace and quit when they were tired so they didn’t get burned out. They also got to do a little swimming and some crafts so all in all we had a great weekend and spent a minimal amount on gas.

I know most of you that have RVs are already aware of the pluses when staying close to home it just took a little while to get through my thick skull.

I guess even if you can drive all over the country with your vacation home and all of your stuff you just don’t have to. Check out some of the places closer to home and you might be surprised.

Steve

I wanted to give everyone a quick update.

Summer is heating up, and so is our travel schedule.  I hope you enjoyed the five or six live broadcasts we ended up doing last week from San Diego.  It seemed like people really enjoy the beach stuff as well as the LIVE feed while we were inland.  Sorry I didn’t have any edited in video to to put up.  Since it was a solo trip running two cameras at the same time, tends to make me a little crazy.  It’s one of the reasons why we use the LIVE streaming and you should always check it out when ever you get a chance.

During the trip to San Dieo I figured out a way to get clearer shots while walking around and fixed some of the transmission dropouts that we were having.  It hurts a little being on the bleeding edge of technology but we are making huge progress with quality and consistency.

We haven’t been doing a lot from around Chicago since some pretty bad storms have been in and out here lately.  We haven’t got hit like some of the places in Iowa, and the rest of the Midwest.  Hopefully we will all be able to start drying out soon.  We will get some really good stuff from downtown and the lakefront as soon as these weather patterns start to change.

We do have a few trips planned over the next two weeks.  So stay tuned to your computer, if you want to see live broadcast.  I really suggest you sign up for twitter and follow us through that.  Our twitter profile updates every time we start a live broadcast.  Our name on twitter is RoadWarriors.  So when you start using it do a search for us and just hit follow.

As far as the upcoming trips go.

This weekend (June 28 - July 1) we are taking a trip up to the Lake Castle Rock in Wisconsin.    My brothers and I used to fish there with my dad when we were kids.  My dad passed away the day before Christmas Eve last year, and the immediate family is going there to spread his ashes in the lake.   I won’t be broadcasting spreading the ashes since that’s a little personal, and if you ask me kind of morbid. 

We will be broadcasting the trip down, camping, and fishing with my brothers on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (June 28 - July 1).  We are taking the RV and renting a couple boats. You should see some pretty good video as were on the lake and in the campground.  We always have a good time whenever we get together and you will see some very interesting family dynamics going on. We might have some video of the trip prep on Saturday but we will see how that goes and how pressed for time we are.

I will be broadcasting live from the Chicago White Sox game on Wednesday July 2nd.  We will be streaming video from around the park, and even if you’re not a baseball fan.  This is one broadcast you should not miss.

On Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday (July 3 - 7) we will be broadcasting live for the whole weekend from a campground in central Illinois.  We have a ton of activities planned and it should be a blast.

There are a few more things planned for July, and I will let you know about it once we firm up the details. We are watching the gas prices very closely and trying to determine a start date for the Route 66 trip.  As always, things come together at the last moment.  So make sure you subscribe for updates, and don’t miss the chance to ride shotgun for someplace you’d like to see.

Stay tuned for the LIVE video this weekend, and as always thanks for riding shotgun.

Steve

I’ve been debating whether or not to broadcast the trip I am about to go on.  I am not taking the RV this time. I have to fly to California for two days.   

I asked a couple people that follow Road Warriors Live, and they said sure, why not we would love to see it.  So starting today, I will be broadcasting live on and off for the next three days.

Bookmark this page and don’t forget we still need your vote at www.seero.com/contest.php

This should be some pretty interesting stuff and give you an insight into what I do. You will see how I can afford to be able to drive all over the country and spend this much time with my kids. 

I hope you enjoy the video, and don’t forget we still need your vote.

The experts are predicting $7.00 a gallon gas prices here in the states by the end of summer.  I know some countries have been paying this for a while, but from what I see in the international news.  Everybody’s prices are going up at about the same rate.

I’m not sure if you guys realize this, but our RV has an 80 gallon tank.  And then to top it off it has a diesel engine.  As you can imagine.  I am always scouring different places online, like gas Buddy and a few of the other websites on where to find the cheapest gas prices.

Well today I ran across cool little app that I can embed right here on the blog.  As long as you know what ZIP code you’re in you can find the cheapest gas prices within 5 miles.

I was just going to use this for myself, but I decided to share it with everyone instead.

All you need to do is Bookmark the Road Warriors  page then come back to it whenever you need to get the cheapest gas price near you.

Check it out now to use the application.
Cheap Gas Prices Near You

I hope you find it as useful as I do.

By the way.  We could still use your vote at http://www.seero.com/contest.php 
PLEASE VOTE FOR ROADWARRIORS

Steve

I hate to ask, but we could use a quick favor.

I just found out that we are finalists in a contest for the streaming video service we are using.

If you like what we’ve been doing and would like to see more we could really use a vote in this contest.  The way it looks right now we’re in the running for the top three, but I know you can take us to number one.

So here’s the deal go to www.seero.com/contest.php and vote for RoadWarriors.  I think you will have to create an account, but it only takes a couple seconds and they don’t ask for too much information.  All they want is a username, password and e-mail address.

It will really help us out and let us know that you would like to see more streaming video.

If everything works out as planned.  We should be taking a long trip, with lots of video at the end of the month.  The problem that were running into is that my five-year-old has T-ball until the end of June.  And I have taken a trip to California mid-June.

If it wasn’t for the prior commitments we’d already be on the road and taking advantage of the gas prices while they are still low.  I know, we think that gas prices are high now, but from what I’m hearing the experts are saying that they’re going to be a lot higher by the end of the summer.

As soon as we have something definite for a destination I will post it on the calendar.

Even though we will not be going on an extended trip this month.  Stay tuned for some weekend video streaming from some of the festivals going on in the area.  We might be able to get to something today, depending on the weather from the bluesfest held in downtown Chicago.

In the meantime, if you could go to www.seero.com/contest.php and give us a quick vote, we would really appreciate it. 

Stay tuned for video today weather permitting.

Thanks,
Steve

I thought I would do a quick post with my new toy and give everyone a quick update.

I want to apologize if you’ve got a couple of e-mails today with some errant posts. I’ve invited some guest posters to post on this blog. Unfortunately they are not posting what I feel to be appropriate content. I usually catch them in time but today those two got through. Sorry about that and it won’t happen again.

It’s been 24 hours since I started using the new computer with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. All I can say it’s been almost like a dream. I’ve used these text-to-speech programs before but never one with the accuracy like this. I swear I’m not a salesman for them but I could be. It’s really high on the geek scale plus it works exceptionally well. Enough about the geek update now on to something a little bit more meaningful.

I was trying to figure out a couple posts about the time I spent in Charlotte at the Coca-Cola 600. What I didn’t want to do is post every little thing and bore you all to death. Well, it’s been a little over a week and there are two things that still stick out in my mind.

The first thing is how crowded the campground was. I have done a lot of camping over the past year and have never seen this many RVs in one place even at the Camping Shows. One thing I can say is these folks sure know how to pack them in. I put together a little video of some of the prerace festivities and a view from the top of the stands looking over just one of the campgrounds.

I’m not sure if you can get a feel for it from the video but the campground that we were in was huge. Now if you can imagine a campgrounds just like this all around the race track you’ll get a feel for how many people were actually there and camping. I had somebody asked me if I thought the gas prices kept people away from the race. From the amount of people there camping in RVs and the distance they drove. I would say no, at least for this one. I don’t know what it will look like next year but as far as I’m concerned everyone that planned on going showed up.

As for the party atmosphere that I thought was going to be there that didn’t really materialize at all. Maybe we were at the wrong campground, maybe I believed all the hype, from what I saw it was just a bunch of folks at having a good time enjoying Memorial Day weekend. I could’ve brought the kids and they would’ve had a great time. I would’ve not been worried about them at all. I have been the campgrounds much worse than this and they were supposed to be family-friendly.

Don’t get me wrong, people were drinking and having a good time but it was NOT an out-of-control party like I was led to believe it was going to be. It was a little bit of a letdown as I was prepared for something a little different but it turned out okay and was one of the best Memorial Day weekends I can remember a long time.

There was one more thing that sticks in my mind even a week later and I’ll share that with you tomorrow in another post.

Hope you enjoy the video. And for my fellow geeks (you know who you are) this whole post was done on my handheld computer and dictated through the microphone. (very cool)

Steve

If you notice the time of the post from this morning.  You will see it was very early, especially for me.    I was up all night working on installing software on the new handheld PC. even though I liked the new PC since I got it just before the race.  Some of the new software installed has made this little thing just rock.

A got Dragon NaturallySpeaking installed.  Now I can speak directly in the computer without typing text.  This actually works pretty well and saves a ton of typing when doing blog posts.

Between that and my new OQO handheld computer.  My productivity and frequency of doing blog posts should increase dramatically.

These little handheld computers are awesome.  It runs full Windows PC software, and since I’ve installed Microsoft Office I can use Outlook for e-mail, and full versions of word, excel, power point.  I can now do my normal business on a PC that fits easily into my pocket.  I was having a problem with the smaller keyboard, but since I owned a Blackberry for years typing with just my thumbs wasn’t such a big adjustment.  Even though I was used to it.  It’s still took time writing longer e-mails or blog posts.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking has tied everything together  It has become a lot easier to pound out some of the longer text documents that I need to do.

This is also the machine.  I am using for live streaming video, while walking around town, attraction, or like last week at the NASCAR race.  If you watched the live feeds on the way to the Coca-Cola 600 you might’ve noticed that the GPS was in and out.  I think the problem has to do with how Microsoft handles Bluetooth and is not necessarily a problem with the computer.  I think we have a solution for that and we’ll be testing out this week.

This was more of a test post than anything else to check the new software.  If you have any questions about the new software or hardware please feel free to leave a comment. 

Thanks and stay tuned for more video.

Steve

Sorry I haven’t been able to give an update in a while.  It’s a very busy around here trying to fix the problems that we had at the Coca-Cola 600.  We were about halfway through the trip before we found out the audio was really distorted.

In addition to that we ran into problems with the data card and transmitting remotely.  it took a little while but I think we have everything all worked out. I hope you’re able to see the video we transmitted from the race and the campground.  Even though we did not transmit as much video as we had planned to go that a lot done.

Since this was my first NASCAR race I didn’t know what to expect.  All-in-all we had a great time and the people at the campground as well as the race were a blast.

I want to thank everyone that called or sent a text message for all the help.  I don’t think we could have gotten it done without you.
 
We are planning our next trip starting today.  It’s a little tough and we are coordinating between Jonathan’s T-ball schedule and Jennifers swim schedule before we make definite plans.  I also have another trip planned to California in mid-June so we have to take that into account also.

In the meantime will be testing a new microphone for some live video in the next couple days so stay tuned.  As soon as I have an update on the next trip I will let everyone know.

Steve