2019 Winter in Texas

[BigAl52]

I have century link here at home and Im ready to let them find someone else to mess with. They have constantly mess around with charges on my bill and Im gettin a little tired of it. I only have 12mbs here and thats the best they can do for my area. I can get 5 times the speed for the same amount of money from xfinity I just havent switch yet. These internet companies are as bad as the TV cable people there isnt a one of them thats very user friendly.

[JEBar]

our service is with Verizon .... with us on the road 6 or so months a year we require a wireless system that we can take with us ....Verizon calls our "hot spot" (for lack of a better term) a MIFI .... on most of our travels it has performed reasonably well .... we've never camped in place where we didn't have internet service .... that said, the strength of that service has varied all over the scale

[Sir Henry]

How good/bad is the internet access throughout your travels?

history has taught us not to rely on internet service that might be provided at campgrounds ... while some is OK, more often than not its poor to nonexistent ... consequently, we use a Verizon MIFI JetPack for internet service both at home and on the road .... while in some places it works better than others .... while we have been in areas without cell phone service, we haven't been anywhere we have been without internet service .... every few years we check with other companies to find out about their technology, areas of coverage, and cost for various plans .... so far, Verizon has been the best for us

I travel in the same way and have often found the cities in between the campgrounds have better signals; so I might plan an hour stop just to get on the internet.

[JEBar]

I travel in the same way and have often found the cities in between the campgrounds have better signals; so I might plan an hour stop just to get on the internet.

we've never done that but it sure does make sense .... I guess my long distance truck driving days are still pretty firmly entrenched .... when I head from point A to point B, I don't like to mess around with anything that delays me getting there .... while anything can happen, I don't see that changing any time soon

[JEBar]

decision time .... one of the things I really enjoy while traveling is linking up with folks from this and a couple of other forums and spending some time out on a range with them .... accordingly, decisions have to be made as to which firearms along with their ammo to take with us .... for trap shooting, the decision is simple, our early 90's Remington 11-87 Premir 12 ga .... for pistol shooting , our 1992 Redhawk 44 Mag .... for rifle shooting, our Henry BBS 44 Mag .... with that rifle back at Henry and not expecting to have access to is for several weeks or more after getting to Texas, I've had to come up with a Plan B .... I'm strongly considering taking our CCH 45-70 or our 1970 BLR 308 .... to help make up my mind I, yesterday I spent some time firing them .... looks like doing so worked, I now plan to take them both .. .. sometime between now and Jan 4th, I need to spend a few hours at our loading bench to stock up .... I'm particularly looking forward to firing the BLR at the 200 yard range found at the Blackwood Gun Club ===> http://www.blackwoodgunclub.com/rangesRifle_pistol.asp .... I don't have access to a local range that offers more than 125 yard firing lanes .... that should be fun .... our Sportchassis has been serviced (sure glad with the way we travel that it only requires it once a year) .... next week we will need to fill one of the camper's 40 lb propane tanks .... after that (hopefully) we should be good to go ...

[JEBar]

we are spending a second night parked next to our oldest son's home where our family meets for Christmas .... we've had a very nice time .... a second objective for this outing has been a final test of the campers systems prior to pulling out for Texas .... somewhat unexpectedly, 2 issues have surfaced .... first, our water heater works on propane but not on electric .... this water heater is the only appliance in our camper that hasn't been repaired, upgraded, or replaced .... right now my bet would be that the electric heating element has failed .... with it working well on propane, we plan to have it fixed after we get to Lake Conroe just north of Houston ..... the second issue is an OEM plastic gear in the roof mounted TV antenna has broken .... the Jack antenna was laying on the camper's new roof .... one of our sons got up on the roof and removed the gear along with the riser arms and Jack antenna .... the housing that contains the broken gear has also cracked .... I'm concerned that it may leak and plan to personally get up on the roof tomorrow after we get home to inspect it .... my objective is to seal (don't know how) any possible leaks sufficiently to where we can also have it repaired at Lake Conroe

[JEBar]

we are spending a second night parked next to our oldest son's home where our family meets for Christmas .... we've had a very nice time .... a second objective for this outing has been a final test of the campers systems prior to pulling out for Texas .... somewhat unexpectedly, 2 issues have surfaced .... first, our water heater works on propane but not on electric .... this water heater is the only appliance in our camper that hasn't been repaired, upgraded, or replaced .... right now my bet would be that the electric heating element has failed .... with it working well on propane, we plan to have it fixed after we get to Lake Conroe just north of Houston ..... the second issue is an OEM plastic gear in the roof mounted TV antenna has broken .... the Jack antenna was laying on the camper's new roof .... one of our sons got up on the roof and removed the gear along with the riser arms and Jack antenna .... the housing that contains the broken gear has also cracked .... I'm concerned that it may leak and plan to personally get up on the roof tomorrow after we get home to inspect it .... my objective is to seal (don't know how) any possible leaks sufficiently to where we can also have it repaired at Lake Conroe

[JEBar]

things are looking up a bit .....

issue ===> broken TV antenna : I got up on the roof ( yep, I got up on the roof - won't be unhappy if I never have to do so again ) .... looked it over, the base appears to be in tact .... the broken gear (shown below) will have to be replaced .... I don't see anywhere that gives me cause for concern about a water leak .... that said, my customary paranoia will kick in and I'll probably come up with something .... I'm not sure how it goes back together so I will have to have it worked on in Texas

issue ===> found out this morning that the truck's cabin heater fan not working : the dealer from who we purchased the truck was helpful .... it appears that there isn't a separate fuse for the heater fan .... its wired into some other fuse and not labeled on the fuse block's .... since I couldn't check the fuse I decided to remove the switch panel ... did so, every thing looked good to me ... wiggled the switch and the fan came on .... put it back together and it still works .... trouble shooting electrical issues ain't all that complicated ..

issue ===> decided to take a look at the camper's water heater .... opened the outer water heater door and remembered the hidden reset button .... pushed the button and felt it click .... turned on water heater and let it sit a while .... went back and checked .... yep, the water is HOT ....... trouble shooting electrical issues ain't all that complicated .... OK, when it comes to electrical issues, I have pretty close to NO skill whatsoever .... I'm sure happy the "issues" proved to be minor

[JEBar]

day temps on the rise but heavy rain is on the way for the next couple of days .... only trip related task planned for today is to fill the 40 lb tank that we have been using since July when we were in South Dakota .... per history, it should last us for most of our time in Texas .... I do find myself still thinking about the camper's TV antenna .... predictably, paranoia is setting in, I wish I'd of added one more layer of tape .. .. absolutely no way I'm getting back up there to add it .... well, at least not until the level of paranoia grows a bit stronger ..

[JEBar]

we are scheduled to pull out for Texas in 8 days .... rain is predicted on 7 of them .. .. thankfully, no predictions this year for any subfreezing temps .... last year we were forced to delay our departure 3 times due to ice/snow .... the good news is, our first day's drive is the only one with rain predicted from home to our campground in Willis, TX ..