Weathered Sandy ... Frankenstorm

Tuesday, October 30

Just a quickie post to let everyone know that we weathered Sandy OK.
Except for the power flickering a couple of times, we didn't even lose power ... a miracle considering the way the wind was blowing yesterday and through the night.  We're waiting for daylight to come to see what it looks like around the area.  Mui will make a trip out to the storage area to check up on the Phaeton ... road conditions permitting.  Unless there was flying debris, we anticipate all to be well with our condo on wheels, but actual eyes on the coach to make sure that's the case will make us both feel better.

We thank all those who have sent messages to check up on our welfare.

Our thoughts are with those who received the brunt of Sandy's fury and did not fare as well.

Update ... at 12:30p

Mui made it out to the storage facility without mishap.  Except for some water that got into an empty basement compartment, the Phaeton is in good shape.  We've been having some water seepage in this compartment and expect it's a problem with the seal.  It's on our "fix" list for Red Bay.

Controlled Chaos

Thursday, 25 October

We returned from our 3-week trip to Turkey on Monday and plunged headlong into the final prep work for the “on-the-road” lifestyle we’ll be embarking upon soon.

With just 35 days left to R-Day — retirement, that is — our time is at a premium.  Spare moments are dedicated to sifting through belongings — big and small — and organizing them into piles labeled storage, Phaeton, donation.  After three weeks, the headache-inducing sound of the green stretch-wrap that Mui likes to use so liberally is again rending the air.  The shredder is working overtime as well, adding to the cacophony as years and years worth of paperwork is turned into tiny bits destined for the recycling bins in the garage.

Everywhere I look there are taped up boxes and shrink wrapped furniture.  Anything that Mui hasn’t gotten his hands on yet will soon join the ranks or be left for the Salvation Army to pick up.  I feel like we’re living in the midst of controlled chaos.  Not easy to do for someone like me who likes things organized and tidy.  I’m trying not to stress out (too much), but it’s hard not to do so.  Luckily, Mui’s the easy going kind and keeps me on an even keel.

Wrapping up the last two dining room chairs.  Where are we going to dine now? …

… No worries; we brought over the two folding chairs from the Phaeton’s
dinette and the picnic table we use when camping.  By the way, that’s the only
tablecloth I have left that Mui hasn’t already packed away!

This is what our once-spacious living room looks like with boxes and stretch-wrapped
furniture piled up behind the love seat.

Mui took apart the temporary storage area he built over the spa tub in the
master bath, so boxes and suitcases are now stored along the wall in the bedroom.
Good thing there’s plenty of room.

I sure am glad we downsized quite a bit last year when we sold the townhouse and moved into this rental.  Otherwise, I’m not sure we’d be able to make our self-imposed deadline to get out of dodge in early December — fingers crossed.

We hope to move most of the stuff that will be going into storage out of the condo in 10 days.  Clearing out the clutter will give us a better picture of what remains to be done in the final weeks.  Wish us luck ;-)

I Intended …

Tuesday, 9 October

… to write a couple of posts for this blog while on my annual trip to visit family in Turkey.  You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men …

Mom has a new wi-fi connection that my laptop doesn’t like.  No problem, her Windows-based laptop connects to the network just fine, and it already has Live Writer loaded so I can use it to post blog entries.  The problem is that I shoot Raw photos and that means I have to use my laptop to process them and then transfer them to her laptop with a thumb drive.  Add to this hassle … I’ve been on the go almost the entire time since arriving in Turkey on 3 October and haven’t had much time to polish any of my drafts.

So, the posts for this blog will simply have to wait until I return to the US.  In the meantime, if you want to know what I’ve been up to in Turkey, hop on over to Two to Travel and check out the “teaser” posts … I’ve been so busy that the full story of the trip is having to take a back seat … just like the posts for this blog :-)

(All of the teasers for this trip can be accessed from the October archive.  Mui’s also in Turkey, but we’ve gone our separate ways and he has yet to send me any photos with which to tease you.  Maybe he’ll see this blog entry, feel the pressure, and send me a photo to post soon!)

TracFone is the Answer for Us

Saturday, 6 October

Mui has a Government-issue Blackberry, which he will lose when he retires in a few months.  I have had (until earlier this year) Sprint cell service with a monthly contract that came to about $10 with all the taxes and fees included — a grandfathered plan that was offered to Government employees way back when cell phones were considered a luxury.  Calls were extra.  Since I seldom used the phone, my monthly bill rarely exceeded $12.00.  The phone really was for emergency use.

Initially, we thought we’d keep the Sprint plan and get Mui an additional phone after the Blackberry was no more.  But the more we read about the lack of Sprint service in off-the-beaten path places, the more leery we became about that plan.

Next, we looked at iPhones with Verizon service.

I’m one of those people who hates — and I don’t use that word lightly — talking on the phone.  If I can get away with it, I have Mui handle anything that requires dealing with someone on the phone.  To me, phones are a necessary evil — be they mobile or landline.

Add to that the fact that neither of us likes to browse the web with our cell phones.  Who can see anything on those tiny screens?  Not me!  I’d much rather do my browsing on a big screen where I don’t have to strain my eyes so much.  We also already have an aircard for our internet needs — one that we aren’t willing to give up (yet) for Verizon’s more limited data plans.

With all that in mind, paying for a high-priced contract was not something I wanted to do.

So what to do?  A chance visit to Gypsy’s Blog turned our attention towards TracFone.  I noticed Russ (of Travels in Therapy) had left a comment on Gypsy’s blog that they were using these phones and were very happy with them.  He was kind enough to answer some questions for me, and we were all but sold.  Further searches of the web revealed mostly happy customers (yeah, unhappy ones are out there as well), so we decided to take the plunge.  After all, the phones were reasonably priced, and without a contract to worry about, we could change our minds later if necessary.

TracFone is a prepaid mobile phone provider; they have contracts with the ‘known’ wireless carriers.  They offer a variety of phone models to choose from — both CDMA and GSM; and ranging from simple flip-phones to ones with screens and Qwerty keyboards.  They offer airtime cards ranging from 30 minutes for 30 days to 1500 minutes for 365 days.  All reasonably priced with no contracts.  Bundled minutes are also available should you use up your minutes earlier than expected.  And minutes carryover if not used by the end of the period for which you purchased them.

So what did we get?  We ordered two LG 501C phones with Qwerty keyboards (will make texting easier) and double lifetime minutes.  We added the 1500-minute airtime cards, so we each ended up with 3,060 minutes to use through April 2013.  Yeah, I know … the math doesn’t add up, does it?  Each phone came with a 60-minute/2-month airtime card — an unexpected bonus.  The minutes can be used for calls, text messages (you get three for the price of 1 minute), and even web browsing.

the LG 501C was our choice from the models available; that the phone is feather-light is a bonus.

Activating the phone took a matter of minutes.

The cell phone is ready for use and Mui’s happy with how easy set-up was.

With these phones, we’re a bit more connected than we initially wanted to be, but web access will be handy for emergencies and we have no beef with that.  And yes, there is a built-in camera, which I understand is not the greatest quality.  We don’t really care that much about taking photos with our phones anyway, so we don’t see that as a problem.

While we’ve read on the web that TracFone does not excel in customer service.  Our experience thus far has been quite the opposite.  Our emails to them have been answered within 24 hours; the two phones we ordered were shipped promptly (I did have to be home to sign for them); and activating the phones and adding airtime has been a piece of cake.

So, will TracFone be the long-term answer to our cell phone needs?  We’ll have to see how things go once we get on the road, but so far so good.  Mui still has all of his minutes; I’ve got 2,985.50 minutes left.  That means I’ve used only 74.50 minutes since we bought the phones in February — I did say that I don’t like using the phone much, didn’t I ;-)

Red Bay Service: Online Reservation System Operational

Monday, 1 October

This post will be of most interest to fellow-Tiffin owners; especially those who are not aware of the new online service reservation system that went into effect at 7:00a Central today.

Part of our full-timing plan calls for a visit to Red Bay, Alabama to give the Phaeton a full check-up before we really get on the road.  In addition to wanting everything checked out, we also have a few repairs that need to be taken care of — such as getting the driver-side window replaced (broken seal) and having the levelers fixed (we’ve not had levelers since we had to have one leg amputated in April – post here).  On our lengthy list is also such things as having the existing lights replaced with LEDs and converting the hamper to shelving or drawers.

Not all of the work will be done by Tiffin, but everything hinges on getting the Tiffin appointment first.  You can do one of two things if you want to have service done in Red Bay — just show up and hope for the best, or you can get an advance appointment.  Our druthers was for the latter.

Tiffin had has had an odd system in place where they open up their phone lines for Tiffin owners to call in for quarterly appointments on select dates.  For example, for January-February-March 2013, the phone lines opened at 12:00a Central (1:00a EST) on 1 October (today).  Appointments go fast, so we were prepared to set our alarm to make the call in the wee hours of the day.

Then, out of the blue, we learned that an online reservation system was being instituted and it would become operational for the first time on 1 October.  We have no idea how widely publicized the new system is.  We didn’t get a notice from Tiffin — either by snail mail or email — and there’s no announcement on the Tiffin website (at least none that we could find).  Mui learned about it by happenstance when he was browsing the Tiffin RV Network (TRVN) and found a discussion thread on the topic.  (It’s the one forum Mui follows religiously; and highly recommends to all Tiffin owners.)

Needless to say, he immediately checked it out.  Again, no link to the system that we can find on the Tiffin website, so I’ll link to it here; new users have to register first.  Long story short, this is how we got our appointment for 7:00a Central on Monday, 4 February.

Snip of the registration page for the Tiffin online service request system.

Having already registered, it was a piece of cake for Mui to go on the website at the designated hour this morning, sign-in, select our preferred date, fill-in the requested information (last 8 digits of the VIN, for example), write a few notes about what we expect to have taken care of, and click the submit button.  He received instant online confirmation, which was immediately followed by an email confirmation.

Snip of The login page displays monthly calendars on the left side; and guidelines on
the right side; note that reservations are not available for October-December 2012.

(Note the ‘Existing Appointment Confirmation’ on the right [snipped from the website].  It allows the user to print out the details of the appointment, or cancel it as appropriate.)

Since this was the inaugural use of the online system — and we all know technology doesn’t always operate as expected — we did go ahead and also use the phone system to leave a request for a service reservation when the phone lines opened at 1:00a EST.

Better to lose a little sleep and double up on the appointment request this time.  After all, these appointments go fast.  Take a look at the calendar snip on the left.  I snipped this within two hours of the system becoming operational; several dates for the January-March period have already filled up.  Monday seems to be a really popular day to arrive in Red Bay ;-)

We’ve since left a second message to let Tiffin know we’ve gotten confirmation on our online reservation, so we don’t expect to hear back from them unless they have a question about what we want done when we get there in February.

We realize that having an appointment isn’t going to necessarily get us out of Red Bay fast — especially considering what we have on our list (which, by the way, is not all inclusive, but just a sampling).  What this appointment does is allow us to make plans for the non-Tiffin work we also want to have taken care of while we’re in Red Bay.  And even better, it allows us to finally plan out the first couple months of our life on the road — and that’s a good thing :-)