Back to work!!

This past week I made a trip down to Little Rock, Arkansas to see some good friends and just hang out a few days. While there, was reading some blogs I follow and discovered that Cherie and Chris from www.technomadia.com were in St. Louis area visiting family. If you go to their site, you'll discover that they are travelling the land in a really cool restored bus, and they are VERY tech savvy!! And, way cool people! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyway, on my return, I dropped them an email saying I was passing through and would love to hook up!! They were up for it, so we made arrangements and met in Columbia, IL which is where Chris' parents live. Cherie wasn't feeling up to snuff, but she came anyway. We had a great visit, talking about things like solar power, lithium batteries,how I fund my lifestyle, etc....they even did a short video about me which will be up on their site in the near future! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So we hung out in a nice city park in the shade for an hour or so, and then I rolled out for home. No doubt our paths will cross again sometime down the road!! They are a fine example of younger nomads, living their dream, not confined in a sticks and bricks house with all the nonsense that goes with that type of life! I highly recommend their site, tons of useful info on it! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I rolled back in home Thursday evening, and found a FedEx envelope waiting for me. It was from this company I am working for as an IC, informing me that we are going back to work on June 25th, with at least 3 months solid work all set up! But, they have switched me from the Ace Hardware team over to the Lowes team! We are starting in Indianapolis district, then heading to Kentucky, and on to Ohio, wrapping up the 3rd quarter in Atlanta.......4th quarter is still up in the air but looks like we will be in Georgia and Florida! I could use a good 6 months of solid work, to build up the travel fund! Will be good to get back on the road with the STEALTH camper, maybe back to Arizona for a few months!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boondocking gear question.....

In my little corner of the world where I am at the moment, occasionally someone from the main road will see my STEALTH trailer setting out here with the awning out, and find their way to where I am.....this happened to me today, and it was 2 young girls bicycling their way from St. Louis to Indianapolis. But these are the type that have money on a credit card, and are not pitching a tent along their way, but rather staying in nice hotels with the creature comforts that 19 year old females feel they need!! More power to them! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We all sat and enjoyed the morning shade under my awning, and they told me this trip was a "trial" run for a cross country trip they were planning for next year, and the discussion turned to boondocking, and what that would entail.....questions flowed freely.....how do you cook something hot? I showed them my Coleman 2 burner LP stove... They seemed to like that idea! But, what if you get cold? And we are in a tent? I showed them my Coleman LP fired heater... OK, so what if we need light to write our experiences down into our journals?? I told them about the little solar stake lights I saw a girl using in Arizona this past winter, but also I have those handy little dot lights in the STEALTH trailer... They thought those were "cool"!! Teenage girls are so much fun to hang out with!! OK, so HOW do we take showers when we are tent camping?? We HAVE to stay clean and fresh!! After all, we're GIRLS!! No problem ladies!! Buy one of these things and fill it with water, lay it in the sun a few hours, maybe heat up a gallon of water on your cookstove, pour the hot water in, find a tree limb to hang it from, grab the soap and have at it!! This little solar bag grabbed their attention!! I told them they might want to buy 2 or 3 to be safe! After all, how many girls can take a shower AND wash their hair with just 5 gallons of water??? Ya, not many!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The discussion then turned to the STEALTH trailer, and of course they had to have a tour.....wow!!! This is way cool dude!! A fridge and a microwave and a coffeemaker and a flat screen tv and an 8" mattress!! Dude, this is wicked!! And just to be cruel, I reached up and turned on the rooftop A/C unit----air conditioning!! In a frickin cargo trailer?? We HAVE to think about getting one of these!!! Seriously, how much money you got wrapped up in this, and where can we get one?? And how big a truck do we need to pull it? And how does the solar panels work?? I have a feeling these 2 will NOT be tent camping next year when they go cross country!

Oh dear....my TROLL is upset!!

Well, yesterday as you may recall I posted an entry that apparently upset my little TROLL Mike...he sent a response which I went ahead and posted, and I hope my good readers go back and read. If you do, you will see that my stupid little TROLL Mike thinks I only have 3 followers reading my blog, and that all of you are stupid and poor....WHERE does he come up with this stuff?? What my stupid TROLL Mike does not know is that as owner of my blog I have access to my blogs stats....yesterday for example, there was 44 views of my blog....the day before there was 56....and since I started the blog last July, there have been over 14000 page views. Hmmmmmmm......if there are only 3 followers to my blog, those 3 people have been super busy!! And since the little TROLL Mike takes the time to read the posts, then he is contributing to my ever rising total page views!! Thank You numnuts! In his comments yesterday, dingleberry TROLL Mike stated something about the fact that I live in a $2K cargo trailer. Well no shit moron Mike!! THATS what the blog is all about!! So glad you finally got up to speed. The great thing about my lifestyle is a. My rolling home is PAID for....b. It is extremely comfortable...c. I want for nothing...d. I have no debt!! ZERO!! ZILCH!! e. I can camp virtually anywhere--undetected!! People have no idea whether someone is in there or not!! It is completely STEALTH!! No windows means no prying eyes peeking in it......and if I want to see whats outside, I simply get up and go outside..... Deluded TROLL Mike also said something about I can't handle the truth?? What truth exactly are you referring to there?? The truth that I have no mortgage, no grass to cut, no snow to shovel, no property taxes to pay?? The truth that I am free to travel where I want, when I want?? Folks, we have a real bright guy TROLLING my blog don't you think?? Truth is, I bet my little shrimpy TROLL Mike HAS a mortgage to pay, and grass to cut and property taxes to pay and a wife nagging at him to buy her a nicer car even though he would likely go buy a Hyundai!! Truth be told, me thinks my little TROLL Mikey is jealous of my lifestyle....yup, I think thats it! He is stuck in a rut, maybe lost his job after voting for Obama, and is just bitter....bet he votes for Obama again though! And down towards the end of his comment from yesterday, he asks what difference would it make if he were a bum or POTUS?? Well, actually it makes no difference to me at all TROLL Mike.....though I have serious doubt that you are President!! Of course, POTUS could stand for different things I guess......hmmm.....lets consider this.......PUTZ OF THE UNITED STATES??? PRICK OF THE UNITED STATES?? POOPIEPANTS OF THE UNITED STATES??? Which do you think he is good readers??? I suspect my little TROLL Mike isn't getting laid enough! Poor deluded TROLL Mike.....see, Mike does not like anyone living the lifestyle I live!! He goes on several other blogs and spews his TROLL vomit all over their blogs too!! And like me, my fellow nomads just delete his gibberish. What TROLL Mike doesn't understand, is that I am far smarter than he is. I have the upper hand on him, and he doesn't like it! TROLLS want to be heard, and Mike isn't being heard. Because its my blog, all comments have to be approved by me......and poor TROLL Mike does not like that! But, he does amuse me greatly!! I hope he stays with me a long, long time. Because every single time he comes to my blog, my page views go up!! And Google adds a couple cents to my AdSense account!! But I promise you my good readers, none of his vomit will be displayed here for you to read ever again.

Troll returns!

Everybodys favorite commenter, Mike the Silly Troll, returned today with his blather.....poor deluded little Troll....he amuses me greatly!! But rather than post his nonsense where all my good readers would be subjected to his 2 year old mentality, I just delete them! Why?? Because I can! And because I know it pisses him off. Poor little Mike, I suspect he is an unemployed bum living off the government and has to go to a library just to get online.....quite likely lives at home with his mommy....he is always preaching buy American, but I bet he drives a rice burner! Every blog he posts to gets deleted, but he has perseverance I'll give him that. But, the question remains, why does he not reveal himself?? What is he hiding?? Anyone can get online and post anonymously, hiding behind the computer screen, spouting their nonsense......but why?? Come on Mike, reveal yourself to the world!

Solar Problems...........

A new month is upon us, and as it starts, new problems with the solar power setup on the STEALTH camper linger on....the new 100 watt panels from AM Solar in Oregon have arrived.....careful measuring on the roof of the STEALTH camper before ordering insured they would indeed fit. However, I now need to invest a few hundred bucks more on a good MPPT solar charge controller! For the uninitiated, a charge controller CONTROLS the power from the panels going to the batteries to keep from burning them up! When the batts get full, the controller stops sending power.....sort of reducing to a trickle if you will. My existing 80 watt panels have the charge controller built in, so one less thing I had to worry about. These new panels do not have that option, however, and I must buy the separate controller. And they can get expensive!! But on the flip side, the AGM batts I have are nearly $300 EACH!! And AGM batts love power!! They seem content only when they are each holding a charge of something like 14.7 volts.....so the controller is a MUST!! The good news is we got notified yesterday that we are going back to work on the Ace Hardware projects as of 6/18!! AND WE HAVE ENOUGH WORK SCHEDULED TO TAKE US TO THE END OF THE YEAR!! AWESOME!! If all goes well, should be able to take off 3 months at start of 2013, and hang out in Florida, in the Ocala/Silver Springs area. Will still be living simple/cheaply, and solar techs abound down there that will be able to get the power situation resolved and all hooked up correctly. One thing about solar power setups, you don't want some yoyo self proclaimed electrician doing the wiring hook up on that!! You hook up 1 wire in the wrong place and you can kiss that equipment goodbye, and all the money you spent buying it!! This is not the time to get cheap and let an inexperienced person do the work! And I'm the 1st to admit, I AM NOT HANDY with electrical wiring! If I go west instead, I know where to take it to get it done right! But the plan is to go to Florida! I have friends in Cedar Key that I want to go spend time with.....and just set at their tiki bar on the gulf and watch some really amazing sunsets! And do absolutely nothing......