My Trails

Big Boy

This guy walked by my camp yesterday.

Can you see Minnie?

My camp with Minnie almost hidden. She is on this side of the road.

Selfie

I recently bought a new phone. I had been eligible for an upgrade for quite some time, but due to travel and the fact thar my Galaxy 2 was still working fine, I put the purchase on the back burner. For my lifestyle Verizon is the carrier of choice and I debated about switching to a prepaid plan that would let me use their towers. The options for phones and data packages were too limited however, so I stayed with AT&T where I am grandfathered into unlimited data.

I rarely use my phone as a phone. I probably make fewer than one call a week, preferring to text or email most of my communication. What I do use it for is: reading, writing, surfing, movies, video, maps, camera, and miscellaneous other apps. I realized that my phone is used more like a tablet than anything else, so armed with that knowledge I bought a Samsung Galaxy Mega.
So far I like the phone a lot. It is a inch wider and almost 2 inches taller, allowing me the advantage of a much larger viewing screen for these tired, old eyes, and still the convience of slipping it into my pocket when I go someplace. I thought that with such a large screen and quick processor the battery would run down fast. But I have to say that the battery last much longer than any of my previous phones.

It usually takes me quite a while to figure out all the things my phone can do, and to be honest, I never find them all. But one feature I particularly like is the ability to split the screen and run two processes at once. There is also a feature that allows you to move controls to one side for easier one – handed operation. I’ll update my opinion after more experience but so far so good.

When I was at Dave & Lisa’s this weekend, I bought a new phone.

Karen calls me a traitor!

I couldn’t be loyal anymore after taking a look at Dave’s new phone and the Android operating system. If Apple would have upgraded to 4g, I probably would have remained with the iPhone, but the speed and power of this phone is amazing.

The phone is a Samsung Galaxy II Skyrocket, just a short generation above Daryl’s Thunderbolt. It has a 1.5 g dualcore processor, support for the newest 4g speed, and a gazillion more electrons flying around in a frantic frenzy.

I don’t know enough about it to judge every feature but I think it should work for me. The screen is a lot larger than the iPhone and its incredibly thin. I thought maybe it wouldn’t fit my pocket but I don’t notice any difference.

Dave and I were concerned about loosing our unlimited data plan, but I think AT&T is trying to keep customers happy and still supporting those of us grandfathered in.

One thing that I lost was the ability to toggle my laptop. I could still do it but would have to switch to a different data plan or install a third party program not legal with our provider. David and Lisa use very little data because they are connected to WiFi most of the time. I, however, used 85 gegibites last year- they charge $10/g for anything over 3/Mo.

Ill let you know how I like it in a month.

After only a few months of living in an appartment it is amazing how much stuff I have accumulated. In ten days I have to clean up, throw out, give away, and find a home for everything that overflows the space of a van.
It’s hard to believe how my possessions have grown since last year. I don’t think of myself as a hoarder but I can see how it sneaks up and overtakes you when your not looking.
I have several books that I bought last year. I really enjoyed reading them but can’t see myself reading them again in the near future. They’re not the type of book any of my friends or relatives would like and I don’t want the hassel of taking them to the library. I probably should just throw them out but can’t bring myself to do it.
I have a couple of pieces of furniture that I picked up at Goodwill. Nobody wants those either. I’ll probably end up leaving them for the next tenant. He may throw them out too, but at least I wont know about it.
I have way too many clothes to ever fit in my van. I don’t remember buying half of them and I regularly wear less than that. They must have seemed like a good idea at one time but I’m thinking the best option is to toss them.
I have a few item that I couldn’t throw out so I made a trip to Karen’s and another to Dave’s and Lisa’s, with instructions to yard sale all of it at their earliest convience. If they can’t sell it I hope they toss it and never tell me.
I have more to tell you but I think I will upload this much in case I mess up.

When you buy a used vehicle there are always little things that need to be fixed. I had new shocks installed and complete wheel balancing on all four tires. I’m going to have the brakes and rotors replaced in the near future, and if you’ve ever dealt with an engine emissions light, you know how that can ruin your day. Small repairs don’t seem like much but they add up to significant money when you are budgeting to save for another expedition. The most important thing though, is to have the van mechanically sound before I take on the Rocky Mountains next spring.

The van came with swivel, captain’s chairs in the middle, designed to face the back seat for important conference meetings and socializing. What I really wanted was for the front passenger seat to swivel, serving a dual purpose of passenger and living room seating. It seemed like such a waste to throw away a swivel seat, but modifying and installing it in the front seemed like too big of a project. When I crawled underneath, I couldn’t even find the bolts where they came through the framework, and I was afraid that they would be rusted and impossible to remove.

As you can see from the pictures below: I did it! With a lot of drilling and rebolting, I now have my passenger/living room, easy chair. I had to remove the seat belt assembly from the front seat and install it to the swivel seat, buy longer bolts where they went through the frame, but it went well and I’m confident that it is safe.