I spent most of yesterday busily doing nothing, and managed to get most of it done.

Don Bingham, a faithful blog reader and newly retired Apple employee, contacted me to congratulate me on my new iPad and to tell me that he wanted to present me with three great apps; Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, which are word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs, respectively. These will really help me get the most out of my new iPad, and I appreciate your generosity, Don.

The only problem was, for some reason, when I tried to download the programs directly to my iPad from the online Apple Store, I kept getting an error message. Eventually I downloaded them to my desktop computer, and then transferred them to the iPad, along with Scrabble, the iPad version of the popular board game. I also downloaded my iPod music library to the iPad.

Well, why have a new game if you don’t play it, right? So there went most of the afternoon. As it turns out, for a wordsmith, I really suck at Scrabble. The computer knows words I never heard of. I managed to beat the game a few times, but it pretty much cleaned my clock every time.

I did tear myself away from my new toy long enough to go up to the office to pay for two more days to extend our stay here at Happy Days. Or at least I tried to. As it turns out, the office is closed on the weekends, so I left them a message that we will be leaving Monday, and will catch them before we take off.

I also called Camping World in Mesa to complain that ever since we got our new tires installed, the end of February, I have been having problems with both inside duals. They are losing air, and giving false readings on my PressurePro tire monitor. The consensus of Mike McFall from PressurePro, and other experienced tire people, is that when they installed the valve stems, they either screwed the extenders down too tight and collapsed the small washers inside of them, or that the valve extenders themselves are bad. After some discussion with the service manager at Camping World, he acknowledged that they have had problems with their valve extenders in the last few weeks. So we have an appointment with them first thing Monday morning to hopefully remedy the problem.

I may have been a couch potato most of the day, but not Miss Terry. That lady is always busy doing something. Her sister Lisa had invited us to dinner, so Terry made up a big batch of refried beans to go with the tacos Lisa was preparing, and while they were cooking, she installed the new Levolor wooden blinds in the bathroom, in place of the original metal mini blinds. We are replacing all of our window coverings with the Levolors, and this was the first one so far. I think they look very nice, don’t you?

We went to Lisa’s at 4 p.m., and she and husband Jim made us feel welcome, then stuffed us with delicious food as we had a fun evening together. We don’t get to see enough of Jim and Lisa, because they have very busy schedules, so it is always a treat to get together with them when we are in town.

Back at the motorhome, I parked myself back on the couch and attacked the Scrabble game again, because I’m nothing if not persistent, and lazy. The game beat me three rounds out of four, so I finally gave up and did something productive instead, moving to the far end of the couch and giving Miss Terry her nightly foot rub. I have to do something around here to earn my keep!

Thought For The Day -A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

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I got an e-mail from a blog reader who is shopping for a new motorhome, asking me how important we felt our built-in vacuum cleaner is, because the salesman is telling them that RVers consider this an essential item. I guess they’re still too green to know that if an RV salesman’s lips are moving, he’s lying.

The only reason our coach has the onboard vacuum is because Winnebago built it in when the rig was new. We have carpeting in our living room and bedroom, and 9 times out of 10, when Miss Terry needs to clean something up, she reaches for her handheld Dyson DC31 Vacuum instead. It’s lightweight, sturdy, powerful, and versatile, and is much easier to get out and use than dragging out the hose for the onboard vacuum.

Our MCI bus conversion didn’t have any slide-out rooms, but ever since we got our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage, I have been collecting an assortment of scars and dents in my head from running into the bedroom slide. A couple of times I have hit it so hard that I knocked myself on the ground. Miss Terry got tired of patching me up and listening to my sniveling, so yesterday she bought one of those plastic pool noodles that kids use to keep themselves afloat, and cut it into short sections, then split them open lengthwise. They slip right over the corners of the slide, and will hopefully stop me from bashing my original equipment noodle. 

I got an e-mail yesterday from a blog reader in Nashville with this link to a couple of moving You Tube videos about the terrible flooding there. Ken reports that the Nashville KOA, which took the brunt of the storm, is closed. Everything at the KOA was underwater, including their office and store. The Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground also suffered some damage, but is up and running. Two Rivers Campground is high and dry, with no damage. Ken said the Nashville Camping World is also undamaged and open for business. If you are an RVer who feels the need to give something back to society, I’m sure there are plenty of folks in Nashville who need a hand right now, whether in the form of a donation check, or another pair of strong hands to help clean up the mess.

I’m an old car guy (that’s old car guy, not old car guy), and the fellow in the site next to us here at Happy Days Campground has this beautiful old 1951 Buick Roadmaster police car. How cool is that?

I was admiring the car yesterday, and he told me that he is a volunteer with the Apache Junction Police Department, and he spotted the old car sitting in the back of the department parking lot soon after he started. The sergeant said it hadn’t been started in years, so our neighbor took it upon himself to get it running again. He spent a month getting the old police cruiser roadworthy again, and now the police department uses it as a DARE car, in parades and at car shows, to spread the word that crime doesn’t pay.

It’s getting hot here in the desert, with temperatures predicted in the upper 90s the next few days, and higher after that. We are enjoying our stay at Happy Days, and we have a great RV site, but we don’t like excessive heat almost as much as we don’t like cold. We will stay here through the weekend, and then head back up to Show Low on Monday, where daughter Tiffany tells me it has stopped snowing, and is very pleasant.

Bad Nick has been too quiet the last few days, but never fear, the little imp is back again, with a new Bad Nick Blog titled Potpourri. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.

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When I first heard about Apple’s new tablet computer, I have to admit that my first reaction was “So what? I already have a desktop computer, a laptop computer, and a netbook computer. What can the iPad do that they can’t?” Then I saw my first iPad, and my immediate reaction was “I want one!” 

As it turns out, there is not much you can do on an iPad that you can’t do with another type of computer, but there is a lot that I can do with an iPad that I don’t do on my other computers. Things like relaxing on the couch and surfing the web at the same time, or checking my e-mail while visiting the in-laws, or reading USA Today for free while waiting in the van while my wife is in the bank or grocery store.

The iPad comes in two versions, either a WiFi only version, or a 3G model (capable of accessing the internet via AT&T) which also is WiFi capable if you are near a WiFi hotspot. Both versions come with either 16, 32 or 64 gig of storage. I wanted the 64 gig 3G model, because one of my big reasons for wanting an iPad was for internet access away from our motorhome. Getting one proved to be a challenge, because every store I contacted was sold out. I finally put my name on the list to reserve one at the Apple Store in Tucson, and less than a week later it arrived.

I am no fan of AT&T, and I really wish the iPad was available on the Verizon network, but so far there is no verifiable indication that will happen anytime soon. So it is what it is. AT&T offers two different monthly pricing plans for the iPad, either 250 MB for $14.99 or $29.99 for unlimited data. You can change your plan at any time, but forget the cheaper plan. It’s a joke. I signed up for it, and in less than 24 hours I was at my limit, with no movies or music downloaded, just web surfing and checking e-mail. 

I was disappointed to discover that my iPad would not work with our Cradlepoint MBR1000 router right out of the box. So much for Apple’s “just turn it on and it works, first time, every time” reputation. I called the Apple Store, and they asked me to bring it in to see if they could figure it out. As it turns out, there is a setting on the Cradlepoint that I need to change, which the Apple tech assures me will remedy the problem. Since I switched to the unlimited plan, the conflict with my router is no big hassle, so I’ll wait and have one of my tech buddies talk me through changing the router’s settings, so I don’t mess up and lose Miss Terry’s WiFi access in the process. On AT&T, here in Apache Junction, the iPad works quickly, and I have no complaints.

UPDATE: After I originally posted this blog, my friend Greg White talked me through resetting the router, and now the iPad works fine on WiFi.

The first thing one has to understand about the iPad is that it is not a replacement to a computer, if you need all of the things a computer can do. I see it as a supplement. If I am at my desk, I may pop onto Facebook to see what’s happening, or answer an e-mail, or look around the internet, but to me, my desk is where I work, so I find myself feeling guilty if I goof off too much, and before long I’m writing a blog or a story for the next issue of the Gypsy Journal. With the iPad, I can park myself on the couch and play.

So if an iPad isn’t a computer, what is it? Well, it’s a great e-book reader, for one thing. I had an Amazon Kindle, and though I loved the concept, most of what I wanted it for were reference books. I discovered that photographs and charts look terrible, and are hard to see on a Kindle. On the iPad, they look great. I was also thrilled to learn that, besides Apple’s online book store, there is a free Kindle app, and once I downloaded it, all of the books I had purchased for my Kindle were still in my Amazon library, and I downloaded them to the iPad. Cool!

Being a career newspaper man, I am a news junkie. So I love the free USA Today app, which allows me to read my newspaper on the iPad. I can also read the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and a ton of magazines on it.

The iPad comes with a great street map, and the 3G model has a GPS chip built in. I can view maps in traditional street view, or Google satellite view, and the GPS feature allows me to find local businesses wherever I am. When I click on a business, I get the address, phone number, and other info, along with turn by turn directions.

We love music, and our iPod has thousands of songs on it. I can download those same songs to my iPad, and buy more from the iTunes Store.

For gaming, the graphics are fantastic, but I doubt that I’ll be playing games in the iPad. I have also seen movies on iPads on display at stores, and the picture is great. There is a Netflix app that allows you to download all the movies you could ever want to watch.

I could go on and on about all you can do with an iPad, but you can get most of that info online with a quick Goggle search. So instead, I’ll tell you a little about the features I like and don’t like, from a user standpoint.

First, the iPad is heavier than a Kindle, and your hands get tired pretty quickly if you are holding it like a paperback book. But if I prop it up on my chest while laying down, or on my stomach while sitting in a chair, it’s fine. (I knew I grew that stomach for something!) In the van, I prop it on the steering wheel and again, no problems.

I have heard that because the iPad doesn’t support Flash, some websites will not load right, or won’t come up at all. So far that has not been a problem, and I have been able to access and view every website I wanted to, including my own websites, the Escapees forum, Ancestry.com and many others. I can also follow links in websites with no problem

The glossy screen is also a fingerprint magnet, and in direct sunlight, the screen will give a lot of glare. There are screen protectors one can buy to remedy those problems.

I like the touch screen, and being able to make type and photos larger whenever I need to. For these old eyes, that’s a real plus. I am also very impressed with the iPad’s battery life. Apple claims 9+ hours of constant use on the 3G models, and 10 hours on the WiFi only models. I have found that to be true so far. I charged the unit up when I brought it home, and have about 40% of battery power left 36 hours later.

The speaker is so so at best, and while there is a jack for earphones, I don’t know how much I’ll use the music feature, since I can just slip my much smaller, lighter iPod into my shirt when I go for a walk.

I downloaded the free Weather Bug app, and I am very impressed with it. The graphics are excellent, and the GPS tells Weather Bug my location for up to the minute local weather info. One reader e-mailed me that they found its live weather radar very handy a few days ago when they were on the road and dodging thunderstorms and tornados in Oklahoma.

Other standard iPad features I really like are the notepad and calendar. Yes, I have both on my Blackberry, but my eyes older really need a bigger screen.  I also appreciate the fact that, unlike a laptop computer, the iPad does not get hot, no matter how long you use it.

There are other features, and thousands of apps that I am looking forward to exploring further, but based on what I have seen so far, I am even more impressed with the iPad than I was at first glance. I see it becoming my primary tool for media consumption, information access, and  web surfing. Like an American Express card, I won’t leave home without it.

So, is the iPad the newest must have gadget for every RVer? I don’t know, but it sure meets the needs of this RVer, and I’m glad I have it!

Thought For The Day – Suburbia: Where they cut down all the trees, and then name streets after them.

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Did I mention that I really, really hate getting up early in the morning? I’ve never been a morning person and never will be. I have never minded working long hours, I just always wanted the night shift, not the morning shift. But I was still awake at 6:30 a.m. yesterday morning. That’s two mornings in a row when I was up with the roosters. Will the madness never stop?

The guys at RV Renovators were on duty at 7 a.m., and they had one heck of a job getting the Norcold refrigerator in our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage loose enough to tilt forward so they could do the recall upgrade. Miss Terry had to empty the unit before they started working on it, and it’s a good thing she did, because judging by this picture it all would have been in a big jumbled mess otherwise. Fortunately, RV Renovators had a refrigerator and a separate  freezer that we could store everything in to keep it from spoiling. 

The techs had to almost crawl inside the access panel opening in the side of the motorhome to get the job done. By late morning they had the upgrade finished, and we started putting everything back inside the refrigerator. Then Miss Terry noticed a problem. The refrigerator would not ignite on propane, and kept giving us an error message. Oops! Now what?

A couple of techs tried to diagnose the problem without success, so they called in Bob, the “old timer” at RV Renovators. It only took a few minutes for Bob to figure out that the air tube directly over the burner was full of crud, and with all of the jerking and pounding to get the refrigerator out, some of it had fallen down and blocked the gas valve. They cleaned it out, and voila, the propane fired right up and we were in business.

For most of our many years as fulltimers, we have had a residential refrigerator, so there is a learning curve to RV refrigerators that we are still working on. Bob told me that the refrigerator burner air tube should be cleaned every year to prevent this kind of problem. I didn’t know that, did you? 

With that problem out of the way, we were ready to go. I would feel confident in recommending RV Renovators to anybody in need of RV service or repair. They took very good care of us, and we will call on them any time we’re in Arizona and need work done. Thanks Cinda, Jesse, Bill, Bob, and everybody else for all of your great service.

From RV Renovators, we drove a few miles east to Apache Junction, where we took a site at Happy Days RV Park, a nice Passport America campground with 50 amp full hookup back-in sites on gravel, with a concrete pad at each site. The place is pretty empty, but we’re only going to be here a few days while we visit with Terry’s parents.

Once we were hooked up and settled in, we drove to their house and spent some time with them. It’s always nice to have family time. By then it was late in the day, and we were both pretty hungry, so we hit our favorite Chinese buffet in this area, #1 Eastern Super Buffet. Even though we don’t live here, we’ve been there so many times during the last two winters that the staff knows us when we go in. I would rate it up with the top four or five Chinese buffets we have found nationwide.

Between two nights with little sleep, and getting up early, along with a full tummy, by the time we had finished eating, I was barely able to keep my eyes open. Terry drove back to the campground, and we had a quiet night watching TV, I wrote my blog, and we were in bed early. Or at least early for us, anyway.

Thought For The Day – There is no shortcut to anywhere worth going.

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Tuesday morning we were up by 7 a.m., which is way too early for anybody with common sense, but we wanted to get up to RV Renovators in Mesa, Arizona to get our Norcold refrigerator recall work done. No matter how early I have to get up, my body has its own time clock, and I still have to post my blogs after midnight, so I didn’t get to sleep until after 2 a.m. I sure hated to hear that alarm clock ring!

Then, for some silly reason, I had the old Helen Reddy song I Am Woman going through my head all night. Don’t you hate it when some tune gets stuck on automatic replay in your brain and you can’t stop it? Geez, at least it could have been something by some artist I like, maybe Jimmy Buffett or Billy Joel! Then again, maybe I didn’t have Helen Ready singing to me all night long. Maybe it was Miss Terry, sending me some sort of subliminal message not to mess with the Boss Lady!

We left Tra-Tel RV Park in Tucson right at 9 a.m. and had an easy run north to Eloy, where we pulled into the Flying J for fuel. Our motorhome was filthy, and there is a truck/RV wash right across the street, and since the nice folks at RV Renovators had told us our job would be quick and easy, we decided to get the rig washed first. They did a great job, a wash, wax, hand dry, tire treatment, and Rainex on the windshield, all for $93. Hey, you couldn’t get me to do all that work for that little money! Ask Miss Terry, she’s tried!

Of course, since I had just gotten the coach looking all spiffy, every bug in the state of Arizona with a death wish decided to end it that morning, and by the time we got to RV Renovators, the front end of the motorhome was plastered with bug guts. Yuck. Hey woman, stop that damned roaring and bring me a wet rag so I can clean this thing!

Office manager Cinda Nelson gave us a warm welcome, and she’s so darned pretty it was worth the trip from Tucson just to see her. We have heard a lot of good things about RV Renovators, and I’ll tell you what, I was impressed. The entire crew is friendly, and they let us know that they really wanted to make us happy. Here are Cinda, paint and refinish specialist Jesse Hilaire, and service writer Eddie Clayton.

Bill, one of the techs, went right to work on our RV while Cinda gave us the grand tour.

RV Renovators does everything from RV service, to body work, windshield replacement, fiberglass repair, major upgrades, and overhauls. This Class C is getting new skin, and it looks like quite a project.

This motorhome is having a major rebuild. This is what your coach looks like with the slide out. Be sure to fasten your safety straps when you go down the road!

This Class A is getting a new floor installed. We may replace the carpeting in the front of our Winnebago with some type of laminate flooring one of these days.

Hmmm…. I wonder if Miss Terry would let me have this for a tow car? It looks like it would be fun to play with.

Cinda had told us our repair would take about an hour, but you just know nothing is ever that easy for me. Bill ran into a problem getting the refrigerator to come loose, and after a few failed attempts to figure out why it wouldn’t move so he could get behind it and do the upgrade, a phone call back east to a Winnebago expert revealed that not only is our Norcold attached to the side wall like in most RVs, it is also bolted down through the roof! So Bill got a ladder and went up on top, where he peeled away the caulking, removed the screws, and then a plastic cowling. Still no luck. The darned refer would not budge!

Further investigation revealed that the refrigerator is also sealed to the compartment floor with some type of silicone adhesive. When Winnebago builds a motorhome, they don’t cut any corners.

By then it was late in the day, and the folks here needed to get an authorization from Norcold for the extra labor involved, since this is billed as a “quick and easy” job. Of course, Norcold was closed by then, so that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.  Cinda, Bill, and everybody else were apologizing all over the place for the unexpected delay, but what the heck, things happen.  If you live the RV lifestyle, you have to be able to roll with the punches sometimes. It’s no big deal, we know we’re in good hands, and we don’t have to be anyplace special anytime soon.

They parked us behind the shop, inside a secure fenced yard, and gave us a key to the gate so we could come and go as we pleased. David and Lynn Cross, whom we met at our Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma in March, are here getting some work done too, and our motorhome is parked next to their beautiful Executive. We had 50 amp electric, and we were very comfortable. Today’s a new day, and I’m sure they’ll get things taken care of with Norcold.

One final note, I said in yesterday’s blog that Miss Terry and I were betting on how long it would take the Apple Store in Tucson to get my 3G iPad in, and Terry said they’d contact me as soon as we got to Mesa. Darned if she wasn’t right! A few minutes before we arrived at RV Renovators, they notified me that it had arrived. I need to have Terry start buying lottery tickets. She is woman, hear her roar!

Thought For The Day – Old age is when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too darned tired to bounce it.

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