Note: Because we have been in Jacksonville for the last three days while Terry underwent a series of tests and procedures at the Mayo Clinic and did not get home until late last night, I don’t have the energy to post the next in my recent series about our trip home from Ohio. So I will just answer five quick questions before heading to bed. I will pick up on the road trip from Ohio tomorrow.
Q. A while back you switched from Verizon to Straight Talk. How has that worked out for you so far?
A. After close to 20 years with Verizon, we actually switched to Consumer Cellular, not Straight Talk. I only wish we had done it much sooner. We had a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan and were paying over $250 a month for it with two phones. For less than $100 a month we get 50 GB of data (we never come close to using that much) and two phones with unlimited talk and text with Consumer Cellular. We get much better reception here at home, with no more dropped calls, and everywhere we have traveled the service has been excellent.
Q. We are considering the whole RV thing and wonder if you can tell us the best RV for two adults to fulltime in.
A. There is no way to answer that question because there is no one size fits all RV. It depends on many things, including your budget, how much you plan to travel as opposed to how much you plan to sit in one place, and your personal interests, likes and dislikes. While a 40 foot (or longer) multi-slide diesel pusher might be the right choice for a couple who put on a lot of miles every year and enjoy full hookup RV parks, it might not fit another couple who prefers state and National Forest campgrounds and getting far away from the Madding crowd. Some people prefer a motorhome with the ability for the passenger to run back to the bathroom if necessary without stopping, while others want a small towable that costs a lot less money. My best advice is to look at many different styles of RVs, think about the things you want to see and do on the road, and then try to decide which best accommodates that.
Q. I know you have been at Mayo and while I don’t want to get personal, I am very worried about Miss Terry. Is she okay?
A. Terry has been dealing with the aftereffects of the intense radiation she received for her cancer back in 2000, which killed the cancer but pretty much cooked her internally. The good folks at Mayo tell us they believe they can come up with a treatment protocol to alleviate some of her pain and discomfort.
Q. You have spent a lot of nights in hotels lately. Tell the truth Nick, do you miss your big, beautiful motorhome now?
A. I believe we have spent 18 out of the last 20 nights in hotels, and while it has gotten old, no, I don’t regret hanging up the keys when we did. This has been more traveling than we usually do in such a short time, and I cannot justify the expense and upkeep of an RV that we might only use a couple of weeks a year under normal conditions.
Q. I have tried to enter your last four or five free drawings and my name never shows up. What am I doing wrong?
A. It’s not what you are doing wrong, it’s what you did wrong. In the past you repeatedly entered each drawing over and over, even after I e-mailed you three times and told you only one entry per person per week is allowed. Then you entered using seven different names in one week, all with the same e-mail address. So now your entries go directly into the spam folder. When people knowingly abuse the rules, they get blackballed.
Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for a campground rating, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – Immature: A word boring people use to describe fun people.
