Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

May 21

Yosemite

Click on map to enlarge.

We arrived in our Yosemite campground on Monday, May 13th. On Tuesday we drove into Yosemite Valley to see what we could see.

There are many, many natural and man-made sites to see the valley. There is also traffic. Lots and lots of traffic.

Our parking spot

After parking the Jeep, we did lots of walking and had lunch somewhere. The we went in search of “The Kiosk” where we hoped to make reservations to raft down the Merced River inside Yosemite. That was the plan . . . and we found The Kiosk . . . a needle in the Yosemite haystack.

We Found Half Dome Village

We Found The Kiosk

However, since the Spring water runoff was particularly fierce this year, rubber rafting was delayed for a time — long after we’re gone. Bummer. We snapped a few pictures and called it a day.

WE DECIDE TO TAKE A BUS TOUR

Since the weather forecast was rain, rain, and more rain, we didn’t want to Park & Walk again. So we took a 2-hour bus tour of Yosemite Valley. A wise decision.

Look, it’s tourists!

A Bad Sign

May 20

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Indian Flat Campground (El Portal, CA)

Click on photo to enlarge

Our Yosemite National Park base of operations.

We arrived last Monday, May 13th, and stayed a week. It pretty much rained (and snowed) from Tuesday until we left. However, we were able to get in a couple of Yosemite visits and tour which we’ll cover in following posts.

The drive up Highway 140 to Indian Flat RV Park and to Yosemite was absolutely stunning. The Merced River, which parallels much of the highway, was roiling with spring runoff from the mountains . . .

Though our campsite was not far from the highway, the view was . . .

Mountain side

River (Highway) side

Honorable mentions . . .

Our HughesNet dish (which allowed us to stream Game of Thrones)

CA gas prices

May 19

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HughesNET Gen 5 Evaluation 4 Results

In 4 of the last 11 campgrounds we stayed, we had to use our HughesNET Gen 5 portable satellite Internet system. We’re using it far more than we expected.

We thought our Verizon and AT&T Internet data devices and plans (+ campground WiFi) would suffice. So the portable dish is turning out to be a good purchase . . . otherwise there’d be no streaming Game of Thrones.

Click on graph to enlarge

Here’s a link to my RAW DATA (PDF).

You’ll notice that some of the latency (or “ping”) times are quite long . . . where typical cellular wireless latency times are well under 100 ms, satellite Internet times can be well over 600 ms. Latency is the time it takes to send and receive data from a source. Shorter times are better. While Internet servers on earth may be hundreds of miles apart, Internet satellites are thousands of miles (~ 22,000) above the earth. Even at the speed of light it takes significantly more time to communicate with a satellite than an earth-based system.

However, I found that under most circumstances long latency times are not an issue, but there are exceptions. For example, using VOIP (Voice Over Internet) for telephone calling is problematic at best. Also, when using HughesNet, I’ve been unable to upload large (e.g. video files) to my blog. I have a feeling that this website uses some sort of ACK-NAK upload protocol that continuously checks how an upload is going. The long satellite latencies screw this process up. C’est la vie.

May 18

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Verizon Prepaid $65 Unlimited Jetpack DataPlan Ends 5/21/19

This data plan is a very good deal for RVers, especially full timers like myself.

In a nutshell, this Verizon plan provides a data plan with no caps (“unlimited”). However, the plan is networked managed which means from time to time you may experience slow downs in your data speed. This unlimited plan has been around for a while and, generally, people who have it like it. Here’s the poop from Mobile Internet Resource Center.

To get this plan, you’ll have to open a Verizon account. In fact even if you currently have Verizon service, it’s recommended that you open another account to ensure that Verizon doesn’t screw up your current service. This is what I did.

Directions:

(1) Go to this Verizon Prepaid Plan Web Page

(2) Near the bottom of this page under Tablet & Jetpack Plans, select Shop now:

(3) Next, select an Internet device. NOTE: It’s been reported that the 8800 Jetpack is also available. However, you’ll have to talk a salesman into selling you one: