Starlink – Part Deux

I’ve been meaning to write an update to our Starlink saga, but we’ve been busy with house stuff. More on that in the next post.

First, apologies to my former high school and band mate Wally who sent me a link to a Starlink review ( https://www.theverge.com/22435030/starlink-satellite-internet-spacex-review ) over a month ago. The article’s title (“SpaceX’s satellite internet service is a technological marvel — when it works”) signaled the direction of the Starlink review.

In a nutshell, in the whole week he evaluated the service, the author seemed most concerned about the fact that Starlink was not as fast as his cable Internet service.

Dumb. Starlink was designed from the getgo as a rural, not urban, Internet service.

Internet in the Boondocks

First, as a rule there’s no cable Internet available in the sticks because it’s just too expensive to run cable lines for so few customers.

So rural Internet options are typically cellular, microwave, and HughesNet.

For example, here in Mariposa, CA where we live, before Starlink our Internet options were cellular (Verizon, AT&T, etc), microwave (unWired broadband), and satellite (HughesNet). I’ve had experience with all of them and reviewed my cellular and microwave services is an earlier post ( https://rvseniormoments.com/2021/03/23/starlink-vs-att-verizon-microwave/ ).

From RVing, I’ve also had extensive experience with HughesNet ( https://rvseniormoments.com/projects/hughesnet-gen-5-satellite-internet/ ).

Starlink

We’ve been using Starlink since March and we’re very happy with it. If anything, Starlink service has become more dependable and faster over time.

About a month ago, we moved the Starlink dish from our backyard fence to our house roof:

In order to mount the Starlink dish on our roof, we used a special Pipe Adapter kit and a Cable Routing kit. Both kits were exemplary for what they included . . .

Our First Fire

It started on Thursday afternoon when Jan and a neighbor noticed CAL Fire aircraft circling overhead.

We think it was a fire tracker and a tanker aircraft like those below . . .

Next stop . . . Google . . .

Turned out that the aircraft were probably overhead for the Live Oak Fire which was already on the CAL Fire (https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2021/5/27/live-oak-fire/) web site:

The fire is about 3 miles (as the crow flies) from us here in Idlewheels RV Park. Close enough to be concerned, but so far the prevailing winds are blowing South East, away from us:

We Sold Our RV

We put our 2001 Newmar Mountainaire on the online RV Trader (https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2001-Newmar-MOUNTAIN+AIRE+4095-5016296735/) about a month ago.

During that time we only had about a dozen inquiries and only two couples stopped by — one a looky loo and the other a young Silicon Valley couple who examined our RV for about 3 hours and took dozens of photos. Neither of these two resulted in a sale.

Then about a week ago Jan put an ad for our Newmar on Facebook Marketplace in a few cities in our area. That did the trick. Last Saturday we accepted an offer from a Citrus Heights couple. On Sunday they arrived with a bag full of cash, then drove off into the sunset (literally) with their Newmar.

C’est la vie.

We feel bittersweet as the sale marks the end of an era with us. We bought our Newmar in 2010 and have tons of memories in that RV. However, the sale allows us to pay off our manufactured home mortgage and then some. So that’s good.

Now what?

We still plan to travel, but differently. I’d like to take a few train trips and Jan wants to fly.

I think we’ll still keep this blog going . . . just with a different focus. See you soon.

It Started Small, but then . . .

I looked up at the windshield and this huge crack suddenly appeared in our Jeep’s windshield Saturday afternoon.

So who do you call?

An hour and a half after arriving in the Merced auto glass shop, we were done!

PG&E Gifted Us

As part of their Energy Savings Assistance Program two PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) reps gave us a Kohler enCUBE 1.8, replaced a dozen or so of our electric bulbs with energy efficient LED bulbs, and replaced four of our ugly ceiling lights with less ugly lights. All for free!

What’s the catch? Nothing.

enCUBE 1.8

This is a lithium-ion battery backup unit. For example, if we lost power to our house (this has happened once), then we could use the enCUBE to power a couple of things like our fridge. However, you can’t power a whole house on one of these things. But, hey, it’s free.

Also, the enCUBE could come in handy for RV boondocking.

NEW LIGHT FIXTURES