Learning is Fun! How we Watch TV. Plus, the Goods on our Antennae

This type of post is a little different for me due to more specifics than creative writing but I guess some of you out there would really like to know about how we do some things. So, I'm expanding my writing repertoire for those curious folks out there.

And of course I have to make it mine, so I am calling this the...

Learning is Fun! Series

The first topic on our list...

T.V., television, the boob tube, the tele

Here, I try to answer some of your questions and satisfy the curiosity that some might have...

Can YOU have t.v. in your home on wheels? 

If you want t.v. bad enough, you'll have it! When we first started out we bought a Phillips portable 9 inch digital HD TV with FM tuner that we paid $111.00. We actually bought it on the road in January 2012, due to football season! It came with a cute little antennae that looked like a metal stick but in no time at all...it got broken so, we bought a rabbit ears antennae for $30.00 at a  Flying J.

Even though the screen was small, we were still entertained, in the van, when the sun went down. The antennae tried to bring in channels but at the most we would only get 2-4 and 3 of them would be Spanish channels...no habla espanol, no bueno! 

Time went on and in July we bought ourselves an Anniversary/Birthday present...a new T.V.!!

We gifted ourselves a Sansui 19 inch super slim LED-LCD HDTV. What a difference the extra inches make!!

[caption id="attachment_4844" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Hellllooooo....[/caption]

At that point (July 2012) we were still using our rabbit ears to bring in the channels. Right around the Winter R.T.R. (January 2013), in Quartzsite, is when the biggest change in our T.V. reception changed drastically. We bought a new antennae, that we now call The Black Ops Antennae...it looks like we're honing in the Mother Ship! haha

"The Black Ops" is a ClearStream4 HDTV Antennae. We receive over the air digital and HD programming with no fees. We bought our antennae off of Amazon for about $75.00 in January, they are on sale now at Amazon for around $90.00. The dimensions are: 9.1 x 28.2 x 20.1 inches and weighs roughly 7.4 pounds. The antennae has a range of about 65 miles...the main reason for getting it!!

In Quartzsite this Winter...and again football season at its peak, we had no reception...one channel if we tried really really really hard. We actually drove into Ehrenberg for the weekends, roughly 20 miles away, to catch the games! Plus, I missed the whole entire season of MY favorite show, The Biggest Loser... it just wasn't cuttin' it for us.

[caption id="attachment_4850" align="alignleft" width="150"] Install[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4849" align="alignright" width="150"] Hi-5[/caption]

We bought this new antennae, while at the R.T.R., and became the talk of the camp! It was a definite conversation starter for t.v. goers and all of the men, whether they like t.v. or not!!

Here is how we've hooked ourselves up with some tele:

A quick peek at our set-up before getting into the details.

[caption id="attachment_4853" align="aligncenter" width="224"] The Black Ops[/caption]

(Image Ant. 2) The antennae comes in a box with all of the pieces that you need to put it together, it took about 15 minutes for my handy man. Out of the box the antennae (the black circles) are black but the "grill" and the metal pieces that connect together are silver, we have spray painted all of the silver pieces a flat black. The antenna is placed on a regular one inch piece of PVC pipe that we have also spray painted flat black...(.97 cents at Walmart). We purchased a cute little solar light at the Dollar Store and placed it at the very top of the PVC, ya know...for low flying planes!

[caption id="attachment_4855" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Ant. 2[/caption]

(Image Ant. 3) In this picture you can see where J' has fit the PVC pipe into the 90* elbow. There are 2 rebar rods, about a foot long, inside of the PVC to reinforce it during hard winds. The PVC is held onto our cargo basket with 2 U-bolts that we picked up at Radio Shack for about $3.00 a piece. In this picture you can aslo see the RG6 rated coax cable running down the length of the PVC into the roof of the van...the next picture is better for the cable.

[caption id="attachment_4854" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Ant. 3[/caption]

(Image Ant. 4) J' drilled a hole through the roof with his 18 volt Dewalt drill and a Titanium bit to feed the RG6 rated coax cable through to the inside of the van. The hole was filled with silicone caulk...and seems to be holding up pretty good!

[caption id="attachment_4857" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Ant. 4[/caption]

(Image Cab.5) The coax cable being run through the ceiling of the van, down along our interior trim to the T.V.

[caption id="attachment_4856" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Cab. 5[/caption]

(Image TV 6) Our glorious 19 inch nightly entertainment!

[caption id="attachment_4860" align="aligncenter" width="350"] TV 6[/caption]

(Image Back 7) J' drilled a couple of holes in the back of the t.v., at the top and fed a small piece of rope through the holes of the t.v. We use the rope to hold the t.v. in place instead of a mounting bracket...too many crashes onto our heads while getting water! We also installed a pigtail (the black cord taped to the back of the t.v.), so as not to pull on the fitting on the t.v. Believe us, you do not want a bad fitting when you're trying to watch the rose ceremony of The Bacherlorette and the cord accidentally gets moved!

[caption id="attachment_4859" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Back 7[/caption]

(Image Stg.8) Showing how the rope acts as a mounting bracket.

[caption id="attachment_4861" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Stg. 8[/caption]

 Hopefully those images will help clear up any questions about how our antennae is set-up, when we put it up outside...which is most of the time. However, there are times when we don't want to put it up, can't put it up or are just not sure if we can or if we should. For those times, we will take The Black Ops off of the PVC pipe and place it on the front dash. I do not have pictures of this, because we've only had to really do this a time or two in a casino parking lot, but I'll run down how we do it.

We have pretty big sun shades up in our windows at all times, when we are parked. We also have two separate black pieces of fabric we put on the sun visors and push them to the side windows so the side windows are blacked out too. The antennae fits right on the dash board and is balanced by the steering wheel. I am accident prone so I make sure to wrap the corners in a towel before doing this so 1- the antennae doesn't rip the sun shade (yes, I learned the hard way) and 2- so the other edges don't poke ME in the eye ball...or Savannah (yes, I learned the hard way!). Even with the antennae up there, Savannah can usually still sleep on her bed that sits in the drivers chair. Doing it this way, the antennae is out of the way, it can't get broken and isn't outside bringing peeping eyes onto the scene.

All in all, we love our Black Ops and our t.v., we don't wish for satellite although it would be nice to get the History channel and TLC and some others, we love the ongoing cost....FREE!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and if I don't know them J' will!

I hope everyone had fun learning today. You can catch us back here...some day...some time!

PEACE

 

 

Once you go Black, you walk out!

This morning, I felt like a real girl! I woke up, took a shower...yes again! I washed dishes and made breakfast and even put on a dress, all while J' worked and tinkered around with our new TV (in the voice of the announcer from The Price is Right...say it again). I, probably unlike most women, LOVE to do dishes, well now that I don't HAVE dishes to clean anymore. It's very soothing and almost zen-like, ahhh. I wanted to make sure that every single plate, spoon, knife and fork were clean as well as our cookware and anything else that needed soap and hot water!

After everything was spic and span, I made us another pancake breakfast, we used the rest of the box and each got three nice sized cakes. I uploaded more pictures to my picture sites (still didn't get all the pics uploaded, think I need a couple of days but I was able to get about 9 albums loaded). J' got our TV working and figured out and we were able to leave the box behind as garbage. Lil' Phil (our portable TV) was NOT working out for us, let me name off a few reasons why; the screen was too little only 9 inches, the volume control was on the TV only, could not access it with remote, when you plug it in...which you had to do if you wanted to watch TV for more than 15 minutes, it would pixelate so bad it was almost unbearable to watch TV, it would only charge when the TV was off, not while it was plugged in and on...I will keep it at that. We talked about getting another TV, just a regular TV and we've been looking at Wal-mart. We saw a TV that would fit perfectly in our space (we know because we went and got a tape measure from hardware...) so, we bought it. It's a Sansui 19 inch and it totally fits in the space we have for it....so perfect!

Check-out was at 11:00 a.m. (I think it's wrong that we have to wait until 3pm to get into the room but we get kicked out at 11am. I know, I know, I've worked in the hotel industry, but I still think it's just wrong). It didn't really matter because we had somewhere to be, yep the Hullabaloo wasn't over yet, we were gonna go get our slots on baby!! Table Mountain Casino here we come!! This place was just a small place in the middle of the mountains and a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. People did not give this place good reviews but we went anyway, the worst thing that could happen...we leave.

We spent a couple of hours here. Don't worry about the bug; covered parking and her A/C unit hooked up and working great and our check-ins on her, she was good to go. Now, you know that I am a picture girl (if you didn't know that, I am), I wanted to document our Anniversary/Birthday with a picture. I took a few pics of us, that didn't even come out good, in the elevator BEFORE getting to the casino.

 The doors of the elevator open, we walk out, walk past a 'security guard' and as we're walking past her she is hanging up a phone and says, "Excuse me miss, the men in the office just told me to tell you they saw you taking pictures in the elevator and you are not allowed to take pictures in the casino." I was like, Whoa!! They are fast. I said, "Oh okay thank you, it was just in the elevator though." Yeah, I got the evil eye! haha Geez take a chill pill. I get in trouble everywhere! We had a great time, though. J' played his games, I played mine and we got a free buffet because it was our first time there, oooo I even got a shirt! The food was good, the desserts were really good, I would know I had 3 or 4. And yes, I'm a law breaker, I took pictures of the food...so there evil eye-maker!

[caption id="attachment_366" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...let me see that Turkey Roll![/caption]

Nutty Cheesecake & Brownie

[caption id="attachment_369" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Peach Cobbler & Ice Cream[/caption]

We even walked out 'up' from what we walked in with...woot woot! On our way home, we stopped at a little gas station. J' came out to the van and said, "Take your camera and go take a picture of the dog behind the counter." I didn't know why, but I trust he knows me all too well so off I go. I walked into the store and I saw no dog, no guy, no one. I waited and someone else walked in and I heard a dog bark...a big dog bark. I looked and looked but only saw a dogs' leg under the counter. Finally the owner came out and I told him, I was supposed to come in here to take a picture of his dog (and asked if he minded)...then his dog jumped up on the counter, well put his paws on the counter! It was the most beautiful Doberman I've ever seen, although he had just had his ears clipped (booo). He was gorgeous, 7 months old and his name was Homer! I'd have a Dobie in a minute if we had somewhere to put one.

[caption id="attachment_370" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sweet baby Homer[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Look at those paws...and that face...so sweet[/caption]

Since we didn't stop to get groceries, we stopped in Prather instead, just for bread, ice and drinks. Things are more expensive here too, not as bad as Shaver Lake, but still more than Fresno. I did get a free yo-yo out of the deal though, suckers!

[caption id="attachment_800" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yo-Yo-Yo[/caption]

From the store we just came home, set up camp and hung out for the night. We watched our new TV (I'll make-up a name soon enough, gimme a break!) and we still only get two channels (I know it's the antennae). We get FOX and This. This~ is a channel that plays the most awful movies ever, they're all from the 80's or earlier (and not the good ones, yes there were some) and I swear they play movies where the main character in the movie must have gotten their big break from that movie or something...they're really something else. The other night we watched a movie with Alec Baldwin in it, hold on let me see if I can find the name.... Wow, that took some time. It was called Miami Blues and it was a stinker, so I thought. Tonight we watched Stephen King's Silver Bullet with Corey Haim, they were having a 24/7 Stephen King Marathon for Friday the 13th. That was the best movie we've seen yet on that channel! J' was asleep before me and off I went right after him. Our celebrations may be over on 'paper' but the celebration for life will go on and on and on.

Happy life to us all!

PEACE

 

 

Creepers in the Croatan National Forest

Alright let's see what's been going on... I'm finding it a little harder to write every single day like I had planned, just because some days are more fun to write about than others and also some days I just don't feel like writing...also we need a signal! The last couple of days have been filled with checking out some dispersed (FREE) camping in the Croatan National Forest. We found one spot by Google maps to start us off. This place, Fisher's Landing, wasn't what we were looking for,  although it would have been perfect if you could drive up to the site (to van camp) instead of bringing your stuff to it. With this site being the only site we knew of, we stopped into the Ranger's office and asked them if there were more sites like that. The Ranger pointed out where there were two other sites and off we went. We hit up the closest one first, Catfish Landing. It was a cute little spot right on the water. There was quite a lot of trash left over the years and I just couldn't stand to look at such a beautiful place all trashed up so I spent some time cleaning 'Her' up~ 4 bags of trash later and I was able to relax. I also figure Mother Nature gives us so much, it's nice to give back.

[caption id="attachment_1441" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Giving back[/caption]

We chilled here for only a little bit because (due to the trash) there were a ton of bees here and J' couldn't get a good signal, so we left and went to Wal-mart. We also had not stocked up on anything because we didn't know what to expect from this site and the road you drive on to get here is long, bumpy and obnoxious.

[caption id="attachment_1443" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Doesn't look bad, but ...oh boy![/caption]

We were also able to receive signal at Wal-mart for The Bachelorette, so that was a definite plus- hey ya gotta go with what you get people! The next day we geared up with food, ice, drinks, & gas and headed to the other spot the Ranger suggested, Long Point. We had to drive on the same damn road only twice as long this time and had quite a scare with the GPS. The GPS battery died so I plugged it in. It wasn't working. The GPS would turn on then right off~ even plugged in. Then it started not even turning on. I thought something got jostled inside due to the gravel road we had been driving for the last half hour. J' ended up messing with it later and found another cord that worked for it, so thankfully it wasn't the GPS device, somehow the cord was the problem...phew! We finally arrived at our destination and it was better than Catfish and felt a bit more private. Catfish had some 4-wheeling trails in back of the area we were parked at. Here at Long Point there is barely any trash on the ground, it has a vault toilet, a trash can and 2 picnic benches and it's also right on the river. It's beautiful here.

[caption id="attachment_1442" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Road in & terdlet[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1444" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Walking path to River[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1445" align="aligncenter" width="300"] River[/caption]

 When we got  here it was almost like a wind storm was starting, the van was even rocking back and forth. Then the rain came. We just sat in the van with the side windows (with screens) open for air and caught up on some of our stuff. After the rain stopped, it was almost dark so we just opened the side door and hung out.

[caption id="attachment_1447" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Enduring the rain storm[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1448" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Finally the rain stopped[/caption]

 There must be some kind of training or something going on around here because about an hour into being here we had a helicopter fly over us. But not just nonchalantly fly over us, like he could have thrown down a rope for us to climb up-fly over us. It was so close we both thought he was going to land right next to the van. They flew over us for the rest of the day. At first, I thought they were scoping us out, then I thought there had to be another explanation on why they kept moving over the same area so many times.

[caption id="attachment_1449" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Creeper[/caption]

  So I think there must be some kind of flying training or machinery training going on...don't know. It seemed like they were done doing whatever it was they were doing later in the evening, but as soon as the tv died (around 10 p.m.) and we were falling asleep~ there they were again and closer than they were in the daytime...geesh, give us a break! They came around four times and I got my camera out to record the noise and they never came around a fifth time...woo hoo! We woke up this morning and it's been overcast but hasn't rained yet, yay. We were able to pack away some things that we knew we wouldn't be using for a while, like our winter coats, a blanket and some other things. It was able to give us some more room and not have to move it around the 'cabin' every day. We washed up, reorganized, stretched and worked out a little. I labeled all of our GZ batteries along with some other cords so we know what's what when everything is clumped together on the floor. It's all about working smarter in such a small space. One crap thing that happened while things were being gathered & put outside to be organized~ the TV antenna broke...booooo. Hopefully Radio Shack will have something like it or close to it. The one that was so great about the one for Lil Phil (the tv) is that it was pretty small and had a magnet on the bottom so you could stick it to the outside of the top of the van for better reception. It was also just one straight antenna, not rabbit ears, so it was hella stealthy...fingers crossed we'll find another one like it.

[caption id="attachment_1450" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Time to clean her up[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1451" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Camping girl[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1452" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Who says free can't be nice!?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1453" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Living in a van...down by the river![/caption]

Now we're just sitting at the picnic table looking for more National Forest Land North of us (we have pretty good signal here). We are also trying to get some good video of these helicopters ~ there's two of them today! It's like our own private air show...except they're not doing any tricks. I guess I'll just have to keep watching...

PEACE

Ketch-up: Sarasota

Hmmmm....okay let's see, over the past couple of days we have been to about 3-4 Wal-marts, 2 Targets, 1 or 2 Best Buys, & a Radio Shack. J' wants to get a TV so we don't have to keep going places & spending money (out of our budget) to watch the games, so we have been everywhere that would sell the exact TV he wants. Found that no one carries it & we'll probably order online. We have also gone sticker shopping -I got a bad-ass ring too (we started collecting stickers from all the places we've been or just liked to put on one of our main 'bed' boards in the van). We spent a couple of days in Siesta Key on the beach, really only an hour or so because we get bored or I get hungry, then once we pick up to go and check on Savannah we always end up moving on...haha.

[caption id="attachment_2013" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Siesta Beach parking.Better get here early, they fill up fast![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2015" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I guess everyone is on the beach! Siesta Beach picnic area[/caption]

Then, today we finally got our TV. We ended up ordering it online and had it shipped to us down here, to a private postal service. Even though it cost $5, instead of the $3 they told us over the phone, I don't think it was that bad of a deal. I mean, we got a package on the road...how cool is that!? So yay, we got a TV!! Now we can watch the games and even have a little something to do at night when we both don't want to read or do computer stuff. I think it will be a nice break and a nice treat since we haven't had TV in almost two years!

[caption id="attachment_2016" align="aligncenter" width="300"] TV Time![/caption]

Since we had left the beach to go pick-up our new purchase, we decided to find a new place to hunker down for the day. We drove over to the place where they had the Farmer's Market that one day, Phillippi Estate. They have a huge park there and docking stations for kayak's to get into the river so we figured it would be a nice quiet place to spend the rest of the day (no overnight parking there).
So glad we did too. J' was able to work at a picnic table under a gorgeous tree, Savannah was able to do her thing, sneakily though since they don't allow animals in the park...tee hee and I walked around & took pictures. It was gorgeous there, glad we stopped for a few hours.

[caption id="attachment_2017" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Antique Rose Garden[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2018" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I thought all roses smelled the same. NOPE!! These roses smelled like mango & cherry candy… so yummy![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2019" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Such a neat little place this is[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2021" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Another beautiful rose, that smelled so sweet it almost smelled edible.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2022" align="aligncenter" width="300"] J’ working away in Sarasotaville[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2023" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Phillippi Estate[/caption]

PEACE

51- January day at Siesta Key by Ayevangabond