Log 2013082701

I've been getting to bed late these past two nights.  Today the toilet in the camper I'm staying at was leaking.  It appears that it likes to run a little longer.  Lucky for me, there was a towel in the closet.  And there was only a slight trickle of water anyways, but I had to put two rugs outside on the deck.  Yesterday, I got $6 in quarters for the laundry.  I also went grocery shopping and got some TV dinners and oven pizzas.  The driver's side tail light finally blew, so I stopped by the auto parts store and picked up a replacement, while pricing a new power inverter.  If I get it by the first, I can have 2000 watts for about $170.  Whether the DC to AC inverter will convert into a AC to DC converter with the use a double male outdoor extension cord (male on both ends) and not blow up my car or catch fire is still a question.  The thing it does have is leads to my battery, which my deep cycle batteries on the trailer will be hooked to with bullets that separate the line when it's unhitched. It ought to charge the whole system?

I checked the rear wheel of my mountain bike into the shop again.  This time it's being serviced at A & B Hobbies & Cycles in Sandusky of Erie County.  I'm having every spoke replaced with stainless steel.  Apparently, mine were already steel, but their quality might be in question.  They say that the spokes were probably going to cost about $36 to replace.  And the technician there was telling me that the true on that wheel should last for many months on road.  At present, I'm lucky to get 70 miles, which I can put on in a single week. This bike is going back to Southern Ohio in 19 days.

I also looked at CDMA cell phone repeaters "for the car."  That's one thing that I did not check into when I purchased my cell phone repeater that is for a 1,000 sq meter building.  Apparently, my repeater can boost the cell phone signal over a luxurious house.  Oh well, it will be on eBay soon.

Log 2013082501

I checked out of Basecamp Echo two days ago and I'm not at my parents camper in Sandusky.  I watch a YouTube video on canning chicken and I think I need a pressure canner with a gauge.  It was added to the procure list.  I withdrew a canned cheeseburger meal today.  It was made about 12 days ago and does show any signs of contamination yet.

I promised a friend in the Buckeye Trail Association that I would bring a hotspotted laptop to the informational booth that she's organizing.  It will be in Moncolva of Lucas County.  I checked the coverage map and its showing 3G in the area.  That's good because the cell phone signal booster is too powerful for what I want to do.  It requires that the antenna be 20m/ 66ft away from the base unit. I've decided that that's too much outdoor N-type cable to carry.  In the meantime, I'll be searching for other options.

I'm using the hotspot now.  In the past, I had an cellular internet card and so far, internet speeds are just like it.  Today, I called up Sprint and got a 7 day trail for their 2 gigabyte (GB) package.  Overage charges are $0.015 per kilobit (Kb), which is slightly less than when I owned my cell card.  8 bits = 1 byte. I also know that overage charges can really be steep because webpages and multimedia can have very large file sizes. In 7 days, if I don't cancel, Sprint will charge me $19.95 for the 2GB every month until I cancel the package.  It does not have a contract and I can do it at anytime.  Since my smartphone is recommended to have an unlimited talk/ text and data package that runs $99 + taxes and I carry insurance on the phone for another $10, my monthly cellular bill is usually $117.  This will bring me up to about $140 per month.

Because of the BTA booth in Monclova, I believe that Basecamp Echo will be at Mary Jane Thurston State Park outside of Grand Rapids of Wood County.    But I don't plan on leaving Sandusky until 2 September.  I'm anticipating that I'll be hard at work maintaining the Defiance Section when I get there.