A NEW CELL PHONE

OK, so big deal! This, in and of itself, is not really worthy of spending a lot of time discussing. But, as I mentioned in the last blog, we had an issue on the horizon that needed to be solved. That issue was the need for two cell phones under certain circumstances. When we leave Lake Havasu in about 4 weeks, we will be in the motor home for about 5 months, and normally, one cell phone is all we need. However, this year, I'm using the motorcycle rack on the back of the RV, and taking my dual sport bike, for what I hope is the opportunity to do some adventure touring in the back country of the Pacific Northwest. When I'm gone on the bike, I will need a phone in case of emergency, and to keep in touch with Patty. She, of course, will also need a phone for emergencies, and to stay in touch. There will be other situations this year, where we will both need a phone, so, the search began for an additional phone that will only be used occasionally. The first stop was at Sprint, where we could get a free phone for a two year contract, and an additional $30 a month. With activation fees, that was going to be over $400 a year. The second option I explored was the Jitterbug, which has a plan for 50 minutes at $14.99 a month. The catch with Jitterbug is the fee for the phone is $145, so with activation, this route was also going to be over $400 a year. The Third option was a Trac Fone, which we purchased at Wal-Mart for $19.95, along with 120 minutes for $20. Total investment - a little over $40, and no contract. The purchase of minutes over the next year, should be under $100, so we now have a 2nd phone for a minimal investment. The icing on the cake is that the phone is a Motorola, (made in the US), with camera, bluetooth, and a bunch of other bells and whistles that we probably will never use. I haven't activated it yet, and probably won't until we leave near the end of next month. When we have a phone #, I'll post it on the blog.