A NEW COMPUTER & MODERATOR

Armed with some excellent advice from our pal Barbara Westerfield, Patty and I picked up a new Dell laptop at Best Buy yesterday. We also bought a cradle point router, an external hard drive, and switched our Sprint Data Card to a USB port model. Our old data card served us very well, but it was about 6 years old, and new computers don't support that technology any longer. When we walked out of the store, we weren't shocked by the total price, and received excellent service from Joshua, who walked us through some of the more technical issues.

When it comes to new electronic technology, I admit, I'm perfectly happy to remain a dinosaur, as long as what I have serves my needs, and works. I recently upgraded our primary cell phone to a newer version, but resisted the temptation to jump into the smart phone arena. A lot of folks say that the new smart phones are great, and if you have one, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Perhaps they're right, but I don't text, checking my emails once or twice a day on the computer is more than adequate, and I don't need to carry around a GPS device in my pocket. Having said that, like most folks, Patty and I have become quite dependent on access to the Internet. After about 6 years, our old Dell laptop that served us well, was becoming problematic, and it's speed and storage were back in the dark ages. I have no doubt that we'll make the transition to Windows 7 with only a little trauma, and soon we'll be comfortable with the new computer.

On a different front, we got a phone call from Barb, just after we left Best Buy, asking me if I would moderate a seminar on boondocking (dry camping), at the upcoming Gypsy Journal RV Rally that starts on Monday. Nick Russell had asked Barb to call me, since there was an unexpected withdrawal by the original instructor, and I guess my name came up during one of their planning meetings. We later stopped by the fairgrounds, after quickly hitting the Market Place Swap Meet, and Barb told me a little more about what was expected regarding the boondocking class scheduled for Thursday morning. I told her and Nick that I would give it my best shot, and that Patty and I had a ton of experience on this very subject. In fact, we just left the Tucson Rodeo Grounds, where we spent exactly 2 weeks parked without any utility hookups. There are lots of tips that make dry camping much easier, and perhaps we can share some of our experience with other folks. Should be fun.