Our RV Adventures

My BPPV had almost faded away yesterday, so I expected it to be completely gone this morning, as it has done in the past. But when I got up this morning, it was back in spades, actually worse than it was when it started Sunday morning. But by late this afternoon, it had disappeared completely.

Well, it looks like DirecTV’s DNS (Distant Network Service) service hasn’t gone away, at least completely. So far we’ve only lost ABC east and west, and CW east and west.

According to this, DirecTV made some sort of side deal with CBS, NBC, and Fox. Apparently they got so many complaints, cancellations, and threatened cancellations, that they’re trying to keep it working. Because it’s not just RV’ers that use the DNS. It’s also long-haul truckers, isolated ranchers, and even full-time boaters.

But Jan and I are still looking for a DirecTV alternative. And so far the one that keeps bubbling to the top of the list is the YouTube TV steaming service.

It has over 70 channels, including all the local networks, and all the other channels we normally watch, except for History and WGN. But those two are not very heavy on our watch/record list. And we can stream them online on other free services.

It also gives you 6 accounts that you can share with family members, 3 simultaneous streams, and the best part, unlimited cloud DVR space. Well, actually, the real best part is that it’s only $49.99 per month, about a third of what we pay for DirecTV. And it has a 2 week free trial.

The 3 simultaneous streams thing means that though you can have 6 accounts, only 3 can actually be used at one time, So not a problem for us. And though you have unlimited DVR space, it will only let you keep recordings for 9 months. Again, not a problem, since if we haven’t watched something we recorded 9 months ago, we probably shouldn’t have recorded it anyway.

But strangely, you can’t actually delete a DVR recording anyway. They all just hang around for 9 months until they go away.

Of course, not having DirecTV would be a problem if we were still traveling full-time, since most parks aren’t like this one, and able to support streaming. But we can put our DirecTV in suspension for up to 6 months at a time, so that’s what we’ll probably do rather than just cancel it outright.

That will take care of our 2 or 3 times a year when we travel now. We’ll just turn it back on for a month and then suspend it again.

I mentioned that last Thursday we had tried to go to Pluckers for wings, but the weight was too long before Jan had her pedi-appointment. So we went across the Interstate to get wings at Hooter’s. So today we took another shot at Pluckers. And boy was the difference obvious.

And it wasn’t just the fact that they checked our temps before we were allowed in. The big difference was the size of the wings, or drums, in my case.

This is a 10 drum order from Hooters. I even mentioned to Jan how small they looked, only about 2-1/2 inches long.

And this is 10 drum order from Pluckers.

Looks like the Hooters chickens have been on a diet. The Pluckers drums were over an inch longer. And I really liked the Maple Chipotle sauce.

Sweet and Hot.

Thought For The Day:

“Towering genius disdains a beaten path.” – Abraham Lincoln

I went onto DieselPartsDirect.com last night and ordered the bolts I need for my rig’s oil filter adapter repair. And since they were only $2.84, I ordered 5 of them just to be safe. Hopefully they’ll be here the first part of next week, and I’ll be able to get back on this.

My BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) showed up yesterday morning, and like my previous attacks, it was a little less in intensity, and a little different in effect.

This time the vertigo only hit me when I was standing up, not sitting or lying down as in past times. But by this morning it had started to fade and is mostly gone by now.

I had gotten a email a few weeks ago from Holland America offering me one of the 3 discounts on our Holland America Alaskan Cruise next May.

1. Make an installment toward your booked cruise and receive up to $250 onboard spending money.

• For a $250 installment, receive US$50
  

• For a $500 installment, receive US$125
  

• For a $750 installment, receive US$250

2. Sign up for our payment plan, using EZPay, and receive US$250 onboard spending money per booking. Spread out your cruise balance into equal, interest-free monthly payments, with no additional fees.

3. Pay for your booked cruise in full to receive a 10% discount plus US$250 onboard spending money per booking. Buy and save now, and enjoy something special later — a massage, champagne cocktails or perhaps a dinner in our elegant Pinnacle Grill.

Although it took a lot of help from Chantelle Nugent, our friend/travel agent, to get them on the phone, I finally made a one-time $750 payment for $250 in shipboard cash.

I actually couldn’t see much difference between 1 and 2. Both of them give you $250 shipboard cash, but No. 1 only required a single payment of $750, where No. 2 required 8 monthly payments of $750 or so, all for the same $250 credit.

I never like to give anyone my money until I have to.

The other thing I’m working on that’s trip-related is changing our hotel and flight reservations. We planned to fly into Fairbanks a week before the land part of our cruise starts. We want to spend longer there the one day we would have as part of the cruise. So we had booked a week at the Pioneer Park Best Western, as well as our flight going up a week earlier also.

But I running in a problem because I’m apparently trying to rebook/change them too early. Chantelle says you normally can’t book flights more than 11 months out. So I guess I’ll just have to be patient for a few weeks.

The problem is, as Jan can tell you, I don’t do ‘patient’ very well.

And on the WuFlu front, that Lancet study discrediting HCQ is coming under more and more fire from researchers around the world. On May 28th almost 200 researchers around the world published a open letter questioning the results of the survey.

Part of the reason is that the firm behind the article has refused to release the data that they used so it can be verified and double-checked.

Always a warning sign.

Finishing up on space note after Saturday’s successful SpaceX launch and yesterday’s docking at the Space Station, I thought I post this great shot from the Cassini probe showing the earth and the moon through the rings of Saturn.

Yes, they’re those two small white dots.

Thought For The Day:

With age comes new skills. You can laugh, cough, sneeze, and pee all at the same time.