The strong winds that had been hammering northern Indiana Friday continued all night long, and continued through much of yesterday. There was no question about it; we were not getting out on the highway. We really, really wanted to be on the go, but we really, really didn’t want to be blown all over the road and waste a bunch of fuel fighting the wind.

So we spent the day listening to music, cruising the internet and hoping that today would bring us better weather. About noon, our friend Michele Henry from Phoenix Commercial Paint stopped by to visit, and later on we went to dinner with Greg and Jan White. We all got a laugh about the fact that this was our third “farewell dinner” in as many days.

Back at Elkhart Campground, I spent some time studying our planned route, while Miss Terry decided to try making a batch of pumpkin cheese bread in her convection oven. This would only be her second attempt at baking in the oven, as she transitions from the gas oven we had in our bus conversion.

While Terry was using her electric mixer to blend the ingredients, we suddenly lost all electrical power in the motorhome. The Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS) unit I got from Lawrence RV Accessories was showing 125 volts of power coming in. I pushed the button to turn our inverter on so we had power again from the inverter and battery bank, but the battery charger was not working.

I flipped all of the breakers on and off, went out to the campground’s electrical pedestal and flipped the breaker there off and on, but we still were not getting any shore power, just the inverter feed. If I turned off the inverter, we went dead again, though the EMS still showed incoming AC power.

Having exhausted my small store of knowledge, I called Greg and he came over. We ran through all of the things I had done already, and then Greg had me turn on our Onan generator. Still no power to the inverter, except what it was drawing from the battery bank. We both agreed that the problem might well be a blown transfer switch, which automatically switched between shore power and generator power.

After studying the books that came with our motorhome, I logged onto Winnebago’s website, where owners can download electrical and plumbing schematic drawings, along with paint codes and a ton of other valuable resource information for anything Winnebago has ever built.

With still no luck solving the problem at that point, Greg checked our inverter and pressed the reset button for the incoming breaker on it, and suddenly we had AC power again!      

Apparently all incoming shore power is routed through the inverter, which really doesn’t make any sense to me, because if the inverter goes bad, we’d be stuck with no power to the motorhome at all. The way I wired our bus, the inverter was a supplementary power source, and taking it out of the line would not disrupt power to the coach. But we have to learn all about living in a factory made unit again, including engineering designs that boggle the mind.

With power restored, Miss Terry finished making her pumpkin bread, and it came out looking great. She is her own worst critic, but even she said it was pretty darned good! I thought it was delicious!  

While I was enjoying a slice of yummy hot pumpkin bread, Bad Nick was busy with a new Bad Nick Blog post titled A Campaign Ad I’d Like To See. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and leave the rest to God. 

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For weeks now I have been debating whether or not to upgrade my old LG cell phone for a Blackberry Storm. The LG worked fine and I had no complaints with it, but people kept telling me how much the new “smart phones” are capable of doing, and what a great tool they are for a businessperson on the go. I was due for a new phone under Verizon’s “New Every Two” program, so I started doing some homework.

The first thing I quickly learned is that the typical kids working behind the counter at a Verizon store or franchise are absolutely clueless about what grownup people need or want in a smart phone. I stopped at three different stores during my research, and the young people working in them were eager to tell me about how great the Blackberry is for texting, taking pictures, watching videos, playing games, and listening to music. That’s all great if you’re fifteen years old, but what I wanted to know was how it could help make my life easier.

A couple of days ago I stopped at the Verizon  company store in Elkhart to apply for my veteran’s discount on my bill (If you’re a veteran, take your discharge or DD-214 to any Verizon company store, and you are entitled to a 15% discount on your cell phone bill). The manager of the store, a fellow named Jason, was using a Blackberry Storm and I asked him about it, and he gave me a very good and thorough demonstration of its abilities from a business standpoint. Now that’s what I wanted!

It didn’t take very long at all to get me hooked. It was one of those “How did I live this long without this thing?” moments. Besides having all the typical cell phone goodies like a camera and texting capabilities (not that I do any texting), the phone comes with an 8 gig memory card installed, which can be upgraded to 16 gig.

It is a Windows based application, so I can download Excel files, such as our mailing list, right to the phone. So if we are away from the bus and visiting with a subscriber, and he wants to know when his subscription expires, I can check it right on my phone. I can also download all of the PowerPoint slide presentations I use in my seminars, and plug the phone into anybody’s computer and show them.

The Blackberry Storm is also fully web capable, so I can surf the internet, check my bank balance, and send and receive e-mails on it. I get a ton of e-mail every day, and if we’re away from the bus for a few hours, they really pile up. Now my phone beeps whenever a new e-mail comes in and I can check it right then, and reply if necessary. I can also tether it to a laptop computer and use it as a modem to get online!

The phone also comes with a GPS built in, and using Verizon’s VZ Navigator service, it is very similar to the Garmin GPS we use in the van or bus. I can even use it to find nearby gas stations, restaurants, or whatever else I’m looking for, with turn by turn directions and voice prompts.

There are a lot of other features that will come in handy, including a voice memo program. I’m always thinking of something I want to tell Terry or include in the blog, but I never write it down, and then I forget. Now I can just record myself a quick note. There is also a calendar that will prompt me for important dates and appointments (so I don’t forget Miss Terry’s birthday a week from today), and even an alarm clock! It’s like having a secretary right in my pocket, but I can call it Darling or Sweetie Pie and push all its buttons and not get sued for sexual harassment!

Thought For The Day – A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.

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