What is it about Cedar Key?

There is something about Cedar Key that makes the days go by slowly, yet when you think back you can't quite figure out where all the time has gone.

It is a place to lose track of what day it is, even what month it is!

As our family and colleagues back home in Vermont slog through snow storms and sub-zero temperatures we go from having to run the fan at night because it is too warm to great sleeping nights with a couple of quilts on the bed.

Every night we gather on the docks to watch the sun set with our fellow campers. 

Each sunset slightly different, but the consistency of stopping to enjoy the evening with our new friends giving us some measure of the days that are passing.

Many days Lucie and I walk the mile each way to Cedar Key's Main St, maybe to mail a package or buy a few things at the little grocery store.  Those errands in town are really just an excuse because what we really like is the walk along State Route 24 that ends on yet another dock looking out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Several evenings we have taken seats outside at the restaurants on the dock in the village to eat seafood and enjoy drinks and companionship overlooking the Gulf with people we have met at the campground. 

Most recently we watched the Lighted Boat Parade.  Even gaily decorated boats and Santa Clam can't quite spark the Christmas Spirit for a couple of New England natives.

Every day we sit at our computers working, Lucie has created wonderful resources for Vermont Schools to use for the national Hour of Code week that has seen school kids across the country be introduced to computer programming.  She has also completed the college courses she has been teaching for St. Mikes, UVM and Marlboro College.  I have been doing database work and remote troubleshooting for St Albans City School.  It is comfortable sitting outside under our tangerine tree, looking up at the palm trees to rest our eyes.  The campground WiFi is pretty good, enough for my database work.  Sometimes we switch to our Verizon connection to get Lucie the bandwidth she needs  for video conferencing with her students.

All around us there are people who are full time RVers who are working full time too, drawn by the laid back pace of this Florida Key with its good Internet connectivity.  Yet every evening we close down our computers and gather on the dock to enjoy the sunset, scritch the dogs (lots of dogs here) and discuss work and life this laid back December in Cedar Key Florida.

At Cedar Key with our own Tangerine Tree

We've settled into our home for the month of December at Sunset Isle RV Park.  This is a delightfully funky park on an island (Key in local lingo) in the Gulf of Mexico.  We are surrounded by palm trees and tropical plants.  We even have our own citrus tree behind the bus.  There is an interesting community of travelers here, with music at night in the clubhouse and a communal Thanksgiving dinner yesterday featuring smoked turkey from the owners' smokehouse.

Back where we left off with our previous post... Our stay at Huntington Beach State Park continued with Lucie and I working every day from our RV, Lucie on her three online graduate courses and me on Google and Haiku accounts for the K-2nd graders at St Albans City School.  We took time on Friday to walk from the campground to Brookgreen Gardens, a beautiful outdoor sculpture museum situated among formal gardens in what used to be a S. Carolina rice plantation.

 

There were many pools with blooming water flowers.

On the walk in we saw wildlife. 

 Can you see the Alligator?

Every day we were at Huntington Beach we would take a walk.  Sometimes on nature trails,

and sometimes on the beach.

Finally on Monday it was time to go.  We headed south through Georgia stopping for the night at a Flying J truck stop just before the Florida border.

Lucie's office while we are driving down the road.

Tuesday we crossed to the west coast of Florida in the rain.  About 8 miles from our destination we had to pull over because a tire on the car dolly had self destructed.

We ended up meeting two very nice locals as we determined that there was no replacement tire to be had in Cedar Key and we found a place to stash the dolly while we completed our journey  with Lucie driving the car while I drove the RV into the campground at dusk.

I had heard about Sunset Isle RV Park on line from a group who call themselves Nu Rvers, people who are working from the road.  So far is has proven to be a good choice.

Yesterday, Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a wonderful feast where the campers here all brought dishes to share and the owners smoked a turkey in the smokehouse that is visible out the front window of the RV.  In the evening people gathered in the club house where the musically talented among us played their instruments and we all sang along.

Traveling down the road with WiFi

Lucie has been doing a wonderful job keeping up with our daily travels.  I've decided I would add some "specialty" posts, the things I've discovered that might be of interest.  I also need to practice writing blogs again, so it feels good starting with a topic where I am comfortable.

For this first post I will describe the mobile WiFi setup we are using to stay connected to the Internet as we travel.

I designed this so we would be able to have WiFi as we drive down the road.  My inspiration is what is advertised (but seldom a reality) on Amtrak trains and the Mega Bus.

I ended up ordering from the 3G Store, not only because they had packages specifically for RVs, but because the online reviews spoke highly of their technical support.  After designing the system and coming up with what I thought I should purchase I called their tech support line and confirmed that I was getting what I needed.

This is what I got.

1 x 118" (9'10") USB Extension Cable (26686) (SKU: ) = Retail: $11.99
1 x Antenna Adapter Cable for UML295/PC5750/PX500/some Samsung and LG phones (359919) (SKU: ) = Retail: $13.00
1 x Wilson Sleek 4G-V Signal Booster for 3G and Verizon 4G LTE - 815126 [700V/800/1900mhz] (815126) (SKU: ) = Retail: $129.95
1 x $69.99/mo 20GB plan (billed by Millenicom) (**MLC-20GB-SVC) (SKU: ) = Retail: $0.00
1 x Micro SIM Card Adapter (MC-SIM-ADAPT) (SKU: ) = Retail: $7.99
1 x MiFi 4620LE Hotspot for Millenicom's $69.99/mo 20GB 3G/4G Plan (Includes Activation Fee) (MLC-4620LE) (SKU: ) = Retail: $149.99
2 x Taoglas 7.5" Omni WiFi Antenna (2.4Ghz/5.0Ghz) (TG-WIFI-LG) (SKU: ) = Retail: $33.98
1 x Verizon Pantech UML290 - Refurbished, Like New (K-VZW-UML290) (SKU: ) = Retail: $79.99
1 x FME/Male to SMA/Male Adapter - 971119 (971119) (SKU: ) = Retail: $5.95
1 x Cigarette Lighter Adapter for MBR1400/MBR1200B/MBR95/CBR450/CBR400/CBA750/CTR35/Surf + More (170452-000) (SKU: ) = Retail: $24.99
1 x Pepwave Surf SOHO 3G/4G Router w/ WiFi as WAN Firmware 6.0.3 (SUS-SOHO) (SKU: ) = Retail: $129.99
1 x Omni RV Antenna with Spring Base - 301133 (301133) (SKU: ) = Retail: $49.95
1 x Wilson 3-Way Omni Mount - 901104 (901104) (SKU: ) = Retail: $10.00
1 x 1 Year of Technical Support (Included) (**SUPPORT-1YR-INCLUDED) (SKU: ) = Retail: $0.00

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Sub-Total: $647.77
$4.99 Standard Shipping (3-8 Day Delivery): $4.99
Total: $652.76

As we drive down the road we use the cell towers to keep our devices connected through our own internal wifi network.  Cellular Data plans are expensive and we needed to be able to afford to use this system so I ended up settling on Verizon, which we purchase through Millenicom for $70 for 20 Gigs a month.

The device that this system is based upon is the Pepwave Surf SOHO.  This is very similar to a home WiFI router.  It has a WAN port that you could hook up to a DSL Modem or a Cable Modem, it then takes that Internet connection and shares it with all of your devices through a private WiFi network.  In addition to the WAN port (which is an Ethernet port) the Surf SOHO has a USB port that supports a large number of USB Cellular Modems.  This USB Cell Modem is how we stay connected to the Internet as we drive down the road.  There are at least 3 companies who make these combination Cellular/DSL/Cable routers.  I chose this one because it monitors how much bandwidth we have used through each of our connections to the Internet.  This way we know when we are approaching our 20 Gig monthly limit.  Also all of the equipment needs to be able to run from the RV's 12 volt electrical system, so I added a 12 volt adapter for the Surf SOHO.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, my poor old HTC phone just can't take a low light picture.  Maybe next time I'll get Lucie to take the pictures on her iPhone!

The MiFi 4620LE Hotspot that Millenicom supplies with their 20 Gig Plan has a reputation for being unreliable and having to be rebooted for it to remain attached to the cellular network.  I decided to replace it with a Verizon Pantech UML290 cellular modem.  I removed the SIM from the MiFi 4620LE Hotspot and placed it in the UML290 cellular modem.  Because the Sim slot in the UML290 cellular modem is a different size I needed an adapter.  The MiFi 4620LE Hotspot is battery operated, so if we wish we could put the SIM back in it and take it with us to the beach or some other remote spot and have access to the Internet (if you know Lucie you will understand why this is a consideration).

Our RV is made by the Bluebird Bus Company, which makes school buses, and is clad with riveted solid steel.  It blocks most cell signals.  Because of this we need an external antenna, which I have mounted to the roof of the RV.  Because this antenna is now the highest point on our mobile home I got a 21' Omni RV Antenna with Spring Base so if we hit a tree branch it won't break off.  The antenna receives both 3G and 4G signals, and is tuned to the frequencies Verizon uses.  

The antenna in its traveling position.  It is the black and silver device that is casting a shadow on the storage pod.

There are many locations where the cell signal isn't strong enough for a good data connection.  There are devices called Cell Boosters that amplify the signal from the antenna to the cell modem and amplify the signal from the cell modem to the antenna so it can reach a cell tower further away.  Right now the cell booster market is in transition.  Because of changes in FCC regulations many older cell boosters are no longer being made (they would blast over the cell tower's signals interfering with normal reception).  The Wilson Sleek 4G-V Signal Booster for 3G and Verizon 4G LTE is one of the few on the market now that follow the new FCC rules.  It is tuned specifically for Verizon's 4G frequencies.

This is what the booster and cell modem look like mounted in one of the overhead cabinets.  The cell modem is rubber banded to the booster.  The booster is plugged into the RV's 12 volt system and connected to the antenna on the roof.  The cell modem has a USB cable (white) which connects it to the Pepwave Surf SOHO in another compartment.

So that is the system that allows us to travel down the road with WiFi in the RV.  One other feature of this system, that is actually more useful when we are stopped at a campground is that it can automatically switch between several sources of Internet connectivity.  Many campgrounds offer WiFi for their campers.  The quality of this campground WiFi sometimes isn't up to the task.  For several years now I have used an EnGenius ENH202 R to make the most of campground WiFi.  This device is mounted on the roof and uses an Ethernet cable (using Power Over Ethernet (POE)) to bring an amplified WiFi connection to the WAN port of the Pepwave Surf SOHO.  The term people are using for this type of connection is WiFi as WAN.  The Pepwave can be set to use the campground WiFi until it looses the Internet and then automatically switch to the more expensive Verizon Cell modem connection.

A note on the current EnGenius ENH2020 R - the company seems to have switched to a directional antenna and it no longer can perform as a client router.  For this reason I don't believe I would choose the new version. 

This system has worked well driving down the road.  There are some spots where there just isn't a cell signal.  In those instances we just have to wait until we get out of the valley or over the ridge then our Internet comes back.  So far every campsite we have had has had a good enough cell signal for email reading, blog posting and web surfing.  Just don't click on the video until we get campground WiFi.