Wildfires, Friends heading home and New Internet Options

03/21/08 - We have added a number of new recipes to our site. Follow this link to the index page, I have tried to identify the latest additions with the date they were added. If you have a recipe you would like to see published here please send it to contact@westmorelandadventures.com and we will get it up with your name as contributor.

I was lucky enough to have high winds almost every day during my last shift. First they were out of the East South East shifting to the South East, then on the third day they stopped. That only lasted about an hour and they started back up only this time out of the North returning with a vengeance. I cleaned up a couple of branches that blew down and just pulled a few out of the way so the grounds people could take care of them the next morning. The winds were bad enough that a power line was blown down north of Edinburgh, which started a brush fire. The blaze managed to burn more than 50,000 acres and closed highway 281 which is one of the major north/south access roads for the Valley.

Our next door neighbors headed home to Illinois, on Wednesday. They consider all us young people their kids. Ernie is 86 and Lucile is 85 and both have a few health problems. They have been married 66 years! Most of the people around them try to help them out. We made sure we took their trash with us each day when we went and when I saw them trying to do maintenance around the trailer I would offer to help. They are very nice people and we hope to see them again next season.

We are hoping to make another one of our road trips this weekend, so should have something to write about in the next couple of days.

I am starting to look into using a Cellular Data Modem for our internet connection. We are hoping Linda can use this for work allowing us more freedom to travel. Currently she must use vacation time to travel between our summer and winter locations. What we would like to do is take our time going home so we can see more of this beautiful country of ours, which requires a reliable internet connection. We have not found reliable connections at most of the campgrounds we stop at so need to supply our own. We were looking at a tripod mounted satellite dish but have been holding off due to costs and the time and effort required to setup the equipment. The cellular modem would pretty much be just a plug and play solution after the initial setup process.

We are currently looking at a Verizon USB727 Modem tied to a CradlePoint MBR-1000 router, amplifier and external antenna. All available from the 3GStore.com. I know we wouldn't need the amp and external antenna all the time but it could make the difference in Linda being happy with her connection to work and all of us being unhappy. I will try to keep you informed of my progress.

Friday night was our last dinner & a movie night for the season with our friends from Quebec. A new Macaroni Grill opened up in McAllen so we tried it out. They just opened so were out of lasagna and Caesar salad. We had popcorn, Bud loved Gratia and we watched Employee of the Month. The movie is about employee competiveness at a warehouse super club. Now we need visit a Sam's Club or Costco to check things out.