PA Member Spotlight - Technomads Chris & Cherie Search for Internet

Chris & Cherie of Technomadia.com have been full time RVing since 2006. But unlike a lot of full time RVers, they are still of working age and run their software development & technology consulting business from wherever they are parked.

As internet is absolutely essential for them to work remotely, they decided to develop a mobile app to help them find bandwidth. A frequent problem they had was that there was no easy way to know upfront if a campground they were considering booking would have decent internet.

Sure, some park's advertise WiFi, but if the WiFi was not suitable enough - would they be able to connect via their various cellular data sources? Sure, they could go and check their carriers maps online (they personally travel with Verizon & AT&T), but this was slow and cumbersome. And of course, if they had no internet to begin with, they had no way to get online to check which direction to head to find signal. 

So they developed Coverage? - an app that overlays all of the major cellular carriers coverage maps, so they could quickly tell where there might be connectivity.

The maps are stored on the device, so they could get the information even when they had no signal. It's been an app that plays an important role in their own high-tech travels, and has been a decent seller in the app store for fellow frequent travelers and mobile bandwidth enthusiasts.

And as long-time Passport America members, the technomads first consult the Passport America app to see what 1/2 pricing camping options might be on their route - and then consult Coverage? to see what to expect for cellular signal.

Also by Technomadia: The Mobile Internet Handbook - US RVer Edition (http://www.technomadia.com/internet)- a guide to mobile internet options, and helping RVers decide what gear & plans they really need to meet their internet needs as they travel. 

More info:

You can get more information about the app, including a video demo, at: http://www.twostepsbeyond.com/apps/coverage
The app is available in the App Store at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coverage/id388815949?mt=8&at=10l4Cf&ct=PA

About Cherie & Chris: http://www.technomadia.com/start-here

Learn More About Stoness Travel Guides

A special guest post by Passport America Member, James Stoness

Canyonlands, UT

A long time ago my father took our family on a little trip each summer, an experience similar I suppose to many of your childhoods. Or maybe a little different because dad was not interested in camping so we went the motel route. The traveling habit became entrenched in me and soon I had a new bride who had never traveled and who was keen to see the world.

We started out in the old style ‘tourist tent’ and explored a rainy trip through the Smoky Mountains where the waters came in one side of the tent and out the door as we sat high and dry on our air mattress. We quickly moved to a tent trailer and moved into different travel rigs as the years rolled on.

We live in Eastern Ontario and our trips radiated outwards until we had crossed both Canada and the USA in all directions, many times. Sometimes the snowcapped jagged peaks of Banff drew us, and other times it would be the rugged canyon lands of Utah, and Arizona. Another time it would be a yearning to hear the rolling surf of the Pacific Ocean in Oregon, or to watch the world’s highest tides in Nova Scotia reverse the direction of a river.

 Friends would come back from seeing Yellowstone NP and I’d ask how they liked the Devils Tower as they returned through the Dakotas. “Didn’t see it. Don’t know anything about it.” They almost all responded this way when asked about anything that wasn’t dead in front of them as they drove.

I had always researched things to see, and since I’d studied geology at University there were a lot of geological features I wanted to see. Most turned out even better than I expected. The Goosenecks of the San Juan River were striking, as were the Mittens in Monument Valley. Seeing the mountains of the Icefields Parkway in Alberta with its pristine blue jewels of lakes and dashing streams was far better than reading about it in the paper. The written word cannot do these places justice, and yet people were not visiting them because in too many cases they had never heard of them.

Chama Steam Train, NM

I decided to use my years of traveling to create scenic travel guide books. Instead of just highlighting scattered scenic drives, I decided to create several scenic trips that could be chained together to make longer trips. This way a person would have guides to follow on the way out to a destination and then it would be possible to in many cases select a different route back and be able to have some comments of what to see along the way in the scenic guide book. Sometimes the guide book would have more than one route to a popular destination and so the reader would select from them, picking the one he found most interesting.

Bryce Canyon, UT

The beginning of the book would have a large map showing all the tours. A click on the tour number would take you to that chapter where there would be a marked route map with numbers, and the text would mention things about the numbered area. Each guide book contains many colored pictures. The index is fully clickable, taking you back to the place where the word is mentioned.

My first scenic guide book, ‘The Lure of Pine and Sage’ covered part of the USA from roughly the Mississippi River west to the Pacific, and from Denver north into Canada to include the Banff Jasper region. 

I followed this with, ‘Cactus and Canyons’ running west from the Mississippi River to the Pacific, and from Denver south to the Mexican Border.

Next came, ‘Canada: Beyond the Far Horizons’ covering Canada from the Capital, Ottawa, west to the Pacific Ocean and North to the Arctic Ocean.

I’m presently working on a guide book covering from Ottawa east to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

These are available on CD or as ebooks from my website www.stonesstravelguides.com .

The downloads are around 20MB. They are not ‘talking’ books. There is a lot of information that is useful to a traveler, even if they’ve been there before, and the pictures are good for the armchair reader who maybe is doing a little reminiscing.

Travel whenever you can get away. Too many friends grow old and never see much past their own little town, and there are so many things to see. Enjoy the world!. 

Photos and Article Provided by James Stoness - See his novels now at:

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jstoness

www.stonesstravelguides.com

Learn More About Fulltime Families

HOW TO LIVE IN A HAMMOCK FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

 Do you love camping?  Is it a bummer to head home on Sunday night?  To go back to your regularly scheduled and hectic life? Soccer practice, homework, house cleaning, lawn work… wouldn’t it be nice to be able to just relax in a shady hammock all day?

If you answered “yes” keep reading because in a few paragraphs I’m going to tell you how you can make this a reality.

Do you know, that right now, there are thousands of families who are on perpetual camping trips?

I know, ‘cause I’m one of them.  My family fell in love with camping 5 years ago and 3 years ago we decided to go on a permanent vacation.

This lifestyle is commonly referred to as full time rving or full timing for short.  Now, before you tell me the full timing is for retirees, you are only partly right.  Yes, there are a lot of retirees on the road, but parents who’ve decided to change their priorities and take their children on the road are growing numbers.

Fulltime Families is the company that supports the fulltime rv aspirations and ambitions of these trendsetters.

In our monthly magazine, we share timely, pertinent information for making a living on the road, and then making every dollar go as far as it can!

On our website and facebook group, we share the tips and hidden treasures that make fulltime exploration of this great country an American Adventure!

In our weekly Road Rebelles Radio Show, we share our daily triumphs, tribulations and trials!

Twice a year at our FtF Family Reunions, we share the best of times with you with our jam-packed, family friendly rv rallies!

And while all this is of great use to our thousands of members… you are still trying to figure out how to get yourself out of this stuffy office and into that breezy blissful hammock.

Well, for you, we have “How to Hit the Road” the indispensible guide for making your family’s full time rv dreams a reality! 

Whether you were surfing the web looking for a way to get your life off hold or whether you just stumbled across the post – the cat’s now out of the bag.

You don’t have to be rich or retired to take your family on a permanent vacation!  You just need a map and now you’ve found it!  So clickhere and let your adventure begin!

Kimberly Travaglino is the author of “How to Hit the Road”, a comprehensive step-by-step guide for making your family’s full time RV dreams a reality.  She also serves as the Editor of Fulltime Families Magazine, a company that supports risk takers, pioneers, and enlightened families blazing their own path across the country.