diandy: Zolfo Springs, FL

Besides having fun with our friends, we came to Zolfo for a Datastorm Satellite dish. Chris and Jim had been bugging us for years to get one. They got theirs back in 2004. But, for the expense of the unit and the monthly payments, we always said 'no'. There were several reasons for this: 1) we thought 2004 could've been a one-year opportunity, 2) we weren't working so we didn't feel such a need, 3) we were surviving off of WIFI Parks and internet cafes. But now that we are trying to work on the road, our perspective has changed. And last fall's experiment showed us clearly how different it is when you need that internet connection and how frustrating it is when you don't have it.

Plus, we were spending more money on RV Parks that had WIFI. So, by bringing along our own personal internet connection, we hope to go back to our $20/night budget. We can continue staying at State Parks, Forest Campgrounds, and all of the natural places without trying to schedule our stay over a weekend when we don't have to check the market.

We'll have to be honest, we were quite anxious about adding the Datastorm. First of all, it weighs about 103 lbs - I'm sure you've all heard us obsess about our 'weight' in the RV and how important it is to keep it within it's limits, and to keep it balanced. In addition to the dish, we had to add a modem, a control box, a router (no big deal so far), feet of cable, and an 8.3lb APC battery backup. That one hurt. Secondly, adding the dish required Jim to go onto our roof. No offense Jim, but Andy thinks his twiggy bow-legs should be the only thing up there. All of this work also required drilling holes in our poor baby, too. At least Jim was able to drop the cables down our refrigerator vent so we didn't have to drill holes in the roof of the RV, but they still drilled holes inside. This is our first real "customization" of our RV. And finally, the expense. Now we have to ensure our trading improves to warrant this expense. Just a little pressure!

Here are just a few of the steps it took to make it all happen:

Getting the dish onto the roof. Jim's system only requires two people, but Glenn thought that grabbing Jim's butt would help matters.

Jim draws pretty patterns on our roof with a sealant. There was no real purpose for this, he just thought our roof needed some decoration. Only kidding, he's preparing the roof for all of the screws it takes to keep the dish connected to the roof.