Getting a Boost

~Thursday, September 9, 2021~

Day 452

Laptop up, coffee poured, and wallet handy to nab 1 car ticket for Cadillac Mountain. But it wasn’t meant to be as they were all sold out in a matter of a second or two. Right at 10:00 a.m., I saw there were 85 tickets remaining, where I proceeded to put at least 1 of those in my “cart”. Gone! I guess I need quicker fingers or multiple computers to get the job done. Everyone else is obviously thinking the same thing. Will try again tomorrow for Sunday’s sunrise.

Man, the rain was insane today. So much in fact, there were flash flood warnings and high surf advisories in northern Maine, all from the effects of a tropical storm out in the Atlantic. Having this kind of weather in September is quite an unfamiliar thing for us and something we’ve had to get used to on the trip. Coming from a state that gets NO rain 6 months out of the year to having some rain throughout the summer, can be quite strange. Just wish there was a way to spread the wealth to where it’s needed most.

Because of the nasty weather, it was the perfect day to just stay put and tackle a few projects. For me, it was pulling out the Space Saver vacuum bags to do a little switch-a-rooney on what’s hanging in the closet, since we’re feeling a little of the Fall season coming on. I’m a little annoyed that a few of the bags have failed, so it looks like an Amazon order is imminent. Luckily, our campground accepts mail for their guests. Hmm…...what else do we need?? I also did a deep cleaning of the bathroom which always feels good to get done. And I’m currently on a learning curve with maintaining the website, trying to improve performance and speed on my end and the user’s end. I guess, as the website’s grown over time, there’s too much information that’s bogging down loading information and slowing down the navigability of the site. Of course any time you’re learning something new, it takes time. But it’s the perfect day to have a large chunk of time to delve into a solution.

Jeff’s projects today involved the WeBoost cell phone booster and getting the trailer clean. First the WeBoost. After talking to their team, Jeff discovered a few new things he hadn’t learned before, when installing this gadget. We currently have the “box” next to the fireplace mantel. As I mentioned in my recent post, he had to disassemble the fireplace and radio to get a few holes drilled to wire the cables from the outside antenna to the inside. The problem…..1 too many cable connections. It totally makes sense that anytime you add another connection, you’re affecting the efficiency of the signal. It appears we’ve cut the WeBoost’s capability in ½ having the extra connection. The suggestion was replacing the 2 cables with one long one, but Jeff didn’t think it would reach to the middle of the trailer where we use the computer the most. And our trailer isn’t even that long. Then Jeff came up with a brilliant solution. The holes he already drilled could still be used for putting the inside antenna on the fireplace mantel, but the box itself (the booster) could go in the back bedroom, closer to the outside antenna. Most people have the outside antenna near the rig’s ladder so you can strap the cables to the ladder then to the inside of the rig. But after doing some investigation of where he originally wanted to relocate it, the black water tank is right below where he wanted to drill a new hole for the cable to the bedroom. So the next idea, which is still brilliant, is to put the box just above the credenza in the master bedroom. There doesn’t seem to be any obstacles like ductwork, wires, tanks, so it looks like that will work with only 1 cable needed. Yeh!!! The last thing we want to do is spend $500 on a cell booster and have it only work at 50%. So stay tuned for a video to see how it went.

Oh and I mentioned cleaning the rig. Our campground, like most, will not allow you to wash your vehicles due to their limited well supply, so Jeff was counting on the rain to do the rinsing today. At first, the rain wasn’t really cooperating with it being so intermittent. Until finally, we got a good enough downpour, that it did a pretty good job with the help of a little squeegeeing. It was quite a site seeing my hubby all rain-geared up with his bucket of suds, brushes and squeegees ready to go.