After doing some math this past week, we calculated that we could save about $20 per month by changing our internet and telephone services now instead of waiting a few months when we leave for wherever we head first.

I went ahead and signed up for Verizon’s BroadbandAccess service because even though I receive “only” 5GB of transfer, it’s $22 cheaper than what I’m paying for internet right now. We’re also going to cancel our cable T.V. because, frankly, the girls, Maddy especially, just watch too much “educational” programming that annoys the crap out of Hannah and me. Ever since Maddy figured out the remote, its been a battle. So, instead of prolonging this battle, we’ve decided to eliminate the battlefield altogether. Bye-bye cable T.V. Good riddance.

Hannah and I have switched to cell phones sharing 700 minutes, way more than we currently use on our current VOIP phone (which we couldn’t keep anyway since we’re getting rid of cable internet). Well, to be more accurate, we use more than 700 minutes, but most of the people we call all have Verizon cell phones, which, under our new plan would be free calls. I went through the last six months of our phone records and removed all calls to our parents and others we know who have Verizon phones and figured all other calls equal about 350-450 minutes. We concluded that the odds of us using more than 700 minutes was slim, and were able to justify getting the two phones.

In the end, we end up with about a $20 difference in our favor. Not a whole lot, but, hey, $20 is $20.

For internet, I decided not to incur an expense buying an ExpressCard wireless modem when Verizon offered some highly-rated USB models for free with the contract that I was going to have to sign up for anyway. I opted for the Novatel Wireless USB727. It was very easy to setup and within three minutes, I disable the AirPort in my MacBook Pro and surfing very quickly using the USB modem. And when I say fast, I mean FAST. I was getting consistent download speeds approaching 2.0mbps. Upload was about 600-700kbps which I was very happy with. I know that speed will not be consitent across the country, but I would be happy just to have half, or even a quarter, of those speeds. All in all I think I made the right decision.

As for phones, Hannah and I have completely different tastes. Here’s the phones we got; can you guess which one is mine?

Hmmm…

Anyway, enough with the boring technical post. When we get going I’m going to start a separate Tech Travel blog where I wax eloquent about all my gadgets.

Well, not blogging, but I do get paid to work on my computer from home. A few months ago, I started dabbling in online freelance work on a couple of the big freelance sites, Guru.com and Elance.com. I upgraded my membership on Guru.com so I could bid more aggressively and hoped to get a job or two out of it. The upgrade cost $80 for three months, so I figured the odds were in my favor I could make back the $80 within three months.

Then my “real world” job fell apart (long story) and I went the freelance route full-throttle. In less than a week I had secured three projects that combined paid more than my “real” job had. Needless to say, I made my $80 back. That’s also about the time our RV dreams began to flourish.

Yesterday, we bit the bullet and signed a cell phone contract with Verizon, for no other reason than have portable EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) Internet access. We’re starting with just a phone, but in a couple months we’ll be adding an EVDO ExpressCard to our account which will give us speedy internet just about anywhere we can get a Verizon signal, which is most of the U.S. Speeds in digital coverage areas are faster than DSL and are rapidly approaching the speeds of cable internet. Couple with an EVDO router, we will have a portable WiFi zone wherever we go for just $60 a month.

$60 a month! To have internet wherever we can get a cellular signal. This was unheard of just a few years ago, and without these kinds of advances in technology and drastic reductions in the prices for mobile broadband, our Unending Adventure would not be possible.

Well, God still knows what He’s doing. I had a couple questions on my eBay auction over the night. One person I made contact with earlier in the week said he wanted to use it in his photography business. I googled his name and found out his “photography business” was the adult industry. I did not want this computer to be used for that, since it was originally purchased to be used for ministry. I’ve done several videos for my church on it, and I wanted it to continue to be used for what it was dedicated to do. I prayed and believed God would line up the right buyer that was going to use the computer for ministry.

So about 45 minutes ago, I get a “Your Item Has Sold” email from eBay. Yay! Then about a minute later I get a message from the buyer, introducing himself as the pastor of a church in California and that he was buying it so his church could start making videos.

Praise the Lord!

In the end, I am going to pay eBay and PayPal a total of $182.48. Ouch! But… I am so very grateful that the computer sold so quickly. I’ll have enough left over to buy a great laptop and then some. God’s good.

Someone at the Justice Department needs to look into how people are being gouged by ONE company handling both the auctions and the ONLY sanctioned online payment service offered by eBay.

To list my Mac Pro on eBay, it cost me $37. When it sells, its going to add on another $60-70 in “final value fees.” THEN if the buyer isn’t local (please be local, please be local), and they pay via PayPal (also owned by eBay), that will be ANOTHER $70 in fees paid to them.

$37 to list
~$70 based on the final auction bid
~$70 for PayPal's cut
-----
$177 in fees!

That’s equal to the entire six-month insurance policy quote I received on a travel trailer we’re looking into buying.

I think eBay has lost its person-to-person charm. I have used eBay since 1999 when it was in its infancy. It was SOO much better back then. It was a time before every company in the world decided to cash in on the eBay craze. Nowadays its really hard to find items that are sold by actual PEOPLE and not businesses. Personally, I wish eBay would have developed a completely separate business-postings site (ebayscams.com, for example) and left eBay as a strict person-to-person exchange. What it is now is not what it once was, and I miss the good ole’ days. Wow. I’m only 32, and I’m talking about the “good ole’ days.”

But, where else is there to go? Yahoo! gave up on auctions. The other auctions sites have at most a hundred users or so, if that. Sounds like a monopoly charging whatever it wants because it can to me.

Here’s an interesting article about the Department of Defense contracting with a company in Ohio to build them a portable biofuel (biodiesel) production plant to be used by the military.

PLAIN CITY, Ohio, December 11, 2007 – Diversified Energy Corporation (DEC) and Velocys Inc. have been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to design a portable renewable fuel production system based on DEC’s breakthrough HydroMax gasification technology and Velocys’ advanced Fischer-Tropsch approach. The goal of the DOD funded effort is to develop a transportable system that can convert waste products generated at military installations into 50 to 500 barrels per day of high performance renewable fuels, such as diesel and aviation fuel.

If biodiesel is good enough to run one of these:

… it’s good enough to run my truck or motorhome any day!

Source.

This is a short bunny trail for the benefit of those who might be interested in some free training on how to make some extra money online. I’m taking part in the Thirty Day Challenge, an online annual training “event” in its third year. There are no costs, no strings attached, no annoying mailing lists, nothing. Just great training from start to finish from some of the best in the industry.

This is my first year doing The Challenge and I must say I’m excited. I’ve dabbled in Internet marketing in the past and I’ve made a few hundred dollars doing it. The people behind this month-long training make their livings doing it.

From the wesbite:

In a nutshell… The Thirty Day Challenge is about making your first $10 online. For a full 30 days we are going to be showing you exactly how to start your own Internet business and generate your first income online without spending a dime.

That’s right, this is going to cost zip, diddly, nothing, nada, ziltch. The entire training program is free, and you won’t have to spend a thing to get your business started and begin making money. No credit card required.

So if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please check it out. They are giving away incredible prizes (like $2,000 laptops, jewelry, gadgets and all kinds of stuff). This is totally real and like I said in its third year. There are some success stories of past members who went on to do very well.

Wow, I never thought I would come across a topic so passionately debated in RV forums. One forum I frequent has a 183-page (and growing) “discussion” on the matter that I skimmed and got no useful information out of.

We’re still a couple months away from trying to swing a trade with our current vehicle for the truck we are going to use, but now is the time we need to figure out which way to go. It will affect what kind of trailer we’ll buy, if we can even consider a 5th wheel, how much we’re going to pay for fuel on the road, et cetera.

If you have any tips form your personal experience, or can point me to a website with more info (I’ve found some), I’d really appreciate it.

See you on the road,
Aaron

After another night of scouring the internet and reading dozens of blogs from other families doing what we are planning to do, we’ve decided that we don’t need a trailer with a separate bunk room for the girls. One of the reasons we are embarking on this trip is to get away from the standard American lifestyle because that lifestyle is, in many ways, contrary to what is needed to raise a close family.

For example, kids today have rooms that they could quite literally live in for several weeks without having to interact with anyone. They have their computer, their TV, their own fridges, games, phones, et cetera… all tucked away in their own little world. That’s what we’re wanting to get away from.

We do understand that our children’s “personal space” will be important, but not at ages 5 and 3. They don’t need an entire room, at least not quite yet.

We had initially decided against any trailer that has the bunks as part of the main living space. Why we came to that conclusion we’re not really sure, but we’ve changed our minds. We’ve also noticed that changing our mind on this non-issue sees us being able to get a trailer with a much larger living space for about $5,000-$7,000 less than a trailer with two bedrooms. And that means we could be on the road full-time in NOVEMBER instead of Februrary of next year.

Sooner is better, especially with our lease up here at the end of October.