The DigitalRV Blog

Sorry for being away for a few days. I’ve been mired down with getting to the bottom of my year long health saga. At long last I finally know what has been going on. I’ve got Eosinophilic gastroenteritis. I don’t think any big foundations or walks have been built around this rare disease, but I’ve always gone for the unique.

What is this disease. Well, I’ll give you WebMD’s take on it. The explanation is very short, because this is a rare disorder.

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a rare digestive disease characterized by the presence of a particular type of white blood cell (eosinophils) in one or more of the three layers that make up the lining of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This includes the stomach, small intestines, and large intestines.

In short, it’s extremely painful. For the past year I’ve had 3 seperate physicians ignore my complaints about abdominal pain, ignore my high white, red, and eosinophil counts (telling me maybe I just have higher counts), and push me in the direction of believing my issues were caused by anxiety, something I’ve never had. However, after being sick so long, I did become anxious. I had terrible pain, dizzy spells, naseua, and it scared me.

After switching to Dartmouth Hitchcock I found a doctor who listened to me, and didn’t immediately label me. Instead he offered a CT scan. That showed severe inflammation, and blockage in my colon. A colonoscopy was performed, and endoscopy. That’s how I was diagnosed. It could have been identified a year ago!

If you’re unhappy with your medical care, question the physicians your with, don’t wait! I spent a year in regular pain questioning myself, thinking I created this problem.

Tonight I found another web site of a person who has been suffering with this disease. He went through similar trouble getting someone’s attention, and was told it was anxiety too. Rather than investigating it seems some physicians would prefer to write things up to anxiety. Watch out for that folks.

Here’s the link. The site is interesting reading, and really tells the story of what Eosinophilic gastroenteritis can do to a person. Fortunately it is rare. http://www.wedgeworld.com/EG.html

I’m very grateful to the site host for sharing his story. It’s helped me learn a great deal about what I’m facing. And yes, I’ll be dealing with it while traveling, no doubt! As I learn more and experience more I’ll share here as well.

I’m sitting here recovering from some medical stuff this week, and I’m bored. Whenver I’m bored I find myself reading a lot, and thinking about my next road trip. I’ve done plenty of both!

Recently I received an e-mail from Vonage. If you don’t know what Vonage is I’ll tell you. They’re a Voice Over IP company. For $25 per month you can get unlimited calling in the U.S. You need a high speed internet connection to use their service. Personally, I’ve been using the service for a year when at home, and it has saved me plenty of money!

The e-mail I received from Vonage this week advertised a new product offering. Vonage is now selling a VOIP phone that works on WiFi networks. If you have a WiFi hotspot, or visit an open WiFi hotspot, you can use this phone to place an receive calls. Not bad for $25 per month.

WiFi Phones for travel?

The Vonage ad got me thinking. “Would this be useful for RV owners?” My short answer is probably not.

WiFi VOIP phones might be good for RV owners who plan on staying at parks with WiFi all the time. But if you’re not staying at hotspots often, it doesn’t seem like that valuable of a service. It is however, interesting and unique. If you do plan on being near hotspots it might be something you want to look into.

General VOIP usage for RVs

After pondering the new WiFi VOIP phones, most people might get to the next question. “Would VOIP be useful at all on the road?” The answer to this question is mixed. It really depends on the types of internet connections you have while traveling, how much calling you’re planning on doing, and whether or not you can do without phone service sometimes.

Vonage is not the only VOIP provider. There are many software packages that allow for VOIP from your computer as well. Some only allow computer to computer calls, some allow for computer to phone calls, and some allow for phone to computer calls. Whatever you’re looking for in VOIP, you can find.

So, types of calling scenarios are not an issue. The issue is your internet connectivity.

If you have “permanent” internet connectivity while roaming in your RV, VOIP might be for you! Basically I’m talking to the satellite internet crowd. Using VOIP with your satellite hook up might make financial sense, and you’ll be able to use it regularly.

For the rest of us cobbling together our mobile internet package, VOIP is up in the air. For me, I will use VOIP when I can. In addition to Vonage, I also am testing out Skype, a computer based VOIP program. For $10 I received something near 1000 minutes of call time. Not bad. When I have a high speed connection available while traveling I’ll be testing it out. But keep in mind, I’m a gadget junkie who wants to test this stuff out.

Intial conclusions on VOIP for RV travel

Right now I’m very mixed about VOIP for RVers.  It’s not a perfect solution unless you’re at a fixed location with high speed internet.  I wouldn’t suggest tossing your cell phone out the window yet, and I’ll be keeping mine.  I will start testing the well known services while on the road, and I’ll pass along the results to you.

Don’t race out and get the latest VOIP yet for your RV.  But if you want to test and tinker too, have at it and let me know about your experience.  Better yet, if you’d like to post an article on this subject let me know too!

Looks like our outage the other night was an isolated event.  The ticket response I received explained that these outages do happen.  While I understand that, it was concerning as system “hiccups” seemed to be occurring more since the latest upgrade.

Frankly, I’d rather keep the site where it is.  Less work!  :D  Usually I’ve been very happy with IXWebhosting, so we’ll see over the next few weeks.  Guess I’m more aware of network issues as this site is growing.  Plus I used to manage a large network as well, and know how we responded to trouble tickets. 

For the past few weeks I’ve been looking into doing a podcast for the site twice a month. First though we’ll need to see if there’s some interest. So, the link below is to our first demo podcast. Let us know what you think!

Digital RV’s First Podcast!

Well, the entire site, DigitalRV.net, our forums, and the blog went down this evening.  We’d experienced a smaller outage yesterday, but today was a doosie.

I contacted the hosting provider we used yesterday, and again today.  IXWebhosting acknowledged an outage yesterday after I filed a trouble ticket.  They did not advise me directly that the site was down, only after I submitted a ticket.

Tonight’s outage was much longer (close to an hour).  I contacted their support through a chat client, and they let me know that they were having a gateway issue (networking issues).  At the time I contacted them the site had already been down 20 minutes.  Fix time was another 20-40 minutes!

If this type of service continues we’ll be looking for a new hosting provider soon.  Any favorites would be welcome.  Feel free to post a comment on your favorite hosting provider, I’m shopping!  By the way, at this moment I would not recomend IX Webhosting.  We’ll see what their final response is to my latest trouble ticket.

Airstream Life’s winter issue is finally out, and I can finally post something further regarding the Yamaha testing I got to do last fall. I always wait to get into a lot of detail on items that will be appearing in other articles, so I’ve been patiently waiting to post this review.

I had the opportunity to review several Yamaha portable generators for Airstream Life Magazine. As I’m already very familiar with Honda’s lineup, getting hands on experience with Yamaha’s generators was fantastic!

The generators supplied for the Airstream Life Review were the Yamah EF 1000, 2400, 2800, and 3000. Overall, the entire lineup was great. Each generator met or exceeded the manufacturer’s specs. In the coming weeks I’ll go into deeper detail on each unit. For today though I thought I’d focus on the 2800.

Why pick the 2800 to start with here? Simple. After all the testing I decided to purchase a Yamaha. At the time of the tests I was shopping for a larger generator for my RV adventures. While I already travel with a Honda EU 1000, I wanted something that would supply enough power to run my AC and Microwave occasionally while boondocking. Three out of the four Yamahas I reviewed could provide me with that power (2400, 2800, 3000), but in the end, I selected the 2800. Now, why did I pick that one?

Size Matters When Going Solo

Of the tested generators that could power air conditioning and microwave, the 2800 weighed in at a mere 64 pounds. The 2400 was 70+ pounds, and the 3000 weighed more than me. The 2800 was lighter because it didn’t have the sound muffeling casing like the 2400 and 3000. Even without that sound deadening material though, the 2800 was still very quiet.

Running all 3 side by side, the 2800 was by far the loudest. In all honesty, if you are looking for a super quiet generator I’d select the 3000. But when making a purchase most shoppers are ususally looking for more than just 1 feature, and the case was the same with me.

Yamah’s 2800, with it’s open case design, was the easiest of the 3 generators to lift, carry, and cart around on my own. While the 2400 came in at a similar weight, it wasn’t as easy for me to move around due to the wider & thicker size of the unit (probably due to the sound muffeling case). The 3000, while it had a nice set of wheels on it, required a good deal to move, and would be better with 2 people. Since I’m planning several solo trips this year, the 2800 was the right choice for size.

The features you need

All of the Yamaha generators reviewed had “eco throttles”. That means the generators will run up to the power load you require. If you require less than full output, the generator will throttle down. That saves you fuel, and reduces the noise output of the generator!

While all 4 generators had eco throttles, only 3 had eco throttle kill switches. The 1000, 2800, and 3000 all had switches that could turn the eco throttle off. The 2400 did not have that switch. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a big deal at first, but it was to me.

The initial startup power of my Air Conditioner unit is over 2000 watts! That’s a great deal of “surge demand”. When running the generators they’re operating only to the current demand, and no more. So, when kicking on the Air Conditioner, the generators need to “power up” to that load. Intial startup of the AC hits the generator with the surge in demand, and the generator powers up. My personal preference…I’d like to have the generator running at full capacity prior to hitting it with a spike in demand. Since the 2400 did not have the eco-throttle kill switch, it fell out of the running for my personal needs (I was really considering it for my next generator). That left me with the 2800 & 3000 to choose from.

In addition to the eco-throttle kill switch, the 2800 also offered a 30 Amp output along with 2 20 Amp outputs. The 3000 did as well. The 2400 did not offer a 30 Amp output, only 2 20’s. Since my trailer is setup for 30 Amp I liked seeing that I could provide it with the 2800.

Personal Choice is Everything!

In the end, it all came down to my personal preferences. For me, I wanted a lighter weight generator. Also, I felt the eco-throttle kill switch was important to me when starting up my Air Conditioner. And finally, having the 30 Amp output was a definite plus.

On the down side regarding the 2800, it is louder than the rest of the Yamaha lineup I looked at. But it is still very quiet in comparison to generators found in Class A motorhomes. It’s well within all park standards! And when I set it behind my trailer it doesn’t sound very loud at all.

In my opinion, the Yamaha EF 2800 has a great deal to offer to any RV owner! When you’re shopping for a portable generator, either first time purchase or replacement, give this little power house some consideration!

The Digital RV’s Blog might remain quiet for a few more days.  I’ll be going in today to see about scheduling to deal with my year long medical issue.  I’m happy to say though that this long drawn trouble will soon be in my rear view mirror!

Look forward to new updates, video pod casts, more tech reviews, and some new & exciting features at the Digital RV in the coming weeks.  We’ve got several new ideas that should appeal to all people interested in mobile technology.

In the meantime, be sure to check by the Digital RV’s Forums.  There’s a growing group of members interested in RV’ing and mobile technology.  So what might be missing from the blog for a few days certainly won’t be missing from the forum!

I thought I’d better pop up a post regarding my rapidly approaching departure date.  It looks like it’s getting pushed out.

Since Dec. 04′ I’d been pretty sick.  An abscessed tooth started me on a journey with the medical community I’ll not soon forget.  My direct experiences with physicians really started in Feb of 05′, and the experience hasn’t ended.  The journey has included mis-diagnosis, mis-direction, questioning my own mental stability, and becoming depressed with the whole situation.  That’s a mouthfull.

Failing to find medical solutions to my symptoms, high white count, and extreme abdomial pain I decided to believe my prior physicians.  Maybe I had a severe problem with anxiety.  I sought counselling & used a great series called, “Attacking Anxiety & Depression.”  While the counselling and program helped, I still didn’t feel right.  After feeling sick for more than 6 months anyone might get anxious.  I’ve learned to convince myself that my physical pain was just my anxiety.  Bascially, I now know how to ignore actual pain! With the counselor and my new coping skills I decided to try again with the medical community though, as I thought there was still something there.
I questioned myself for quite some time I finally decided to find a new physician.  It was not just anxiety as my initial team of inept doctors thought, I was sure of it.  Almost immediately I found help.  Turned out I’d developed a pretty bad ulcer.  I was given a great medication called Protonix.  Within 3 days I felt better than I had all year.

Since that “turning point” in November I’ve continued follow ups with my new physician.  We got me off medication I didn’t need, ruled out things, and started investigating my initial complaint.  Severe abdominal pain and an elevated white count that has existed from Feb of 04′ through to today.  That’ll get ya anxious, believe me!
This week, 1 year after my first visit with a physician about my pain, I had a CAT scan of my abdomen.  Something my prior physicians never felt was necessary, but that I wanted and kept questioning.  I got the call last night.  I’ve got a large mass in my colon.  We don’t know what it is yet, but I’m scheduled for my first consult next Thursday to plan out what we’re going to do.  Wish the consult was sooner. 

Bottom line, I was left with some type of tumor in me for the past year, and it took leaving 1 medical group and switching to another.  3rd world medicine is practiced in our country.  If you question your physician, find a new one.  Go with your gut!  I wish I hadn’t let the first group get me down and convince me that my pain was in my head.
My initial plan to hit the road was to hook up and head out on February 20th, the 5th anniversary of our 2001 Appalachian Trail Hike.  I’m sorry to say that’s not looking realistic now.   However, I promise, I will be hitting the road this year come hell or high water (or high gas prices too).  I’ve literally lost a year to bad medical services, self doubt, and a dash of depression.  While I’m feeling much better, I know once this issue is addressed the old Rich (a.k.a. Gadget) will be back in full force.  Shame it took so long to find a doctor who actually listened to my complaint.  But so glad I found him!

So, you’ll find me here blogging and working on the forum more.  And working on selling more copies of the Digital RV.  If I can’t be out yet, at least I can help other RV owners use technology.  Who knows, maybe you’ll write a blog from the road to keep me entertained! If you do, please let me know where it is so I can link to you and follow along. 
I’m looking forward to meeting you all on the road this year.  Oh, and I’ll post a new page later with the whole saga for interested readers.  I know it’s not Digital RV type stuff, but it might be interesting.

A friend of the DigitalRV.net site was kind enough to let readers of Airstreamforums.com know about the gas price net programs. Here’s the link:

http://www.airstreamforums.com/forums/f348/gasoline-prices-20696.html

I’d like to say to all readers of the blog who are interested in Airstreams or owns them, Airstreamforums is the resource of choice on the internet. The community there goes well beyond being called a “useful resource”. When I was shopping for my trailer I spent months on their forum learning all I could. I remained a “lurker” until I purchased my trailer.

The wealth of knowledge and friendly atmosphere at Airstreamforums.com keeps me coming back on a daily basis! It really operates well, and welcomes all. So be sure to stop by.

Of course, don’t forget the Digital RV’s own forum too. We certainly cover some different topics. That’s why ours is up. And the Airstreamforums is great for all things Airstream.

With the higher fuel prices out there, all RV owners are feeling the pinch. Let’s face it, many of our vehicles don’t get the gas mileage of a hybrid vehicle. Normally we’ve got big tanks, and shorter than average distances between refills.

The current fuel situation can go so far as to curb our big trips in the coming years. Going cross country just costs more, plain and simple. But there are some ways we can minimize our expenses.

One such way, for a well connected Digital RV’er, is to check out the free Gas Price sites on the internet. These free web sites have local drivers post the latest prices at gas stations in their area. You as a user simply go to the site, plug in the zip code of where you’re traveling, and you’ll find gas stations listed from cheapest to most expensive.

I first started using GasPriceWatch.com last summer. If you’re a Macintosh user you might be familiar with Mac’s DashBoard applications. I’ve never found most of the dashboard utilities to be extemely useful. But one boring rainy day I was poking around Mac’s site and found a “Widget” that would find the cheapest gas prices in town for me. So I downloaded and installed it!

After playing with the widget for a while I decided to check out the web site, Gaspricewatch.com . There I signed up and became a price reporter as well. That allowed me to update station prices in my area for other users of the system. It always pays to help out sites that prove helpful to you. That’s how the Internet should work, and I encourage all readers to take the same approach when possible.

If you’re a network connected RV’er, check out Gaspricewatch. There are other similar services as well. Next time you’re trying to figure out where to fill up next you’ll have a resource available that can help you save at the pump, and keep your spending money for more digital gadgets to bring aboard!