Starlink and Starry Eyed

It was a rough day ...  

And that's pretty much what I looked like after running around yesterday.  People drive so crazy I can't believe it.  One guy tried to run me off the road.  He was in the Must Yield lane right beside me.  Did he slow down or stop until I got by?  Of course not ... he kept right on going until I had to run into the curb to keep him from hitting me.  Did he know I was there?  Yeah I'm pretty sure that constant horn honking was a clue.  I swear, next time I'm going to let them hit me.

That was AFTER I had to sit through an employee discussion at the Elks Lodge.  It turned out not to be so bad, but truly ... if I was that employee who got called on the carpet, I think I would have showed up on time, not 20 minutes late.  All's well that ends well.

In the meantime, I've been contemplating Starlink.  I have a Verizon MiFi that rarely works at my house, and so I use my AT&T phone hot spot.  I've been RV traveling for almost 14 years now.  The MiFi has served me well for a cost of $90 a month.  

What I'm finding out however, is their towers don't work so well any more unless you camp out underneath one.    The solution might be getting Starlink.  Talk about complicated ... if you've ever done any investigation into this, you'll find it to be controversial.  

You can buy Gen 2 with a dish that automatically moves to find one or more of 6219 satellites, or Gen 3 which has a wider view and does NOT turn automatically.  That's assuming you are not parked near any trees or "obstructions".  Apparently it takes some time for it to determine the obstructions before it finds the satellites.  Here are the trails left by said satellites, which seem to bother scientists a bit.

There are two "plans" to acquire.  One is for your house and runs about $130 a month.  It has your address as the location.  Apparently as of now, you can move it wherever you go, as long as you enter another address.  You have priority use on this account.

The other plan is Roaming.  This one is for RV's who travel, but cost $150 a month and you do NOT have priority use.  So you can get throttled down (or dropped completely) depending on how many folks are using their internet, AND you pay more for it.  At some point I'm sure Starlink will stop folks from getting the HOME unit and traveling with it.  The good news is if you get roaming, you can put it on hold any time you want, for as long as you want, and not pay at all.  

For me, I would use it on the road AND at home, so that's $150 a month versus a questionable MiFi for $90 a month.  So what's a gal to do???

EAT ... that's what I'm going to do.  This big box of tika masala came in my Hello Fresh box for free.  It was a taste tester I guess.  There was enough chicken for one serving, and rice for twelve!  The bag of sauce was huge considering the tiny amount of chicken involved.  

It was quite tasty, but I won't show you a picture because you would probably lose your lunch.  It was pretty disgusting looking ... nothing like the picture here.  No, I won't be getting it again.

I continued to pack a few things here and there in the rig, but most of what is left cannot take the heat.  It was 112 inside yesterday, so definitely an RV cover is required.  I would just turn on the air and the fridge, but I'm sure both will run constantly the entire day and half the night trying to keep it halfway cool.  I'm not worried about the electricity ... but the motors running continuously when it's so hot.  Seems like that can't be good for them.  107 today they say.  I'll turn on both this morning and see how it goes.

Dinner was going to be killer I thought.  I mean just look at this burger!  It rivals Habit burgers to say the least!  

At least I can show you a picture of how this one turned out.  Not bad, eh?  Okay, I admit I toasted the bun a little too much.  I got distracted by Trey Kimsey riding that crazy bucking bull!!  What I was NOT fond of was frying the "smash" burger until my entire stove was completely covered with grease.  No kidding, it was running off onto the floor.  

The best part was the grilled onions ... YUM ... and the ketchup/dijon/mayo sauce.  Two such simple things to make this burger the best I've ever made.  Add bacon and I would be starry eyed!!!  The fries ... I don't know.  Why they keep adding BAKED fries to the menu instead of something more tasty, I'll never understand.  They do not come out crispy like their picture, but they were edible.  Why?  Because they had Old Bay Seasoning sprinkled on them.  Who knew?  I may have to try that again!

Stuffed to the gills, I spent the rest of the night reading reviews on Starlink.  At the moment, what I have is less expensive.  If I get frustrated enough with it, I'm sure there will be a Starlink living at my house.  In the meantime ... stay cool.  Today is my final packing day!!