The big unanswered question from our announcement of the “Ridiculously Awesome” Millenicom iPad Mini deal – would the iPads be locked to T-Mobile or not? Millenicom expected that they would be, though my research lead me to expect that like other iPad’s the devices from Millenicom would actually be unlocked. Our Retina iPad Mini arrived this […]
Millenicom’s Ridiculously Awesome iPad Mini Deal
Our favorite mobile data reseller Millenicom suffered a big black eye recently, when Sprint suddenly canceled the upstream gateway arrangement that enabled Millenicom’s “Unlimited” plan. Many former customers are still left without service, as their device’s ESNs have not yet been unlocked for re-activation on other services – a hugely frustrating situation for Millenicom and customers […]
Winning the Storage War!
Storage units are like security blankets for baby nomads. So many of us head out on the road with the core bits of our former stationary life crammed into a big “climate controlled” box somewhere, ready and waiting just in case nomadic life doesn’t work out. For others, it is more about punting – putting […]
Where are the LTE Boosters???
Without our two cellular boosters, our six weeks spent at Cape Blanco Lighthouse would not have been quite the serene paradise that it had been. It would have been maddening. Others staying at Cape Blanco State Park had taken to calling the bluff side picnic area a short walk down the road “the phone booth” […]
Failure Analysis: Did a Baldwin PA2721 Filter Failure Kill our 8V71 Engine?
The story of our summer was our major breakdown in remote Montana, and the subsequent full engine rebuild we carried out at Interstate PowerSystems in Billings, MT. The question we have been asked a million times since we first posted about the breakdown has been – “just what went wrong?” The symptoms defied a clear […]
Rebuilding an 8V-71 Detroit Diesel Engine
It took longer than any of us imagined it might. When we broke down on June 14th, the thought that we might still be in Billings when Cherie’s 40th birthday rolled around on August 4th seemed like something to joke about. That was over a month off! Even considering the time it took us to […]
The Cure For Bus Withdrawal
It has been over a month since our big breakdown, and our bus is still lacking an engine. I’m starting to suffer serious bus-driving withdrawal. Fortunately, I’ve found the next best thing to actually driving our bus – the amazing iOS app Desert Bus! (And before you droid folks start to complain… here is an […]
Disassembling and Dissecting a Detroit Diesel 8V-71
What to do with a broken down 40 year old Detroit Diesel engine? After pondering our options, we decided to give Interstate PowerSystems the go-ahead to pull Zephyr’s engine for a full dissection with intention to rebuild. We had grown comfortable with their expertise, openness, and professionalism – and felt that they were the right […]
Un-Cutting the Cord
Today is my seventh Nomadiversary – seven years since I cut the cord and left traditional fixed-location life behind. Over the years, I’ve often been asked “Why?” – what inspired me to hit the road to head out to see the world with only a ridiculously small Tab Clamshell and a little Jeep Liberty to […]
Lithium Dreams, Lined With Worry? (Response to Boeing Dreamliner Battery Fire)
A few people have asked if the Boeing Dreamliner being grounded over a lithium battery fire has given us any cause for alarm, considering our bus is also equipped with a lithium battery bank. Unfortunately, none of the media coverage of the Boeing Dreamliner issues have bothered to give much technical information on the batteries […]
