2012 Camping. Or not.

We'd started to plan our big summer excursion already, this time a "stay put trip" to counter the enjoyable but quite tiring "let's hitch up and move every two days" 2011 trip. We thought a couple of weeks at Virginia Beach (a relatively short hop) then home via the Shenandoah Valley. Campgrounds had been selected and routes pored over, but then came the double call from England; visit and be visited. It's a nice reason to have to shelve our summer plans but I'm still biting my lower lip a bit.

Virginia Beach

It started when my brother and his family said that they'd like to come over from the UK, something I'd been nagging him about for a while. They wanted early June and that was just great for us because that's still a few weeks away from the summer break. They will be present, too, for one of Mrs T's significant birthdays (no telegram from the Queen, yet), which is also good except that it means that Grandma T won't be able to visit on the occasion of said significant birthday (she's not sleeping in the Airstream, that's for sure!). Blood being thicker than water, the good Grandma proposed an alternative solution and that was for La Famille Crapaud  to hop over the pond (ribbit) for a couple of weeks of family liaison. So that's what we're doing, spending some quality time with the ancestors in July, and just avoiding the Olympics into the bargain. We're even flying into the old ancestral home, Exeter, so no slumming it up in That London for us.

Exeter

Of course, it'll be great to see Old Mother Toad, Grandma T, Grandad T, the sibling toads and spawn (and their spawn), and of course Les Amis de Crapaud, if we have the time; we're all quite excited about it. But our camping this summer is going to be curtailed somewhat and limited, largely, to weekends. I'm sure we'll get over it but until then, we'll just have to go and sit out in Towed Haul on the weekday evenings instead, especially as it's just lovely on our driveway!

Aeroplane

Oh, and I have no idea about the occasional lapses into French, except that I like the word crapaud a lot.

Winter, winter.

Up here in the Great White North, things can get a little frustrating in the winter, tied down as we are in the snow and ice, completely Airstream free. I'm happy that our pride and joy is all winterized and sitting in the dealer's compound but I can't help getting a little sad when I see pictures and read stories of people on their travels in more southern climes.
Still, onwards and upwards, I am still able to prepare for the coming season and, in this case, preparation comes in the form of testing out a heap of new gadgets that will aid my blogging and connectedness when out on the road. Now, I fully appreciate that some people will say that going camping is suppsoed to be a getaway from all that stuff, and to an extent they're right. But for me, all this technology is a means of aiding my camping experience and allowing me share my experiences as a sort of really impressive postcard.
Today's preparation is playing with our brand new Samsung Galaxy Tablet, a rather whizzy hand held computer that is a worthy rival to it's slightly more flashy cousin, the iPad. We actually bought the tablet for Mrs T as an early birthday present but, as the gods of fortune often dictate, she was issued with a iPad at work the very next day. So I have taken over the Galaxy (Mwahahaha, where next?) and I'm getting to grips with it at as a tool for "being connected" when we're out and about. This Samsung is also very handy because it's pretty much a large version of my new Samsung Galaxy II S phone, so the learning curve has partly been dealt with. Mrs T, by the way, has full permission to use her iPad for personal stuff so she's undergoing a similar process in the world of Apple, what with her iPhone and all.
I already know that when in Canada I can tether the tablet to my phone to maintain Internet access when I'm away from the WiFi - I can do it in the US, too, but I'd need a second mortgage to do that; I have other methods when "down south". I also know that this tablet can do all my PC can, only in a lot less space. So when I need maps, or shops or bars or whatever, I'm always able to check these things in an instant. I can also connect to write this blog in real time, too, as the profusion of Apps available give me a nice interface to Blogger, and much more besides. Today's new discovery, though, has been the ability to hook up a full sized keyboard to the tablet and type without having to rely on the one on the tablet's screen. Fortunately, I happened to have an old USB keyboard lying around (a British one, so I'm re-learning the £ sign) which has plugged straight into the tablet, albeit with the aid of an otional extra adapter that we bought with the device. Actually I have no problem with the on-screen keyboard but for more than a paragraph it can be a little wearing. So, here I am typing away on an old £10 keyboard and the only hindrance is my inability to type. And spell! I've just realised that I don't have a mouse connected but, as one brought up on pre-mouse computers I think I can manage without one.
I've also tried connecting the camera, both directly and by using the SD card adapter. I'm happy to report that both work well and all I have to do now is find the photographs on the tablet! Still, there's an App that will help me so I know I'll be fine.
Now, of course, I'm going to have to test all this stuff when in the Airstream but, as I said at the top, it's deep mid-winter, so I can't. Waaaaah!
The photo attached is, by the way, a pictorial description of why we're not camping, was downloaded straight onto the tablet and is published herewith. I hope.....

Isn't technology wonderful?

I'm trying out the mobile blogging facility on this Android phone. Typing's a bit slow but I'm thinking that it could be useful when out in the boondocks. Assuming there's a signal of course.
Current location: lying in bed!