Sunday, November 22, 2009

Arizona and Internet Problems Continue

Well famous last words – “the Internet is working great.” The next morning when we got ready to leave Odessa, TX the satellite dish refused again to go down. Tried everything we tried the day before and got no where. And around that area there was no one who could work on it. Mostly we got “Huh? A what?” over the phone. Finally using the campground’s Internet located a dealer in the San Antonio, Texas area. Called him and he gave us DataStorm/MotoSats tech support number. Called them. They talked Bill into going up on the roof and fiddling with things up there. Still wouldn’t go down. So then last piece of advice. Pull the orange and red wires out of the controller box and put power to them. HUH??
To regress – don’t know if I mentioned that a couple of stops ago when we turned on the satellite box Bill saw a puff of smoke come out of it and smelled electrical burn smell. But nothing else happened and the dish went up and locked on so we forgot about it. Now we know what it was. Back forward. I asked tech support what they meant by put power to them and they told me “touch the wires to a 9 volt battery and the dish will go down.” Okay, Bill went up to the campground office and bought a battery, touched the wires to it and down went the dish! Good – but not good.
Left the campground and drove the rest of the way across Texas – gad it’s a big state. No wonder the Interstate has a speed limit of 80 miles per hour. 80!

Went through the “Hill Country” – interesting. Once out of that area the scenery was nothing to see, expect for the oil pumps. Straight through El Paso and on to Las Cruces, NM for the night.
Usually I go into the campground offices and register us. This time Bill went in with me as he wanted to ask if they knew any MotoSat dealers. Well….I’d just picked out one of the easiest places to get into from the freeway. All I checked was to make sure it had Internet service. I can tell you next campground I pick out I’ll notice if it has the word “Resort” in its name. Guess Resort = Expensive. We both about dropped our teeth when the girl gave us the price! WOW! This was another time I wish you only paid for what you used. Didn’t use the indoor pool or the hot tub but paid for them anyway. (Bill did say their bathrooms were outstanding.) Did use their Internet though and contacted our satellite installer for info on contacting someone in Tucson. He gave us a number to call and said it should be under warrantee. Sure hope so.
Passed over the Rio Grande just outside of Las Cruces – not much of a river here.

Surprised me. Also passed this road runner next to the highway.

Shades of Mexico we had to go through our first check point – in New Mexico.

There sure were a lot of sensors set up along the road as it narrowed down to funnel everyone through the check point. Also noticed that on the other side of the interstate there were lots of sensors after the check point. (a weird thought flew through my mind – OMG what if the first owners of Jennie used drugs. Would they still be detected?) Okay so I’m strange. No alarms went off.
Saw lots of strange Yucca? Plants along the highway. They had all bloomed – some had one bloom others many. At first I though they were Joshua Trees – but don’t think they bloom like this.

So – now we are in Tucson – The satellite guy will be here at 9:30 Monday morning. We may get lucky and just need a new box, or….there may be a short in the wiring or dish somewhere – it would cause the same problem. IF its not the box – and not a quick fix with the wiring and it turns out to be the dish itself – we’ll have to send everything back to the factory (NO NO) If it comes to that don’t know what we’ll end up doing.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Carol---just wanted to wish you and Bill a
    HAPPY THANKSGIVING----and hope you get your satelite problems fixed there in Tuscon. Looking forward to all your travel news while in Mexico and also the picturs---you always have such interesting things to write about and wonderful photos-----stay safe and enjoy your trip !!

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