It's about time.

Many of you can relate to Working long hours at your career. Raising your families. Buying a home and paying all the bills related to being homeowners and parents. We're now retired and don't need all that work and expense. Now "It's about time" and what we do to follow our dreams.

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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Travel Day With New GPS Fiasco.


Our Location today is Texarkana, Arkansas, U.S.A. 

Since we have left our site at Wildwood Golf and RV Park in McGregor we have either had to be awake early or have been naturally waking early because our bodies are not letting go of the Daylight-Savings-Time we became accustomed to during the summer months. Even after our evening out at the Grand Ole Opry last night, we went to bed after posting the blog that I’d mostly written before going out and still I was up by 6:30 and Kathy before 7:00. That does have its bonuses though because we had our breakfast, did a quick read on the computers closed the trailer up and were on the road by 9:00 this morning. 
We’ve been having difficulties with updating the maps on our 7” Rand McNally RV GPS. We actually set out this morning with only a piece of paper with the highways written down that we needed to use to get out of Nashville. For over an hour we managed to escape the chaotic traffic but Kathy realized that we needed help so as soon as we saw a sign for a Flying J we pulled in. The RV Parking area was packed so we did as we usually do, we parked with the Semis. 
We figured having a backup GPS was not a bad idea but we weren’t going to spend the money we did on our good one. We chose a moderate priced Garmin that would get us by until we could get the other one going. Since it was already past 11:00 we had lunch at the Denny’s restaurant before returning to the truck to set our purchase up.
Imagine our surprise when after unwrapping this machine and turning it on we couldn’t read the screen. Going back inside and explaining the problem they promptly replaced it with another Garmin. Going through the unwrapping process for a second time the machine turned on beautifully but as soon as we agreed to the terms of usage this screen went totally dark as well. There was no way to make any adjustments because we couldn’t see any of the prompts. This time the manager checked them both out but still couldn’t get them to work. We ended up paying double the cost we wanted to but walked out with a 5” Rand McNally GPS 
Programming a distant address was no problem and we could see the screen fairly well so after losing an hour and a half on the Garmin GPS Fiasco we were finally back on the road. It wasn’t until we’d been on the road for a while we found we had another problem. The volume was set so low that we could barely hear it. We needed a rest so we stopped at a rest stop on I-40 so we could walk around and stretch. We took the time to look at the GPS but still couldn’t find a way to adjust the volume. As we started driving past Memphis, Tennessee we had to change to a number of different highways that were plagued with construction but because we could barely hear the GPS commands we added extra miles getting back on track. 
Nice Rest Area but limited Parking.
After crossing into the state of Arkansas we stopped at the first Flying J we saw in Marion at 4:15. We circled the RV parking area only to find it filled with Expediters so we found ourselves a nice spot by a curb in the Semi Parking Lot. Being near a curb allows us to open the slide on that side of the trailer without interfering with truck traffic or parking.  
Nice place for a picnic but limited parking.
Since we’d been on the road since 9:00 this morning and it would soon be dark we called it a day and were parked for the night. We ate supper at Denny’s before returning to our Home on wheels. With only a few things that tumbled from their travel spots we were soon set up for the night. As I write this post Kathy managed to raise the volume on the new GPS and added a few of our travel destinations as well. 
Tomorrow will be another travel day as we make our way to warmer climates. Thanks for following along and feel free to leave a comment. Be Safe and Enjoy! 

It’s about time.
Krackers 

Joke of the Day 

Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.

7 comments:

  1. Good luck with your GPS we have never had one and do just fine. We will have never parked with the semis, there is always better places.
    Keep having fun and travel safe.

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  2. Oh dear. Paul would have been going nuts if we had to take the second one back. So glad Kathy found out how to raise the dang volume. Hope today's travels go very smoothly for y'all.

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  3. I had a problem with our Rand McNally and called customer service. They actually gave me the software technician. He ended up remotely removing and then installing everything on the unit. We've never had any problems since. I was really impressed with the way they handled our problem and will not ever buy another brand. The phone was answered promptly and they spoke English.

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  4. We like having the gps, ours is a Good Sam Rand McNally and only once did it freeze but when I emailed them they called immediately and advised how to reset it. We turn the volume down and I just follow the screen. Bill also has the built in one in the truck which we use as a back up as well as our atlas! We should never get lost! Ha ha
    Oh! I wanted to mention that I like your blog picture, was waiting for one of the new rig!

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  5. Ugh! That can certainly make for an aggravating day! We got rid of our GPS, couldn't update the maps, and now just use the GPS on my phone when I need it. I still prefer just using my atlas.

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  6. Funny. Crossed this bridge on my way out to Colorado after driving getting into the middle of a drug bust in Memphis.

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  7. I read your blog post of Rand Mcnally Map Update this is very useful and informative for me.
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    ReplyDelete