Had to cover over 600 miles today, so did not spend much time other than driving.  However, enjoyed a ‘view from the window’ tour.  I have already been to most of the places like meteor crater, petrified forest and grand canyon but was nice to pass by so close.   I do enjoy the desert.

So, am getting all settled here in Amarillo and resting for tomorrow – destination Dallas to visit Collin and Becca.  Wonder where they will have us go for dinner?

More photos are here.

I have put a simple photo album and will add images to them as my travels progress.

Photos

So, I was getting ready for a drive from California to Arkansas.  As I was getting packed and things together I thought about my remote base.   The remote is a VHF/UHF system that links into the internet and to a radio in Arkansas allowing me to talk to friends there even while driving around the harbor.

Won’t need the remote while out of town, but wait!  Everything pretty much runs off 12vdc.  Why not put it in the car so as I drive I can still have the link up?  So, I setup my old laptop to do the voice ip and wireless.  A broadband USB stick would provide the internet coverage.  You will notice an AC inverter.  That is for the laptop.  I have a universal DC cable, but could not find the adapter plug that would fit and ran out of time.

The system worked and stayed connected 90% of the time only losing connection in the middle of the Majove desert.  I did run into one problem when trying to check into the Razoback net on 75 meters.  The network delay was huge taking 15 – 20 seconds to get the voice through which cause me to disrupt the net as my transmissions were way delayed.  Note to self, check network latency before getting on a net.

More on this later, but time to finish up a few things and get some sleep.