Tragedy on the Strip and Taking Care of Business

Hello there everyone! Greetings from Las Vegas, Sin City the Strip or whatever you like to refer to her as. Shortly after we arrived in Sunday night, tragedy hit the Vegas strip. While we hadn’t ventured out yet, we could hear the chaos going on around us.

It seems a young homeless woman, living in her car with her 3-year-old daughter, drove onto the sidewalk and hit dozens of pedestrians. She of course, had her daughter in the car with her. Such a sad tragedy all around.

So how did we hear about all this? My dear niece from Virginia texted me asking if we were  all right. She had heard on the news about an incident in Vegas and knew we were scheduled to be here.

Oh, that’s what all those sirens were about. That’s why I could see flashing lights when I took the dog out for a potty break. It was literally a block away. Imagine that, I’m right here and had no clue but my east coast peeps are checking on me. Too funny.

But what isn’t funny is that one person lost their life and several were in critical condition. One of whom was an 11-year-old boy. My heart goes out to all the families affected by this tragedy so close to the holidays.

I also sympathize with the troubled young woman, forced to live in a car with her 3-year-old. No one should have to make that choice. It gets near freezing some nights here in Vegas.

Okay, moving on to other topics. Since I haven’t been out and about taking pictures and playing tourist, I don’t have current content to share. However, I thought I’d share a few topics many don’t think about when they consider a full-time RV lifestyle.

How do you take care of business, how do you get things done when you move around frequently? What I have been up to isn’t all that glamorous but needs to be done none the less. I had to take my daughter to the doctor in order to get a refill on her acne cream. I know, fun eh?

Medical Care

So about that tube of acne cream my daughter needed. What I want to share with you is the fact that getting that simple tube of cream was not easy. When I called our regular dermatologist in Richmond, VA, they refused to fill a prescription without seeing us again. Um, yea, not going to happen anytime soon.

We were in Albuquerque when this happened. I called all the dermatologists in the area, The best case scenario, they could get us in in three months. That’s not going to happen.  We traveled on, my daughter’s concerns began to grow. She’s nearly 13 after all, a teen in the throws of hormonal anarchy.

We went to the pharmacy and asked, “Do you have anything on the shelf that is equivalent to what is in my daughter’s facial cream?”. The nice pharmacist showed us over the counter creams that had one of the ingredients but lacked the other. Of course, that’s why it’s a prescription, ugh.

So I called the Las Vegas dermatologists, knowing we were going to be in the area for three glorious weeks. Low and behold, I managed to get her into a dermatologist. But they didn’t take our insurance plan. Oh well, I’d rather be out $95 + the prescription in order to have a happy teenager.

So why did I go into this long and exaggerated scenario? Why to bore you of course! Kidding, just kidding. I wanted to give you an honest spin on what it can be like without your regular hook-ups at your disposal. The simplest, most mundane thing – calling the doctor for an appointment to refill your prescription – can turn into a fiasco.

A lot of full-timers who’ve been at it for a while typically find a set of doctors they like. Then they plan to be in that town once a year for check-ups and what not. So, this can be navigated but there’s always the unexpected.

Receiving Packages

Another thing that can be difficult is timing packages to arrive when you’re stationary for a brief period. And not every campground will allow you to receive all types of packages. For example, some don’t allow you to receive anything shipped via USPS. Only UPS and Fed Ex.

So how in the heck do you get around this? You can always have mail sent via ‘General Delivery’. You simply have the item mailed to the nearest post office and go pick it up. This isn’t always the most reliable method though.

For regular every day mail, most full-timers will utilize a mail order service such as Escapees RV Club or My RV Mail that receives and processes their mail for them. Shipping them what they want on a monthly basis. Since we have a fixed address, my husband is the sorter and shipper!

But what if you don’t have a fixed address. You truly have no ties anywhere. That’s another blog post all in itself. And since I’m no expert on that, I’ll leave it up to a more knowledgeable source.

Internet on the Road

The last bit of business I’ve been trying to wrap up lately is acquiring an unlimited data plan (udp) through Verizon. How do I put this mildly? If you do anything outside of looking at Facebook on a regular basis, you’re going to burn through any data allowance you have. Forget about streaming a video, that’ll cost you big time.

So what’s a nomad to do? Don’t count on the campgrounds offering you any WiFi. Oh, they all claim to have free WiFi. Heck, they sometimes even offer it at your campsite. But it s.u.c.k.s.  And that’s an understatement folks.

I first started to research my options. If you’re looking to acquire a udp through Verizon, I HIGHLY recommend you join the Mobile Internet Aficionado (MIA) group at Technomadia’s website.

There is a small fee to join but it is well worth it as they are very knowledgable in all things pertaining to nomads and technology. This is the article that I used to help me navigate the crazy udp land. You will need to become a member to access the entire thing.

Anyway, once I had my research down, I followed the instructions. I ordered my phone and hot spot from Amazon. Then I started watching the bidding for Verizon grandfathered plans on E-bay. Once I had a good feel for how much they were selling for, I started my bidding.

Of course I didn’t win the first plan I saw. I was outbid a few times. I was even weaseled out of a plan by a seller. He agreed to a ‘buy it now price’ and then sold it out from under me. <shaking my head over here> Yes, it was quite the adventure.

Once I secured a plan, the real fun began. I had to do an Assumption of Liability (AOL) of the line. Basically you’re taking over someone else’s line and putting it in your name. The tricky part here? Trying not to lose the udp portion of the plan. The one piece you have worked so hard to acquire.

And that my friends is no easy task. I was on the phone for nearly two hours until I finally talked to a Verizon rep that wasn’t trying to trick my out of giving up my highly coveted, newly acquired udp. Verizon is guarding these things like a hawk!!

Then it was off to get a SIM card to insert into the device that was going to hold all the secrets to my plan, mwahaha. And even that turned into a debacle. Getting the SIM card was easy peasy, but I got conflicting information on what type of device I should use it in without losing the udp.

But alas, my troubles are all behind me and with the help of Technomadia, I am now the proud mommy of an unlimited data plan. Ahhhhh. Hey, you try living in an RV with three  internet addicted kids!

So these are just a few of the things I’ve had to navigate through while on the road. Things are never as simple as they seem. Thankfully I’d done a lot of research before heading out in the RV so I knew what to expect.

Next time I report out, I hope to have some more pictures from the strip. The kids went out exploring with dad today (albeit the one I had). I think they approved. It was daylight of course. And they stayed off the sidewalk…………

If you plan on doing  any Amazon shopping, I’d really appreciate it if you’d click on my  Amazon Affiliate Link first. If you order within 24 hours of clicking, I’ll get a small percentage to help keep this blog going and it won’t cost you a penny more. Thanks! I really do appreciate it. 

{HUGS} from the Crew!