Friends Arrive and More Internet Woes

Yesterday was a beautiful weather day.  We got settled into our new spots and spent a lot of time admiring our view and new yard:

Sometime in the afternoon (I hardly ever know what time it is anymore), my phone rang, and Rollie was on the other end of the conversation.  He and Gina had made it to the desert last night and parked near Quartzsite.  He was just describing their location when we lost the phone connection. So Jim and I jumped in the little car and headed off to see if we could find them and invite them to move over to our sweet place.  We’d just about arrived to the mile marker Rollie said they were parked near, when we saw their big truck coming towards us.  It’s hard to miss that!  They were headed the opposite direction, hoping to come find us.  We made a quick turn around and we all pulled over to the side of the road and got out to have a meeting of the minds.  We all decided they should follow us out to check out our spot and maybe move over.

And that’s just what they did:

Right at sunset they pulled in and picked out a spot to settle.  Then they joined the rest of us for dinner and conversation. 

This morning started out as usual, that is until Jim asked me why he couldn’t get connected to the internet.  With one eye half open and my first cup of coffee barely touched, I started trying to figure out what was going on.  Both computers said they were connected to the network, and the router indicated it was connected to the internet, but it wasn’t.  Great.  Coffee basically ignored, I hemmed and hawed, plugged and unplugged and finally decided a call to technical support was going to be required.  But that takes a little getting used to…if you know me, you know I’m not a big fan of technical support.  I needed a little time to get used to the idea, so I slugged down more coffee and went to get dressed while I worked up my attitude to make the call. 

Then I decided maybe I should try a complete reset of the router before taking such a drastic step as to actually call technical support.  I chugged a little more coffee and tackled the complete reset.  No go.  Sigh.  Dial technical support.  The good side of this is that with 3Gstore.com, you actually don’t have to jump through more than a couple of hoops to talk to an actual, English speaking human being who might just have an idea about what they are supporting.  What a concept.  So, even though it’s still calling technical support, I had at least a little confidence we might be able to communicate and solve the problem.

After going through the entire reset and re-setting of our network with the guidance of the tech, it was beginning to look like we might be in business.  But, not to be.  Finally, even technical support had to admit defeat and advise me to seek a warranty replacement.  Complete with a warning that I could be on hold for up to 30 minutes if I chose to call Cradlepoint.  Or, I could go online to the Cradlepoint website and do a support chat.

Well, that action really required more than a slight attitude readjustment, so Jim and I took the opportunity to get out for a little walk before I even thought about that next step.  We went out and found Gina doing a rock search in the nearby wash.  We chatted a few minutes while she shared her treasures, then we went off for a short desert walk.

Back at the Castle, I felt ready to tackle the online support chat for Cradlepoint, and a mere 45 minutes later completed the conversation with Jared.  I needed to send him an email detailing the whole story one more time, and he would then forward that email to operations, who will then, in a day or so, whenever the mood strikes them, email me with a number and instructions to send them the bum router.  Once they receive it, in their own good time, they will send me a new router.  Since I really don’t know how long it might take them to get around to sending me this new router, which will come via Fed Ex, therefore must be sent to an actual street address, and not “third bush past the second line crossing of the electric lines out in the desert near Bouse, Arizona”, I opted to have it sent to our legal address in Livingston Texas.  Which means I will then need to have it forwarded to wherever we might be at the time.

As I was discussing this scenario with Janna later on, she suggested it might be easier to just order a new router and have it sent to their friends’ house in Parker.  Hmmm…now that’s a distinct possibility.  Whatever we do, until a new router appears, we will be sharing our one Verizon air card.  Now, that’s roughing it!

The day was not all lost, though.  Gina announced that she would be providing tonight’s dinner, which was an amazingly delicious gumbo with rice and a side of potato salad.  Oh my gosh, that woman can cook.  And, there are leftovers for tomorrow!  I’m sure glad they arrived and decided to be our neighbors!  We had a wonderful evening talking with them at their place before we said good night.

From our walk this morning, a desert view:

  I call this the “Moose Tree”:

It’s been another beautiful day in the desert!