Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

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Starlink Mini Report —
 Internet On The Road


Last year when we camped at Monument Valley on our way to view the Total Eclipse of the Sun in Texas, our internet service options were terrible. We had both the campground wi-fi and a hotspot provided through the cell phone; either one was very crappy. It was at that time that we decided to (eventually) go the Starlink way.

This year, our first stop was, in fact, Monument Valley. I did not bother comparing their wi-fi to the Starlink Mini. Once I got the unit turned on and the antenna oriented correctly (per the Starlink App), we were off and running with internet speeds adequately high bandwidth to not only run our laptops, but to stream movies and other content on the big RV TV using an Amazon FIRE® Stick.

The screen shots below are typical of the up and download speeds we get in places that are not perfectly clear. There is enough open view of the northern sky, which Starlink seems to like, in these places where we have been camping.

We are even getting good internet in the land of OZ.

Click on any image to enlarge.

17 Jul 2025 by Entertainment Notions Technobabble Wanderlust

Washington’s Birthday

We still honor the Father of the Country, George Washington, on the Anniversary of his birth, February 22nd. The following is edited from our post of Washington’s Birthday back in 2010.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of George Washington, the first president of the United States, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

From WikiPedia:

gw.jpgGeorge Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and as the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. Because of his significant role in the revolution and in the formation of the United States, he is often referred to as “Father of His Country”.

The Continental Congress appointed Washington commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces in 1775. The following year, he forced the British out of Boston, lost New York City, and crossed the Delaware River in New Jersey, defeating the surprised enemy units later that year. Because of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured the two main British combat armies at Saratoga and Yorktown. Negotiating with Congress, the colonial states, and French allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile nation amid the threats of disintegration and failure. Following the end of the war in 1783, King George III asked what Washington would do next and was told of rumors that he’d return to his farm; this prompted the king to state, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” Washington did return to private life and retired to his plantation at Mount Vernon.

For those who still recognize this day in honor of our first president, have a very Happy Washington’s Birthday!

22 Feb 2025 by Arizona Entertainment Notions Photography

Gold Rush Days 2023

Our little town has an annual event called “Gold Rush Days” in honor of the town’s reason for being: the discovery of gold in 1863 by Henry Wickenburg. Vulture Mine became the most productive mine in Arizona history. This weekend marks the 75th celebration of Gold Rush Days.
The festivities included a Rodeo, a carnival, a giant flea market, a classic car show and a parade.

The carnival featured food concessions, fun houses and a number of rides from gentle kiddie merry-go-rounds to full-on vomit comet rides. The midway completely encircled our town’s community center. We walked through the midway but did not participate in either food or rides. We took a lot of photos, though.

The flea market had most of the usual stuff like home-made arts and crafts, souvenir vendors, apparel vendors and a myriad of other interesting things to see. That’s Damsel in her big shade hat perusing wooden pots and bowls.

We toured the classic car area on Friday afternoon. The usual cars were on display. There were a lot of old classics, some Hot Rods and a couple of rare cars.

The parade started at ten AM AZ time on Saturday Morning (02/11/2023). Damsel and I saw the whole parade of equestrians, local organizations, classic cars on parade, a politician or two and law enforcement/fire department vehicles. The parade went for over an hour.

Damsel and I enjoyed our visits to the exhibits, vending, classics and who doesn’t love a parade. Between the two of us, we took a thousand plus photos this weekend. There are only a few of them shown here. Click on any image to enlarge.

11 Feb 2023 by Arizona Entertainment Nostalgia Photography

Happy Independence Day

gba.jpg

We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable 4th of July. We will be dining on pulled pork sandwiches, watching fireworks later and we’ll be watching Baseball and other stuff on our new 50″ Smart TV. Happy 4th of July!

May God Bless America and keep her safe from adversity especially from within.

Click on the eagle to see a larger view.

04 Jul 2019 by Entertainment Holidays Patriotism

Grand Canyon Traffic Webcam

South Entrance Traffic Webcam

While browsing National Park Webcams, I found that the NPS at Grand Canyon had established a traffic webcam to evaluate arrivals at the park via the South Entrance on Arizona Route 64. Evidently, the NPS is concerned with the increase of traffic and visitation in not only Grand Canyon, but in other parks as well.

This is the blurb explaining the purpose of the experimental webcam:

We are testing a webcam to monitor the flow of vehicles entering the park at the South Entrance Station. Check the date and time in the lower right corner to make sure the image you are seeing is current.

Like other national parks, Grand Canyon has seen a dramatic increase in visitation over the last few years. The South Rim experiences crowded conditions during busy periods throughout the year, including spring break, summer, and holiday times during the fall and winter.

This experimental traffic count makes me wonder if NPS is considering a plan to require reservations to be made prior to entrance to the park. I can tell you from personal experience that the parks where we have recently visited can be overrun with people and vehicles.

At Grand Canyon last September, many of the turnouts for canyon overlooks had no parking spaces left for either autos or RVs. The main Village area was also very congested.

Click on the image to enlarge.

UPDATE: Out of curiosity, I looked at the South Entrance Webcam this morning (Saturday). My advice is to use the East Entrance on AZ 64 via US 89 at peak traffic times.

South Entrance Webcam

31 Jul 2017 by Arizona Entertainment Environment Wanderlust

The Camera Mode Wheel

Camera Mode WheelI have been in possession of my Canon EOS Rebel SL1 since last December. Damsel has had Canon EOS Rebels for years, but this one is my first semi-serious DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera.

Since I had little experience with DSLRs other than borrowing Damsel’s from time to time, I bought and read “Canon EOS Rebel SL1/100D for Dummies.” The book helped a lot in that it pointed out all of the special features of the camera including the menus plus all of the modes available on the wheel and a few more beyond that.

In this post I will discuss what the Canon manual describes as “creative modes,” which are P, Tv, Av and M seen in the image enclosed by an arc and braces on the upper left side of the wheel in the image. I won’t go into all the other modes available other than to enumerate them. Starting with the green box “A” on the left going counter-clockwise, the fixed modes are as follows:

  • Scene Intelligent Auto
  • Flash Off
  • Creative Auto
  • Portrait
  • Landscape
  • Close-up
  • Sports
  • and Special Scene Mode with a variety of kitschy settings available (snow, beach, fireworks, etc.)

Now for the creative modes:

P is for “Program AE,” which automatically selects aperture and shutter speed for you. If you select ISO AUTO, then this mode is more-or-less completely automatic with the exception that if you want the flash to fire, you must deploy the pop-up wink light manually. The latter is true for all of the creative modes. “P” is the mode I use the most.

Tv is for “Shutter Speed Priority.” Set the shutter speed to get the effect you desire. Long exposure time to blur motion and short exposure time to freeze it. Aperture and other settings are automatic. I have this mode set to a very fast shutter speed for normal use in case I see something moving that I wish to freeze. Switching modes is almost instantaneous while in the field.

Av is for “Aperture Priority.” Use a narrower aperture for greater depth of field. I have this set to a wide aperture to be able to capture objects with a blurred background. It’s good for portraits of people and photos of critters in the desert with attention focused on the subject and drawn away from the background.

M is for “Manual Settings.” The photographer can select both aperture and shutter speed settings. I keep this set for the occasional solar filter photography I do: very fast shutter speed and wide aperture seem to work best with the solar filter I use.

In the few months I have had this camera, I have tried to delve into the myriad functions and modes, but after this short time there is still much to be discovered. Regardless of that, I am very well pleased with the camera.

28 Apr 2015 by Entertainment Photography Technobabble

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