 Have you ever had a full-time RV life question that you were just dying for someone on YouTube to answer? Well, today I've gotten you covered because I'm back for my winter break with an all-new 2024 edition of the Sunday Morning View Queue where I answer all the best viewer questions. Happy Sunday Birdwatchers! It's Robin with Creativity RV and if you saw the final video I did in 2023, you know that I asked you guys for all of your top questions for this View Queue and you really came through so much in fact that I'm going to split this View Queue into two segments. Today I'm going to talk about everything practical like internet and mail and the cat and hooking up and solar but if you haven't subscribed already please do and remember to hit the little bell to get notifications because one month from today the next View Queue is going to talk about everything emotional like missing family on the road and how you stay connected and fear and dealing with negativity about RV life and the big one, loneliness. So look out for that one month from today but right now I'm going to get right into your best questions. I couldn't believe how many questions I got about my new kitten Bailey. So look out for an entire video just dedicated to that but for now I'll answer a couple that I got like this one from Susan Shearer who is one of my patrons she asked us on Patreon. Just curious why didn't you get an older cat and I said because I'm dumb. Now I got Bailey on Craigslist I tried to get a kitten out of rescue and it just didn't work out over and over. So Bailey is the son of a farm cat and who knows so he is a little bit wild. How? It's tougher than I remember dealing with a kitten he has a lot of energy and this is a small space which leads me to the next question which is by Laura May I believe. Please tell us everything about Bailey in the spring Q&A video. How's he taken to life on the road? Does he get the zoomies and how does that work in the little airstream? Now I had never heard the expression zoomies before I can only imagine that's when the kitten runs back and forth and back and forth through this tiny airstream what she does he has a lot of energy but I've done a couple of things in here that make that work I've gotten him a bunch of toys including this blue gizmo that is a USB rechargeable that he plays with for hours and hours I will put the link for that down below in my Amazon store for those of you that are cat people it has been a game changer. The other thing I did was I got one of those perches that usually go in a window I was able to stick it to the side of my airstream and he absolutely lives up there. Now I'll tell you that a godsend for me is that Bailey fetches I did not teach him how to do it he just does it naturally so for hours he'll have me throw a ball or a balled-up receipt which is his favorite off of the bed down below I'll even do it in the middle of the night with my eyes closed when he has a bunch of energy I was worried in the beginning how he was going to take to road life the first time I took him to the vet in a brand new carrier he puked and had diarrhea all over it and destroyed it and I thought oh god he gets car sick he's not gonna be good the secret to getting through that was that I got a carrier that is shaped like a backpack but it's all mesh and I did a ton of research to find just the right one of course I'll put this on the list also the difference with this one is that he can see out all the sides I know first trip you can be okay yeah just gave him a snack that didn't help but I think he's gonna be okay I'll take a couple hours all right settle in babe here we go I've been with him in the snow in the rain in the desert in the forest at his first truck stop at his first cracker barrel and he is loving every minute of it yeah this is a small space and I know some people get concerned about how that affects a cat but I think that he's got so much to look at and so many things to smell and see that he's actually more engaged with his life than a cat that's stuck in a house the next question is one I get all the time because I'm the author of the book work from home while you roam the ultimate guide to jobs that can be done from anywhere which includes hundreds of real jobs with links to apply for all kinds of people now for the 2024 edition which is out now I included a whole new chapter called quick cash I did a video about this at the end of last year if you want to go back and check that out I will link it up here but in that chapter I talked all about making quick cash in your spare time doing micro tasks and user testing and market research things like that now let me read you the question and I'll explain what I'm doing to help you guys on that Glinda said I've tried making money doing online surveys but my demographic must not be desirable because they continually reject me any suggestions yes now for everybody else you are chosen for these surveys or tasks whatever based on your demographic and sometimes people go in and they try and get one of these gigs and they're rejected and they go well this is not for me or they get one and it pays $5 and they say it's not worth it we are very lucky you guys because in the next week or two look out because I have an expert in this that I am interviewing now she has a system that I have mentioned before to be successful in this but she's going to show us the system with screenshots look out for that video but for now I will tell you yes absolutely you can make money don't just apply for one and give up because they do work the next question is about hooking up alone this is by my patron Mary my question how do you back up by yourself to hitch up and park your trailer do you use a backup camera I'm alone and that's my most stressful challenge when I was first going on the road I went to an RV show with my parents and my dad said why don't you get one of those little trailers you can pull it and the detachment will have a car and I said no no no I was absolutely terrified by the idea so I got a B plus van and then when that didn't work out because of electrical and flood issues I got a class C and then the walls came apart and then I got a fifth wheel and I had to learn how to pull that now I went out to the desert there's a video on this and unhooked and re-hooked and changed the hype and backed up by myself in the desert over and over and over until it was comfortable and of course as soon as I was I got rid of that and got a trek camper but I remember I was out at a campground once and I saw a woman hooking up an air stream so I went over and watched her and even then it looked so complicated listen it's not you can do it if I can do it you can do it you can see me here I back up my Jeep using a backup camera what I found was hard in the beginning was seen where the hitch was because it's all black back there but now I'm a pro at it I can put my hitch ball right underneath the hitch a game changer for me was getting an electric hitch instead of one that I had to grind and it just goes down on the ball the thing snaps over I'm done because I'm by myself I do have to go back and forth and back and forth and look at it more than other people deal figure out I can use the exercise the thing I really struggled with was the order in which I should do things like when I unhook when do I do the chains when do I do the legs when do I put the wheel chocks down once I got all of that I found it was really no big deal at all now I hook up in probably 10 15 minutes and get down the road and unhooked even faster it's easy once you get these things down it's a piece of cake and you can do it the next question is another one I get all the time it's about internet Katie said I work fully remote but I need to do a lot of uploading editing and work online I'm gonna fast forward she says how reliable do you think Starlink would be as you might know I have Starlink I also have an AT&T unlimited router on a Nighthawk this is it and I have unlimited Verizon on my phone so I have three different types of internet that I can get on the road I do that because my work requires it when I was first out here and I did not have good internet I struggled in my life was miserable now because I work remotely this is infrastructure cost for my job I'm gonna tell you how much I pay and what I think of each service quickly and I'm sure some people are gonna be aghast at what I pay but look I don't have housing cost this is the cost that I incur to be able to work remotely on the road because like you I do a lot of uploading the Starlink is 150 bucks a month my AT&T is a hundred and it's unlimited I'll tell you in a second how I got that and then of course I pay like a hundred bucks for my phone service now Starlink is hands down the best it's the fastest unless you're in a place where there's going to be trees or big rocks or the weather is bad it is a pain in the pitook to carry around it's huge you know and when I put it up it takes a few minutes and it takes a ton of power so if you're going to be boondocking just keep in mind you're gonna have to be doing all of your uploading during the day while the Sun is out and your solar is working if I'm out in the middle of nowhere like a desert Starlink is the best I prefer this in most places 85% of places I go this AT&T unlimited router works just fine for all my uploading and if I don't have to take out the Starlink that's a win I pay for both because I have to have a signal I mentioned this in a video and I did a whole video for my patrons on how I got this because it doesn't apply to everybody but I'll tell you really quickly I did not get this through AT&T regular I got this through AT&T business now if you get any money on a 1099 like from those micro tasks for example you can say you are a business you can be a regular person with a social security number and be a sober prior it's okay they will still call you a business you have to be called a business by AT&T business before you can apply for the router they included the Nighthawk in my plan there was a special when I did it if I signed up for two years which I did and so the service itself a hundred bucks a month in most places it's just fine for all my uploading and it's easy it's a USB rechargeable then I have a rise in which I really never use but if I needed to I get 15 gigs of a hot spot when you guys get unlimited internet on your phones just know that is not unlimited on anything else but your phone so if you need to do something on your computer you might be able to use your phone as a hotspot but it's going to be limited and if you get more than what they give you it's really expensive or heinously slow I get this question all the time too now I've done videos on it in the past and I've also addressed it in my book be a nomad change your life but here's the question how do you get your mail when you're traveling some people get medication regularly through the mail how would you do that well my people jumped on there of course and gave a bunch of good answers like Cecilia says there are several like America's mailbox and escapees those are two that are great now if you have a family member at your domicile or residence address they can get your mail like I do and tell you about it that's great if you don't these services if you want them to they will open it and scan it and send you what's inside it just depends on what kind of a plan you get now America's mailbox and escapees are the two that are best known there are little mom-and-pop places that do the same like pop-ups and court side and that kind of thing here's what you have to know when you go to register your car or get a driver's license that kind of thing or even order Amazon they will not accept a PO box it has to look like a street address or it won't work when you're on the road you have to choose a state for your domicile resident address some people love to go to South Dakota for example because there's not taxes and you can register your RV there just know and I address this in the book too that states are clamping down on that and they're going to look at where you have property or where you get income so for taxes just be careful about that for mail America's mailbox and escapees give you an address that you can use to get your driver's license your registration your proof of insurance jury duty all that stuff they take care of it so if you want to service like that you can pay them and they will do it now let me talk to you about Amazon a lot of you like to shop on Amazon and are familiar with Amazon lockers a lot of people I know Google Amazon locker near me I used to do that I don't do that anymore because you're missing half the locations now if you do that let me give you an example recently I was in Joshua tree to do a meet-up with my patrons oh my god you guys everything went totally wrong because of the weather to that video I think is coming out next week so check that out but I had to get some parts for some things that broken here while I was down there I had to get that part from Amazon in Amazon this is how you do it you go like you're going to check out and then you say change address you scroll all the way to the bottom and then you say find pickup location near me if you do that you'll get the Amazon lockers and something called Amazon counter I think I've got a screenshot of it here so there are businesses now that will hold packages for you in my case in Joshua tree I went to a shoe store you can see it here just don't like a weird little random shoe store that held my packages for me if you go up to the counter you're going to show them a little code on your phone from Amazon once it's delivered they give you the code they see it and they give you the packages and it's free now I'm sure a lot of people down below will also say that you can have mail sent to a local post office where you are but heads up on that Amazon will not send it to the post office some things from Amazon go through UPS and some things go through UPS it depends on what it is sometimes you order stuff and they will sit it right back so I don't recommend the post office at all for Amazon but if you need to get a package from somewhere else or you just need to get a piece of mail yes you can have that sent to the local post office but you have to make sure that it's the hub that does that if you're in a small town there's only one post office Bob's your uncle but if you're in a bigger town where there's four or five different branches if it's sent to the wrong one they'll return it oh my gosh finally you can see why I had to put this into two videos here's the last question from dad is my bag she said where is solar going seems like it's moving away from installed setups to portable battery units and any ideas on increasing usage of fresh gray and blackwater tanks question number two was so good I'm doing an entire video on it now when I started on the road I did a video called the ABCs of power always been charging because I did not have enough power and every little device that I had I had to charge all the time I couldn't do anything at night in the morning I would pray for the Sun to come up so I could have some solar everything has changed since then now with these power boxes which I'm gonna tell you about in a second and also solar because solar's gotten less expensive and now you can also have lithium batteries now I have two lithium batteries in the air stream lithium is more efficient than lead acid you can run them all the way down and not destroy them but they are expensive on the other hand they weigh less and you don't have to add water to them like some batteries with my lithium batteries I have 90 watts of solar on the roof which is all that will fit on this air stream but I have some external panels I 400 watts that are plugged in right now while we're talking to an external port that I had put in when I had the solar installed so that's how I charge my batteries when I'm boondocking but I also always have my jackery charged now when people say a power box this is what they mean other people call it a portable generator this is my jackery I think this is a oh 500 okay so they come in different sizes 100 250 little babies of 500 a thousand 1500 it's like the Goldilocks of power now in a nutshell here's what these boxes do they store power and then it's available to you to use when you need it there is eco flow blue eddy you know all kinds of other vendors that do these they're getting less expensive especially all bunch that are coming from China now I've had a bunch sent to me over the years and some of them are not good a few of them didn't work over and over jackery to me is the best one I have a link down below for you to get a discount on jackery if you look below the comments or in the description they are my favorite so I have the solar going but at night when the sun is gone you will see your power tank so everything I do at night I run off this power box my TV my computer whatever now I am seeing a lot of people especially van livers that are not getting solar anymore because they could be stealthier without it and they will have a big like 1500 watt power box that they charge while they're driving that they can use inside for almost anything a 1500 watt will run your microwave your blow dryer whatever else you might need and the other day I saw one where a van company was charging the onboard power box with an electric car charger now I've never seen that anywhere else but I hope that's where we're going with that being said it just depends on your needs for me as a boondocker I need the solar and I need the lithium and I keep my power box as a backup if I were on the move all the time and I didn't need that much power I would probably just go with a power box if you guys have a question that you want to ask for the view queue after that please do put it down in the comments below I'll see you guys all next week with a video called BLM nightmare you wouldn't believe what happened until then everybody out there have happy travels and be free