TV? I Don't Need No Stinkin' TV!

For the previous couple of trips in The Van I have deliberately avoided using the TV. Which turned out to be easy to the point of not even thinking about it.






It's not that I'm one of those TV-free snobs, quite the contrary. In fact cable TV hookup used to be high on my list when scouring the Trailer Life Campgound Guide for my next stopping place. But I think that Directv and the DVR have spoiled me beyond repair.

With Directv's onscreen guide we can see programing out 10 or 11 days ahead (Not like the cable guide's hour and half's worth of scheduling that you have to wait on as it scrolls slowly up the screen and for God's sake don't take a drink or look down at your sandwich or glance at your ringing phone or you'll miss it and have to wait all over again for it to come back around,!!!) and with the DVR we can choose to record individual shows or entire series, we can record reruns or only first-runs, we can record up to 5 shows at the same time and if we select more than that the DVR will automatically look for later airings of anything we overbooked.

So for the past 10 years or so we've been watching what we want when we want, skipping right over the commercials along the way.

If, for some reason we do watch something 'realtime', we don't; not really. We punch the pause button and find something else to do for a half hour or so. that way we can still skip over the commercials.

Where the nearly 15 lb. TV used to be. I haven't gotten around to removing the mount base because I would have to pull the fridge out to get to the bottom bolt, and it's just not worth that much effort.

I'm not saying this as an add for Directv, but rather to point out that I'm spoiled and trying to watch cable or over-the-air TV nowadays is just frustrating and ultimately an unsatisfying waste of time. So before I set off on this trip I removed the TV from The Van.

I've got a select few boxed DVD sets stored in the pantry that I can play through my laptop when I want some screen-time

Now don't you TVphiles out there go feeling sorry for me, because I do watch shows while on the road. You see, I have a select collection of shows on DVD and when I feel the urge, I play an episode or two on my laptop. Again, what I want, when I want, how I want.