Video, App and Burn

The following post will be nothing new for those who have been following along with our daily updates on Facebook.  It’s just a wrap up of some announcements we’ve made this week.

Updated Bus Video Tour

I have updated our video bus tour to include footage of some of the recent updates.  It’s amazing to see how a good wash, scrubbing and wax and new tires & wheels improved the exterior.  And of course, all of the interior changes with new floors and layout.

Link to Video Tour

Incidentally, having a video bus tour has proven to be quite handy. We encountered some difficulty securing full insurance coverage, as many companies won’t cover a non-professional bus conversion. Add in the few carriers who offer full timer’s insurance (sort of a mash-up of an automobile policy and a homeowner’s policy) – and our pickings became very slim. However, because our awesome agent at Epic Insurance was able to submit our video tour, she was able to convince a better ranked company to take us on.

We’re also finding that RV parks that have restrictions on older rigs are more prone to accept a reservation from us by giving them a link to the video, showing that the bus is actually pretty cool.

Apparently, having a yawning cat in your video also helps.

Coverage? App Update

Our Coverage? app continues to have a steady trickle of sales, and has gotten quite a bit of positive feedback for its usefulness. Even we have found it far more useful than excepted to be able to overlay data coverage maps from all of the cell data carriers, without needing an internet connection.

I always take it as a positive affirmation when we start getting a flood of e-mails asking when the next map update is coming out, and we also take that as a signal it’s time to get to work. The maps have been quite a labor intensive process to create, taking upwards of 40 hours of intricate graphics work.

With all of the bus chaos, we’ve just simply been lacking the time to sit down and crank out an update.

However, between getting a Wacom Pen Tablet and discovering some fresh techniques – we’re now able to get the updates out with a lot less effort.

Earlier this week we submitted an update to the app with all new maps, and it’s now available in the app store.

We also came out with a nifty new icon for the app!

Earlier this year we gave an analysis of our app sales. Coverage sales have picked up (now with just over 3500 downloads) – but we in no way consider the app to have reached even close to a break-even point for our development efforts. Combined sales of Coverage? and State Lines average about $9/day. We basically consider it beer money.

Sorry Android users – sadly, we just can’t justify the massive expense and effort to port the apps. We will however continue to support our apps on iOS for as long as the apps continue to sell, and they’re useful in our own travels.

Burning Man – Yes, We’re Going

This was the first year that we made no specific plans around attending Burning Man. We didn’t buy tickets when they came out, and we didn’t base our travel plans for the year around being in Nevada in late August.  We also didn’t plan to NOT attend either.

We instead decided to leave it to serendipity to decide for us.

Honestly, we had gotten a bit tired of always routing over the same paths at the same time of year, generally on a hectic cross country re-positioning.  And, last year I got a tad burnt out from organizing Camp Nomadia (even though it was pretty much stress-free and awesome) and not feeling free to just enjoy Burning Man with all the media interviews and visitors wanting to pick our brains on becoming nomadic.  So it was nice to take a break from the mental attachment of making attending a priority.

And, serendipty has spoken.

Our bus acquisition and project status has us feeling within proximity of attending.  In Lake Havasu, we came across a pair of tickets (Burning Man, for the first time ever, sold out a few weeks ago). And, a Kiki-sitter manifested right along our route in Las Vegas.

So, we’ve now got Burning Man in our plans.   And yes, we will be camping with Camp Nomadia (which is aiming to be near 6 & G) – but not hosting it.  We are absolutely thrilled with the past Nomadians who have stepped in and taken on the organizing efforts, and we’re greatly looking forward to being part of the camp.

Unlike years past tho, we’re not pre-setting up appointments for media interviews and visits.  This year is for us to enjoy the event, and not be focused on being hosts or promoting nomadism in general.    We had seriously contemplated not announcing we’re attending and going incognito… but, we just couldn’t do it.

This doesn’t mean folks aren’t welcome to stop by and say hi – just don’t expect us to be sitting around waiting, or heck, being “proper” 🙂

Plans Forward

Our plans are always somewhat nebulous. But after the burn we’ll be returning to Las Vegas to pick up Kiki, and attending Photoshop World with our fellow technomadic friends Ben & Karen.   After that, we’ll head to Sacramento where Chris will be tackling a long overdue project of finally getting rid of his storage unit.  We’ll use the bus as a moving van to relocate anything he wants to keep to his parent’s basement in St. Louis.    And from there…  we’ll probably meander around with a stop in Texas and eye towards wintering in Florida.

But… this all on NST (Nomadic Standard Time), and always subject to change.