Roll Call Alaska 2014

sheltieRV wrote:
Interesting travel through BC, Yukon and now AK the love hate relationship parks have with technology. They love to market technology but hate to actually offer the service.

I have seen some pretty humorous signs cautioning people to not ask questions about Wi-Fi, seen an owner almost bring a lady to tears because she asked about not being able to get connected, and another give a customer the customer service number to their internet provider (there wasn't a cell tower in a hundred miles). The younger generations of RVrs are a pretty tech savvy bunch (I am at the tail end of boomer country so there are a bunch behind me coming). Park owners need to either hire someone (that is what you usually see in lower 48) or find a son/daughter, grandkid, etc. to handle the technology side. Being a techy (2 smartphones, 2 laptops, tablet, VZ jetpak) I have my own sniffer and can usually diagnose if the Wi-Fi is going to work or not, so I don't have to worry about asking about the Wi-Fi service.

Case in point on cable, we are staying at Oceanview in Homer. They have digital cable (advertised on all their marketing as a feature) but they don't understand how it works. The staff comes completely unglued if someone asks a question about it, and they don't explain it when you check in. I understand the staff's frustration, but it is self inflicted (from the owner down). Digital cable is not something new and strange, but they refuse to understand it and thus I have talked with many staying here that had a frustrating experience. BTW if you stay here, you need a converter box for each TV, so ask for one at check-in as all channels are scrambled (ok, there are 4 strange channels that are not).

I have also seen several parks for sale, or owners talking about retirement, so be interesting to see what the next set of owners bring.

If you live long enough in Homer you will lose your tekkie skills. It has just been in the last two years that we got over the air dtv. If you have an over the air antenna Point it towards Seldovia. We get 8 channels.
The area around oceanview has changed in the last year. Not sure if oceanview has changed hands or not. What can I say old management was "old" and new management is "new". A neighbor 3 houses down the street used to work at oceanview. Her husband was involved in D-Day.

A lot of the roadhouses and half way in between places are empty. Owners get too old and can't sell because the business cannot support the big cost of new ownership and still make a profit.
Have fun in Homer and check out Eveline State rec. site out east end road if the weather is dry and look at all the flora on the trails.

Dennis