Uncoinventional Living Tour 2014, Bitcoin Road Trip, Live Blog

Friday, 06/13, 8:28

Uncoinventional Living Tour 2014: June 13, 2014 3 Days Until Departure, Gas Cards Delivered, Last Minute Shopping

Today we did a final Target run to get some toys for the kids in the car and to get momma some new shirts for the trip.  I also needed parchment paper so I could dehydrate some eggs from our farm to bring on the trip and some frozen breakfast items for the morning of departure.

I emailed Dante from Coinfueled.com while we were driving to Target and he confirmed the cards have been delivered to our PO Box!  How exciting!

I have finished most of the packing for myself and the kids.  John on the other hand has packed nothing.  Not one thing.

Tomorrow we pick up our car, drop off the cats, and run some last minute errands.  John has been in hustle mode to get some of our miners properly set up before we hit the road for so long!
It has been a LONG packing and planning journey, but I am feeling good!

Monday, 06/02, 4:01

Uncoinventional Living Tour: June 2nd 14 Days Until Departure, Logistics of Lodging

Today is the day I should have sent Coinfueled.com my order for the cards, but I am so bogged down with the logistics of this trip!

We reserved our hotel for the Bitcoin in the Beltway Conference today.  A friend will be paying for the room in USD and we will be reimbursing them with Bitcoin.  We could have ordered an Orbitz.com gift card with Bitcoin then bought the room with the gift card through Orbitz, but it would cost over more per night.  We opted to use a more intimate middleman who could get the group rate for us.

We have not finalized the payment, but the room is on reserve.  That means our housing is reserved but not yet paid for at Porcfest and

Sunday, 06/01, 3:55

Uncoinventional Living Tour: June 1st 15 Days Until Departure, Camping at Porcfest

Today I heard from the Alt Expo crew that I can camp in their row of campsites during Porcfest at a much lower cost than renting our own RV spot.  We are going to pay them in BTC.

This means the Arman family and our family will be camping with Alt Expo then manning our Agora Valley vendor spot on campsite 29 during the day!  What a great set up!

I also found Lyn Ulbrict a hotel room to share during the event.  Its all coming together!

Saturday, 05/31, 3:53

Uncoinventional Living Tour: May 31st 16 Days Until Departure, Final Order with Amazon.com

I spent several hours finalizing our Amazon.com order for the trip. iPad repair kit, DVD travel case, and lots of yummy snacks. I then applied an Amazon.com gift card purchased with Bitcoin through Gyft.com to my Amazon account. I could not figure out how to set my Subscribe and Pay order to accept the gift card as payment instead of my husbands debit card.

Several hours of chatting with customer service later, I found a forum post with updates as recent as last week with people discussing this issue. Apparently you can’t actually assign the gift card to your Subscribe and Save, but if you have a card applied to your account the default is for Subscribe and Save to use the card.

I was glad to see this, although some people were upset because they wanted their card billed on Subscribe and Save so they could use their gift cards on other items. My order is set to charge on Monday and I will find out first hand if the gift card is used or if they charge our debit card!

Friday, 05/30, 3:50

Uncoinventional Living Tour: May 30th 1 PM  17 Days Until Departure, Amazon.com with Gyft.com

I spent an hour today putting together our Subscribe and Save list on Amazon.com. These are items we need on the road and at the campground. Diapers, wipes, snacks for the kids and the parents, and maybe a new car seat for our toddler.

I have to finalize the order by tomorrow to receive by June 10th.  This will give me enough time to pack and stage it all before go-time!

Tonight, I will finalize the trip shopping list and purchase amazon.com gift cards with Bitcoin on Gyft.com. After linking them with my amazon account I should be all set up for another seamless Amazon delivery! (I say seamless because their customer service is so great that mishaps feel more like blessings! )

Friday, 05/30, 3:48

Uncoinventional Living Tour May 30th,  17 Days Until Departure, Camping with BTC

I Just got off the phone with Jessica Arman. She agreed to pay the full amount to the campground with her card and accept our half of the campsite fees in Bitcoin.

Its incredible how many logistical hoops you have to jump through to travel with BTC today.  I bet this time next year things will be much more easy!  We shall see!

Friday, 05/30, 3:45

Uncoinventional Living Tour: May 30th 17, Days Until Departure, Rogers Campground

Rogers Campground (location of Porcfest in a Lancaster, NH) contacted me declining my offer to help set them up with Bitcoin through BitPay.com. I emailed the Arman Family, who we are sharing a vendor and camp site with, and asked if they could pay the full amount to Rogers with FRNs so we pay the Armans our half in BTC. Jessica Arman will be vending her amazing tooth whitener called My Magic Mud.  She will also be speaking in the Women in Bitcoin Panel.

Friday, 05/30, 3:30

UnCoinventional Living Tour: May 30th 17 Days Until Departure, No BTC at Rogers Camp Ground

Today I heard back from Rogers Campground, the location of Porcfest, that they will not be accepting payment in Bitcoin for vendor or camper spots.

I’m surprised by this since so many of the thousand plus attendees use Bitcoin.  How can we change this for next year?

Thursday, 05/29, 3:17

Uncoinventional Living: May 29th 18 Days Until Departure, Farm

Today I heard back from our friend Brooke that she can house sit the farm and help take care of the chickens and garden while we are on our Uncoinventional living Tour! Yaye!

Our community garden is a project of www.TheCenterforNaturalLiving.com and is operated with BTC!  You can see pictures via: www.BlushFamilyFarm.com.

Thursday, 05/29, 3:16

Uncoinventional Living Tour: May 29th 18 Days Until Departure, Lyn Ulbrict

Today I have been helping Lyn Ulbrict (Mother of Ross Ulbrict, alleged founder of the Silk Road) find housing at Porcfest. She prefers a hotel. I have one hotel offer, a campsite offer coupled with an offer to use the facilities at an off site hotel to get ready for speeches. I also gave her the link to submit a speech idea. They first put her on Tuesday, then moved her to Saturday. I am including her in the Women in Bitcoin Panel.

Thursday, 05/29, 3:13

Uncoinventional Living Tour: May 29th 18 Days Until Departure, Coinfueled.com Update

Ruben, Editor In Cheif of Bitcoin Magazine, put me in touch with Dante of Coinfueled.com. Dante suggested using the “Gas Guru” Android application to find the best gasoline deals on our route.  Dante will be fulfilling our order of gasoline gift cards in exchange for bitcoin after we decide how much we need from each gas company.   He offered to waive the shipping fee in support of our trip. We gladly accepted! I will post an update on how this service works and the Android app after we complete the purchase!

Wednesday, 05/28, 3:06

Uncoinvential Living Tour: May 28th 19 Days Until Departure, The Route

Today we finished mapping out our driving route. We will drive from San Marcos to Dallas where we will host a Bitcoin Meetup and screening of Sovereign Living. Then to DC for the Bitcoin in the Beltway Conference where we are screening our show and working a vendor booth. Next stop is Porcfest where we will screen the full six episodes of Sovereign Living (Word Premier of 5 and 6) and give several speeches. Last is Kansas City where we are planning a Bitcoin Meetup and Screening of Sovereign Living.  We will be camping and staying in highway towns along the way.