the Internet from anywhere

The summer of 2000 I took a 7 week cross country trip from Montana to Maine to Nova Scotia and back. 

This was by car.  It was the trip that got me thinking RV as I had my dog and cat and hated the hotel/motel thing - especially with them as small motels were definitely easier but the condition of beds, a/c and general amenities was lousy!  But that is a story told in a previous post “How I got into RVing”. 

On that Summer ‘00 car trip I worked a 1/2 time work schedule.  For 6 weeks of the trip I was in a different motel/hotel/b&b every night - travelling/sightseeing during the day.  On those driving days I usually worked 2-3 hours - some in the early morning and some in the afternoon/evening after I stopped.  For 1 week of the trip I worked full time as I had an ocean front cottage for a week - no driving - and I was able to set up an office space on the dining room table.

Although a lot of my work was done offline, I needed internet connection to pick up email and deliver work as well as to connect to UCLA’s communications server to provide support and monitoring - I was the only programmer for them at that time.  The point is, I absolutely needed to get through every day at some point and at that time, the option was dial-up.

(**you can barely see the phone cord snaking from the computer to points aft in the photo - there was a wall phone jack at the other end in the kitchen are.  You will note that the view from my cottage office was tough to take!  )

Fast forward to 2007… what a difference 7 years makes!  In fact things were not much “harder” in 2005 when I spent 7 months full time in the motorhome crossing the U.S. and back. 

Cellular aircards that work with laptop computers have made it possible to get internet connections in many places.  In 2005 there were only a couple of spots where I could not get internet via my aircard when I wanted it and in those cases Wi-fi was available. 

Pictured above are the air cards I use now.  They both have broadband capability (EVDO with Verizon) as long as broadband signal is available.  I have been getting broadband signal many places and in the last trip from MT to FL had broadband on every overnight stop except one - I had dialup speed that night but I could have hopped on the RV park’s Wi-fi if I needed something faster. 

Whooeee - for someone like me who is somewhat dependent on internet connection for work as well as keeping contact with friends and family all over, it is pretty amazing. 

Getting to FL…dial up was the only “wired” option and not fast enough for most of the work I need to do.  Satellite Internet was our only option for working from the house.  The service itself costs no more than I pay for DSL from the phone company in MT and the initial setup/dish was not prohibitively expensive as I get a bit back from the business expense. 

Sometimes when I take a break and look out the window at the dish and think about all the stuff going to and fro - and mostly without a glitch - amazing!! 

Above is the satellite modem to the left and the router to the right.  The router broadcasts a wi-fi signal that is useable all through the house, and outside as far as my motorhome which is about 80 feet away with a garage between…