Staying Connected on the Road

We’ve tried really hard to stay connected while on this adventure, but it hasn’t been easy. We were psyched when Boingo offered us access to their connectivity service, but I found a Boingo hotspot one time, while in a parking lot in Keystone, South Dakota. We haven’t expected wifi in the state parks, but the commercial campgrounds are serving up signals – I can read one now, camped by a river in Monroe, Wisconsin, but it’s weak – I’ll have to stop up above by the office in the morning to upload this post. We spent some time in the bar at Cedar Shores Resort in Oacoma, South Dakota, the waitress kept us topped up while we updated our photos. That was the best connection we’ve had, the rest of the time we’ve done our writing and editing while sitting at picnic tables, slapping mosquitoes and prepping our data for the moment when we can find a decent connection.

It’s this hunting for wifi that found us squandering the afternoon in a Dubuque, Iowa, coffee house. We had time, we were feeling really behind in our updates, and Dubuque is darned cute. After we’d perched for a good two and a half hours, I went over to thank the guy behind the counter for not throwing us out or pestering us to buy stuff – though we had, indeed been doing so. “We’re on a road trip and we just haven’t been able to get connected,” I told him. “No problem! That’s what I’m here for!” he said, and maybe 20 minutes later walked over with three glasses of iced tea, followed, after that, by a plate of snacky cookie bites.

We spent about four hours in total in Jitterz, drinking coffee, loading pictures, chatting online with our pals back home, but we also spent some time talking to Bob, the owner, an ex-British Petroleum guy from Alaska. He declined to be interviewed on camera but he did ask if I’d like to learn how to make a latte. (There’s some video of that, you’ll get to see it as soon as it’s been editing.) Bob is planning – with his wife – to ride across the US by bicycle, all the way to Eugene, Oregon where his son lives. He sent us on our way to Galena, complete with a printed map and a recommendation to eat at an Italian restaurant in that impossibly cute little town. He did us right, the pizza was first rate, though my brain was a little distracted by the fact that the two guys working our table were such utter opposites, one slight, short, dark guy with a little mustache and the other, a towering big pale man, a near giant with a sweet soft voice and manner.

I digress. When you stay in hotels and visit chain convenience restaurants, wifi is easy to find, it’s nearly a standard service. But when you get out here in the middle of the corn fields, when you like to visit places that are off the grid a little, well, you’re off the grid. That shockingly cheap breakfast joint in Mitchell didn’t have wifi, but it did have chocolate cake for 85 cents.