I'm amazed at how well my Verizon broadband works even going 75 on i90 in Mitchell, South Dakota. I am getting over 4 megs reception and 1.5 megs sending.

I've also discovered the GPS system in my cell phone. (I purchased my phone so I could include GPS in the package and then promptly forgot that I had it.) Now when we are looking for something I type the address into my phone and the “lady in the phone” — we are calling her “Lovey” — tells us where to go. She's quite precise and accurate. We had the wrong address in our google map for the hotel last night. After driving around lost for a while, we had Lovey take us right there.

Chowhound continues to be a great resource. We had the best Chinese noodles I've ever tasted in Madison and tonight we eat at the Corn Exchange in Rapid City.

The last time I took this route (i90 from Chicago to Montana) was in 1997 in a Toyota, Corolla. This high tech road tripping is much more fun.

Share This

I am on the road en route to our summer house in Idaho. This is the first really big road trip I've taken since college (I'm fairly car phobic). We have a fairly high tech set up which is making it both easier for me to handle and a lot of fun. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours instant messaging with folks from the passenger seat using my Verizon broadband wireless connection. Even in the wilds of western New York I had quite a good high speed connection.

We also equipped the car with an ipod jack that is hard wired into the car audio system. So we can plug in our ipods and listen to music and in my case, catch up on all of those podcasts, especially Fresh Air.

When it comes time to stop for lunch or dinner, I log into Chowhound and find restaurant recommendations and directions. Yesterday we found this great place in Erie, PA that served fresh, off-the-boat lake perch and the Red Sox/Indians game.

Share This