J and i took a two-day road trip down into southern Missouri and back, using a lot of state and county roads instead of US-highways and interstates -- such drives are a lot more interesting and scenic! We visited the farm home of one of my favorite authors from childhood, we stayed overnight in a cabin at a state park which is famous for its trout-fishing, we looked around another two state parks, and we were not only internet-bereft for most of that time, but the cellphone read "no service" a shocking amount of time.
Oh, how the internet has spoiled me! The ability to look up information about the next segment of one's trip is a luxury we didn't have until comparatively recently. To pull the car over into a roadside stop area, turn on the portable modem and connect the ipad up to see if there's anywhere decent to eat in the upcoming town is a marvelous ability. IF IT WORKS.
My longer trips, which utilize the interstate highway system more, have revealed comparatively few "dead" zones for my Verizon service, mostly in northeastern Texas (even in desert areas in west Texas and New Mexico, where my daughter's T-mobile was useless, my smartphone was working though sometimes VERY slow). In tight little valleys (like Montauk Park) and canyons, "no service" is expected. But 100 miles out from St. Louis, in farming country, i have NO ability to call AAA if my car decides to throw a tantrum? Amazing -- in a bad way.
I guess public telephone booths and highway call boxes are NOT obsolete yet....
Apart from the problems with 'modern technology' your two day break sounds great Tess.
ReplyDeleteWhen Eddie and I were in some parts of the lake district recently we had no mobile phone signal. You do feel cut off somehow. How we've got so used to all this immediate contact with each other. Makes you wonder how on earth we managed years ago ? LOL
All the best Jan
I remember driving on the highway by myself before i got a cellphone -- a woman by herself feels a little vulnerable! Since my volvo became unreliable, the thought of being incommunicado is disconcerting. Looks like we'll be replacing Oly this fall....
DeleteAs of 2009, there was no cell phone service west of the hills on the Central Coast of California near Big Sur, where my aunt lives. Not that I care: I don't have a cell phone, laptop or notebook computer. I carry a printed streetfinder in my car and do a lot of planning before I leave home.
ReplyDeleteWe're usually well-prepared before we take off, but so often we come up with questions en route. :-) i STILL haven't identified the tiny blue wildflower i saw on the highway.... People don't seem to know their local flora and fauna the way they used to!
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