Surfing the net while land cruising.

Route 71

34 09.25 N 112 52.80 W

 

Most of you know that I am an Internet junkie. In addition to blogging, Facebook and email, I have a daily list of news sites I read. I confess to being a news junkie. My daily routine in order is: Dilbert, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Washington Post, USA Today, APOD, Slashdot, Drudge, Al Jazeera, Westsail Owners Association, and Physics Forums. At night, Libby and I often watch things on Netflix.

All that is done on my Android phone, and more recently with the iPad. (I am one of the lucky ones with unlimited data at $30/month grandfathered in. We use up to 8GB/month.)

The pleasant surprise is that I have been able to keep up those habits while traveling. When it is Libby's turn to drive, I turn on the phone's WiFi hotspot, and surf the net using the iPad. I could do it all with the phone, but the iPad makes it easier. Even this blog post is being written as Libby drives. It works great 75% of the time, and not at all 25% of the time. (I have Verizon data and I use the FoxFi app to make the phone a hotspot.)

We also benefit from several web sites apt hat help us select routes and camp sites. The nicest one is the Americas Byways web site.

Of course Google Maps is an app that we use almost constantly. Even when we don't need application help, we appreciate the ETA and miles to go information. In Prescott, for example, we used Google Maps to guide us directly to AAA, to a supermarket, to the post office, and to lunch. You see, men are not shy asking a computer for directions.

A GPS app tells us our altitude, plus lat/Lon info for blog posts.

The app Tunein allows us to listen to any radio station even when the normal car radio gets nothing.

My hat is off to the providers of smart phones and 3G/4G wireless services. Well done.