Road Trip 2007

THREE RIVERS, N.M.--I just hit exactly 2,000.0 miles since leaving on Road Trip 2007, my journey around the Southwest.

And given that there happened to be a little piece of shoulder to pull off on here in the middle of nowhere--truly a remote road--and a good enough signal via my EV-DO card, it seemed worth blogging.

So, if you care--and I'm sure at least 11 of you do, that's what I'm doing: Commemorating that since I left the Bay Area a week ago Monday, I've driven exactly 2,000 miles.

Last year, on Road Trip 2006, I hit 2,000 miles at an vista point overlooking Grand Coulee Dam. No such luck this time, but still, with mountains on both sides of the road, and a glorious sunset lighting up some wonderful clouds, it's quite the view anyway.

I wonder where I'll be at 3,000 miles?

TEMPE, Ariz.--One of the things I've found on my Road Trip around the Southwest, and on plenty of previous travels, is that motels are a terrific place to get a good, free Wi-Fi signal.

Most often, motels provide better Wi-Fi than pricey hotels, and that's something I've been railing away at for some time, hoping that I can make a small dent in those establishments' arrogance towards their paying customers.

So when I pulled into this city just south of Phoenix Sunday night, I was pleased, but not surprised, to discover that my room would have Wi-Fi.

Yet, after nearly a day of trying to use it, I can say that it's spotty at best. It goes in and out. I'll be using it and suddenly it will disappear. Not an unfamiliar experience for anyone who uses Wi-Fi away from home or the office, of course, but frustrating as I was trying to get some work done.

Fortunately, I'm carrying a Verizon Wireless V740 ExpressCard--an EV-DO card--with me. This little wonder is the first device I've used to access the Internet via cell networks, and it's been great.

For sure, it's not new technology, but this card is the latest and greatest. It lets you access the Internet at the highest speed possible given the cell access you have. If you're in an area with full EV access, then it's nice and speedy. If it's just the 1X network, then you have slower speeds, but at least you can get on.

Most of the time, that is. As I was sitting here trying to write this blog entry, the service seemed to go in and out. I'm not sure why that is, but it was a little frustrating.

Still, it's mostly working right now, and I have to say, it is a pleasure to know that I can get online independent of a Wi-Fi signal, and at whatever speed is available. If it's slow, I'll just send and receive email. And if I'm outside of a city, that's really all I should expect.

But if it's the full-speed service, it's wonderful, and frees me up to go wherever I want.

Now, of course, many people have been using this technology for some time, so I'm a little late to the party. But better late than never, as they say.

LAS VEGAS--So, I'm here in Sin City on my Road Trip around the Southwest, and I'm carting around a very un-gadget-like toy.

These are the brand-new Stickers from Moo, the British company that brings you the brilliant Moo business cards that are the toast of the Web 2.0 world, and clever little notecards, as well.

Moo's stickers, which come with the oh-so-cheerful slogan, "Ooh, Sticky!" on the cover of a little flip book, come 90 to a book. Like the company's other products, you can upload your own images, allowing you to wow your friends and family with no end of different stickers featuring your cat.

Okay, well, that's me.

In fact, however, Moo was not able to get me my stickers before I departed on the road trip, but it did send me three packets of sample stickers. So I got to see the form factor.

The books are built like a oversize book of matches and are crafted with paper that's pleasant to the touch. The stickers are small and glossy, and perfect for putting on a laptop, a cell phone or a friend's back. But if you want anyone who's not within a few feet to see the sticker, you're probably out of luck.

Nevertheless, they're fun, and I'm really looking forward to getting my personal stickers when I get home.

LAS VEGAS--One of the things I heard about this insane city that surprised me the most was that the Monorail had Wi-Fi on it.

I'm in town to cover the technology of the Cirque du Soleil on my Road Trip around the Southwest, and I had heard it from a friend. That in and of itself wasn't enough to make me believe it. But then I read something on the Intarweb that I thought confirmed it. After all, the pipes never lie, do they?

And if there's one thing I like, it's finding new ways to get online when on the road.

So, next thing you know, there I was, toting my laptop into the station and onto the train, thinking that I'd be able to blog from there about the great way to get online.

Sadly, it's not true.

Although, at the very end of my ride, which I took from the Harrah's stop to the MGM Grand, I did pick up a signal from the MGM itself. Excitedly, I tried to connect, only to be told I could have my Internet, but only for a $12 fee. I declined and got off the train.

GROVELAND, Calif.--This is a very old town. It is just about the last piece of civilization before the western entrance to Yosemite National Park, and the town is studded with 19th century Wild West saloons and wooden buildings with wraparound porches.

Ah, but it isn't the 19th century anymore, is it?

Today, this venerable town, which millions of people surely pass through each year on their way to Half Dome and Yosemite Falls and such, is doing its best to keep up with the times.

And the most visceral symbol of that?

It's surely the fact that Groveland's general store--the centerpiece of any small town--is directly next door to the "Net Stop," a place where travelers can sit down and get a high-speed Internet connection.

It's quite a funny juxtaposition. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given that the Internet is everywhere these days. But in a town like this, where the first things you see are such old buildings and a sense pervades of being in another time, it does feel a little out of place.

Yet, it is perfectly appropriate. In the old days, the general store, or the trading post, was the place where people would come from miles around to get word of the world at large--or at least towns beyond a short horse ride. So, this is that reality, writ modern.

GROVELAND, Calif.--I suppose I should read what my colleague Elinor Mills writes a little more closely.

If I had, I would already have known about a ridiculously useful new feature of Google Maps that lets you see a new route between two destinations simply by dragging an existing route line through another location.

Instead, I had to discover it on my own. But luckily I did, and things will never be the same.

Last night, I was sitting in my hotel room in this tiny mountain town near the western entrance to Yosemite National Park, feeling fortunate simply to have found an open Wi-Fi connection. After all, Groveland has a population of only 3,663--and that's for the entire zip code, which comprises more than just this hamlet.

I was looking at Google Maps, trying to determine the route from here to Las Vegas, which is my stop tonight on Road Trip 2007, my three-week journey through the Southwest, and I noticed that the suggested roads didn't take me through Death Valley, but rather just around it.

That was no good, I thought, to be so close to such a noteworthy location, and not go through it. But I have a lot of driving to do, and didn't have any idea how long it would take to reroute through Death Valley.

Then I noticed this little square on the Google Maps route. I'd never seen it before--since I hadn't noticed Mills' blog entry of June 28--and it was a wonderful surprise.

Suddenly I was able to simply choose a route through Death Valley, and it told me, in a little box on the route, what the new driving time would be. Halelujah!

Technology. It never ceases to amaze me.