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Geek Roadtrips Through the Heartland
While researching a roadtrip which I'll be taking from St. Paul, Minnesota to Placerville, Ca I did what any geek would do, I checked out the t-mobile hotspots along the route (some), did various searching on wi-finder (some) and other sites and have been doing some googling around on the topic. I know that there must be some 802.11b access points along and inside the towns along I-80, but for the life of me I'm finding it difficult for me to find any of them. I of course have various wireless sniffing apps, but that is hardly an efficient way to find access. I don't mind paying a small fee, so....with that in mind, if you were to take a trip across the country, where would you stop for access? For specifics, Read More...
If you live along I-80, what are your favorite haunts with wireless? Specifically, I plan on stopping for meals or sleep in Des Moines, Lexington, Cheyanne, Rock Springs or thereabouts, Salt Lake City and maybe Reno and points along the long, bleak road between Reno and Salt Lake. But it's clear that the net needs a good reference for places to check your email through out middle america, so post here even if you want to talk about a great unknown spot in Oklahoma or something away from my route. If you own such an establishment, let us know!
On a side note, the futility of my search seems soemwhat silly, as there are clearly people who use the internet in these towns. Anyhow, I really look forward to seeing your responses! Also, any high quality, unique dining reccomendations would be really appreciated. Also, funny roadside attractions or must see geek spots are welcome, as I intend on blogging my cross country trip as it happens and would like to have something to talk about other than the state lines I cross and the number of retreads I dodge.
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When you come the the Des Moines area, there is Prairieinet.net. They are a rural ISP that uses wifi. I don't know how open their sites are, but it is worth a try. http://www.prairieinet.net. and see a list of their sites.
Skip the stop in Des Moines and just keep on trucking into Omaha. I know our downtown area is rife with wireless networks. And if you don't want to run the risks of tapping into a local business's WLAN, there are several hotels in the area which have free wireless setup right in the hotel. and have fun making that drive.....iowa through to denver is about the flatest, boringest drive in the entire world.
I live in Gold River, CA (not that far from Placerville) and basically did your trip in reverse... A co-worker of mine had to move back to Philly, PA, and we decided to road-trip it... Reno, believe it or not, doesn't provide an abundance of internet access at all... They want everybody to gamble instead... I think I found 1 cafe that provided internet access while up there (And it was for a LAN party months prior, not on this trip), and, it wasn't even wireless... was your standard RJ-45 jack, but it worked... There was nothing between there and Salt Lake City, at least on I-80... I didn't even see many signs of civilization, let along, technology...
Salt Lake City has a few internet cafe's, though I don't remember any of their names... I know they were relativly close to the highway... We only passed through Salt Lake, so I didn't get to patron any of them, nor do I know if they're wireless or not...
We then went out to Cheyenne and didn't find a hotel with access, or any establishments either... Over all, it was pretty dull... Nebraska was the same way... I did find a nice location out in Indiana that had wireless access advertized, but it was closed when we drove by... The only internet access I got my entire trip was in Chicago, when we stayed at a friend's house... He let me plug my laptop into his cable modem for a few to check my mail and what not... That's about the extent of my trip... We didn't look that hard, so I probably am missing a whole hell of a lot... but I hope it helps...
Best of luck, Chris, safe trip!
-PhaseBurn Welcome to Linux country. On quiet nights, you can hear windows reboot.
First, I'm sure a lot of people are going to suggest that you forgo the interenet altogether. There is something to be said for this; it sounds like you trip is, at least in part, designed to be an adventure, and being 'offline' might enhance it.
That said, if you do decide to go online, for blogging or e-mail, pick up a prepaid phone card, enter the 800#, your pin, and a juno access number into the PPP settings, and then every phone jack you see on your way will be a 'net access point. Wireless is fun, but if you just need to transmit text, the phone connection is easiest, redily availible, and certinly powerfull enough.
PS - it sounds like a lot of fun. Enjoy yourself.
foldplay your photos won't know what hit them.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~cfarivar/warchalking
the hawthorne inn in cedar rapids (25 miles north of 80) has wifi access that blocks http but is open to ssh and pop3 last I checked.
I think so, Brain. But where will we get a duck and a rubber hose at this time of night? --Pinky
www.surfthing.com -- free wifi.
-- dieman - Scott Dier
Hopefully, you're aware of the Twin Cities Wireless User Group.
http://www.tcwug.org
We have a map system of available access points, and other fun stuff
My girlfriend and I are planning a road trip for this May (our planned route is listed below), and I came across some books that you may want to look into. While they don't deal with wireless hotspots or technology in general, they do deal with things that are essential for any cross-country trip: weird stuff and good food.
The first book is called Eccentric America by Jan Friedman... It highlights many interesting, different, and just plain weird places to visit. For example, there's a guy in Washington state who is building and plans to fly a hydrogen peroxide-fueled rocket, not unlike what John Carmack is currently doing. The book is also useful to find out what is weird/eccentric/etc. in your own city or town.
The second book is called Roadfood , by Michael and Jane Stern. It is a compendium of restaurants, ice cream parlors, highway diners and so on across the country. I haven't read in too much detail, but it should come in handy.
For those of you who are interested, my girlfriend and I are planning the following waypoints for our roadtrip: Tallahassee, FL -> New Orleans, LA -> Austin, TX -> Roswell, NM -> Albuquerque, NM -> Grand Canyon -> Las Vegas, NV -> San Francisco, CA -> somewhere near the CA/OR border -> Eugene, OR -> Portland, OR -> elsewhere on the way back home. The trip back will wind through Helena, MT and Denver, CO to visit some relatives, with everywhere else just being nightly waypoints. Am I bringing my laptop? Probably not... Am I bringing a digital camera? You bet!
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Along your route, I stopped at University of Utah (Salt Lake City), which has a big lab in the library, with wireless. However, you have to be a student to get access. I just used a floppy (remember floppies?) to move stuff from the laptop to a lab machine and did the FTP from there. Or, try unplugging an ether cable from a lab machine and plugging yours in. Might work - it does at University of Vermont (heh heh).
While on campus, try wandering around outside the dorms. I imagine you'll pick up a few access points there.
As for stuff to see, if you're not in a huge rush, take the scenic route across North Dakota and drive through the Teddy Roosevelt National Park, then go south and see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial (crazyhorse.org, thanks to a previous poster). I cannot say enough about this one - it's about the most awesome sight I've seen. I hit it before Mt. Rushmore (they're about 35 or so miles apart) and it made Rushmore look small and insignificant.
When in Green River, Wyoming, don't forgt to see the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport (along the road to the Flaming Gorge Dam and Recreational Area). Then again, don't bother - it looks like this. The Bonneville Salt Flats are mightily impressive.
One other thing - you will not get a decent cup of coffee until you get to California. When I was in Cheyenne, I drove half an hour out of my way to find a Starbucks. Get a french press (you can get them in plastic - reccomended) and grind up some beans before you leave.
One other other thing - never eat, or even stop, at Stuckeys. Trust me on this.
Other than that, have a great trip, and like others here have said, don't let the tech get in the way of enjoying it.
What if life is just a side effect of some other process and God has no idea we exist?
http://www.i-spotaccess.com/
They limit you per month, but have several access points including a mall, a jazz bar (Doc's), and other sites.
Truckstops such as Flying J and TravelCenters of America offer dialup as well as 802.11b access. Most of the drivers I know would be lost without their laptops.
I used WirelessModem, a shareware PalmOS app that bridges the Treo's serial port and built-in wireless modem. Yes, it works in Linux, MacOS, and Windows. Supposedly, the USB cable even works in Linux and MacOS.
Be aware that Sprint's transparent proxy re-compresses Web images, similarly to AOL. The maximum theoretical rate is 144kbps, but I haven't yet achieved that due to weirdness in Windows's modem drivers.
There is one of two cold water geysers in Green River, Utah. The other is somewhere in Switzerland (so I hear). I was last there about 5 years ago when you could stand next to the geyser and lean into the stream while errupting. Pretty cool if you're into natural phenomenon.
Crystal Geyser
Suncoast Linux - Sarasota, FL
There are lots of open networks in lincoln.
One I highly suggest is at 13th and P, there is a coffee shop that also offers 802.11b.
The best thing I can suggest is to drive around residential areas, the ones that tend to have the least security are found there. Sure it might only be a Tier1 DSl line, but free internet is free internet.
http://www.xpurple.com
Your primary concern is wi-fi internet access, so I'll address that first. Seriously consider researching which small towns along the way have broadband internet access. Perhaps unsurprisingly, small town people like high speed internet. They also dislike running cables. Therefore, they buy a cheap router/access point from Best Buy, plug it in, and never look at it again. I'm from a town of about 2500 people. I went wardriving one day just for fun and found 10 access points without even trying very hard.
Secondly, why are you stopping in cities anyway? Why not get some of the local "culture" along the way? Diners tend to be as cheap as fast food, and depending on the time of day, faster. Not to mention you don't have to deal with going through the city to get to a restaurant.