I’m sitting at Hardin Brothers Automotive in Catalina, Arizona, waiting for the Honda Element to be serviced and inspected in preparation for the trip. The Element has been extremely reliable and now has almost 108,000 miles on it. I’ve taken good care of it and have been rewarded with many trouble free miles. I hate the thought of our trip being interrupted by a breakdown, so my friends here at Hardin Brothers are doing their best to make sure we have no problems.
When we decided to do a daily blog for the 2010 Spring Road Trip, I started researching ways for us to connect our computers whenever and wherever we are. We discovered on last years trip that finding a wifi hotspot outside of the cities was not easy and certainly not convenient. What we need is our own personal wireless hotspot.
After spending an hour or so with a Verizon Wireless consultant, we came up with a solution that I am testing as I write this. The mobile hotspot I’m using is built into the Palm Pre Plus phone. It works the same as any hotspot. Just turn it on in the phone and connect with the computer. It allows up to five devices to connect at once, so both Barbara and I can be working on our computers at the same time. The really nice part is that Verizon is including the hotspot connection as part of the regular unlimited data package. And I must say it seems almost as fast as my DSL at home.