Musings of a modern day grandma
We’re on our way to the Asheville area to see monarchs by the thousands… we decided to go all the way down the BRP from Charlottesville Va. In the area of Arnold Valley overlook (3510 elevation), we found hundreds of monarchs (and some hawks) migrating. We should see thousands over the next couple days when we are in the Ashville area where larger numbers cross the parkway.
We’re taking a winding route from Cleveland to Johnson city TN, going by way of Mortgantown and Elkins WV. The best route there was Ohio to PA turnpike, get off at Cranberry PA and take I 79 South. We hadn’t went this way in years and were pleasantly surprised to see open tolling lanes (in PA) at the OH border. There are no tollgates in Cranberry… so, worried that we missed something (and didn’t want our ez pass charged full length tolls, I looked it up online… and discovered East bound pays $3.80 or so and west bound is no tolls at the OH border. So… since we’re going one way (East) we paid a high price for the few miles we traveled the PA turnpike… must remember this if we ever go this way again. I might look for a different, no toll route.
But hey, it was the first time we used the PA EZ pass in PA since getting it in 2007. And the open tolling lanes are nice. The last time we went east (about 6 or 7 years ago) we sat at the tollgate for an hour.
We went to see Mom over the weekend and had to drop Cece off at school on the way home. The forecast called for possible freezing rain in the higher elevations so we left early to avoid the bad weather. I had the GPS up, Desktop Weather Max set on radar maps, and updated the GPS fix on the blackberry weather bug app every 10 min so we could get current temps (radar maps load slow) . Based on the radar maps, it looked like we were running about 15 min ahead of the storm as it moved into northern tier of PA and southern tier of NY.
I’ve used a GPS for years with my Tablet PC and Street Atlas (from Delorme) and often wished I could overlay weather radar so we could see where the storms were. Both when we lived in TN and also now when we head east on I-90 along Lake Erie or west on I-80 through IN, it would really be nice to see the local temps and radar so we know what we’re running into when the weather is bad. My Blackberry and the weather bug app can do this and its really helpful, but I wish my GPS map could do it – I like the bigger screen and it seems like it loads faster than the blackberry maps.
How awful! I couldn’t find the Internet. We were already behind schedule for a road trip and I wanted to get some work done in the car, so I needed my MiFi, but it was missing from my laptop bag and wasn’t in the glove compartment. I finally found in it a handbag I don’t usually use, but it’s the perfect size for the netbook and has a slot for the MiFi.
I really need a case for “the internet” so I can clip it to the computer and not lose it. (Losing the MiFi is my biggest fear – I never had that problem with the PC Card – it was always in the computer. )
There is nothing like bad weather to make you appreciate what you can do with modern technology. We hit snow in the Dayton area and wondered how long it would last so I looked up the radar image at weather.com and compared it to the map on my computer. Thanks to GPS, I knew about when we’d get into clear weather. Cool.
Background: My father-in-law is seriously ill. He lives 520 miles away. They don’t have Internet. I have a Verizon cell phone and null modem cable so I could use it as a modem, but the battery dies after 2 hours and I can’t talk on it when I’m using it as a modem, but it’s free after 9 PM and on weekends. We go up Fri afternoon and I can’t work in the car until we’re almost there, unless I want to waste my plan minutes. So I got a Verizon modem for my tablet pc and now I can get some work done during the 8 to 9 hour car rides. It’s really nice and well worth the $60 a month I’m paying for the service because I can earn it back working Fri afternoons.
My daughter came over from Ohio with her toddler and husband to visit her grandfather and we all left Sunday afternoon. My daughter called my cell phone when we were a couple of hundred miles into VA on I81. They were about 90 miles inside Ohio (I80) and needed the phone number of a Chinese restaurant near their home so they could order take out. While I googled it, her husband called his brother to look it up in the phone book. I found it first – while flying down the highway at 75 MPH. Mucho cool.