WiFi...At Last!

I've finally made it to the 21st century and arrived at a local McDonalds here in Plainview, TX which just happens to serve free wireless internet. I'm no longer handicapped with sub-dialup speeds, but alas it is but for a moment as I will be jumping back on the road heading up to Amarillo next. Only another 110 miles to go, and maybe this Verizon card will get better coverage.

Again, no need for pictures, not much to see out here in the grassroots area of Texas. I'll take a few shots of the border as we cross into New Mexico through Texline, the windiest city in the country. New Mexico can be a lot more beautiful in my opinion than the panhandle of Texas, with plenty of picturesque stone formations and enticing views of the surrounding landscape. So far the weather has been on our side with plenty of sunshine, leaving all the rain behind in San Antonio. Despite the chance for rain up through Amarillo into New Mexico today, I'm confident we'll have a smooth ride until we arrive in Colorado Springs. Weather.com states we're in for more rain than sun for most of our trip but I'm hoping it doesn't hold up.

I forgot to mention, I purchased a 200W power inverter to power the laptop and other gizmos I brought, with my truck's DC power. I figured since this laptop's battery life rates at about 4.5 hours and the trip will be at least 3 times that, something had to be done. It's held up pretty well so far with one AC plug and a car adapter port to plug in other devices, and a handy switch to turn the device off or on. It's footprint is very small, no bigger than about 2 decks of playing cards and includes a little fan to keep the device cool. It was a bargain at less than $35, too!

Since my truck doesn't include a modern CD player, let alone a cassette player (not even an 8-track? nope.), I decided to use my trusty Sandisk Sansa e250r mp3 player to keep me awake on those monotonous Texas roads. I d/l'ed about 150 songs onto it before I left, so that should at least keep me busy. Texas radio just plain sucks once you get in the panhandle, unless you absolutely love country music then you'll feel right at home (there's only so much Rascall Flatts one can listen to.)

Onto Amarillo ... "Amarillo by mornin', Amarillo's where I'll be"