The laptop computer after posting on East Harbor’s new Wi-Fi facility.

VARIED CONDITIONS FOR BLOG POSTING--
--Challenges emerge during travels

Posting the blog while on my camping outings has led to some interesting circumstances. When I was at East Harbor in May I copied my text and photo for the day to a jump stick then uploaded that to Brad and Karen Crownover’s PC for further uploading to the blog. They are permanent residents very close to East Harbor.

When I began my trip down the Ohio River I encountered my first Wi-Fi service at the Austin Lake Campground. There, I constructed the blog contents on my laptop then took the laptop to a picnic table outside the campground office where I could get online via their wireless service.

The campground owner’s wife was intrigued. She had never seen a blog posted and was delighted with the contents when she saw their facility was my feature that day. She wondered if her husband would ever be able to see the blog. Naturally, I copied the blog’s URL and sent it to their home email with my compliments.

In Marietta I planned to use the local library’s Wi-Fi service when I went into town the next morning. But, when writing the day’s material and processing the pictures in Photoshop software, my laptop suddenly came alive with a “Wireless connection now available” notice.

Evidently, some other nearby visitors had wireless networks in their campers and when they turned them on, my laptop quickly noticed. Bingo! That day’s material got posted while I sat in my own camper and hijacked a slice of their signal.

The following day’s material was done downtown at the library. Evidently my earlier benefactor had either left the campground or wasn’t using their wireless network that day.

At the Hocking Hills Campground I could use their Wi-Fi connection while in my camper. Sometimes. Other times I had to walk to their picnic pavilion to get a good signal. Still other times I had to actually go into the office and stand at a counter with my laptop about six feet from their antenna to get stuff to work.

Then, I was cycling near the office at East Harbor during this month’s visit and noticed a young lady working with her laptop on a nearby picnic table. I inquired if she was online there, and, she was! The campground had installed Wi-Fi since my last visit.

The very next day (as shown in the picture above) I did my blog’s posting while sitting on a dew moistened bench and trying to hide my monitor from the rising sun well enough to see it.

We’ve been able to listen to free radio signals since Marconi began to fiddle with that technology in 1901. I hope something just as nice happens to wireless internet service soon.