Laptop or not?

[Fred Bush]

Hello from Pasadena, CA. Sometime in May we will be starting a journey in
our Motor Home visiting as many states as possible in a year or more. Our
biggest question is what kind of computer to take with us to keep in touch
with friends and family. Most everyone we ask says to get a Lap Top as we
may find it difficult to find parking spaces with phone hook-ups. Neither
of us is computer savvy but if we had a newer computer we would explore the
internet more often (this one is old and slow). What did you do?

Louise and Fred Bush

[Fred Bush]

We have decided on a lap top but have not purchased it as yet. We've been told by many Good Sam included) that not many hook-ups have a phone jack.

We are looking forward to our trip. After a stop in Salt Lake City, we are heading to Yellowstone. Any comments about RV parking, or weather?

[Mark Sedenquist]

I would say that the chances of being able to find a land-line (wireline) connection for your laptop are about 300% more likely than they were in 1994 when began our on-line adventure.

If you look at the Woodall's Camping guide, you will see a remarkable number of campgrounds that provide phone hook-ups for the over-night traveler. Remember, our needs require that we obtain and send e-mail nearly every day and we rarely use the cellular connections these days. This doesn't mean that we can log-on from national parks or near-wilderness parks but the ability to obtain wireline connections is good.

Salt Lake has a park downtown that is very convenient. Weather in Wyoming this time of year is still "ify" in regards to snow.

Have fun. Please keep us in the loop of your trip!

Mark

[Gene Haas]

Hello from Parker, CO. I travel a lot with my Cruise Master motorhome and got tired of having to make long distance calls to my 8 siblings and 2 children. In Nov '99 came across and bought the Sharp TM20 PocketMail device. What a difference. I use it to send and receive e-mail from almost any phone anywhere, even in Australia. I just dial an 800 number and hold the little device up to the headpiece of the phone and it automatically sends out my messages and receives any that are waiting for me. Nifty.
More recently I purchased a laptop which I take along on the road but I always count on my Pocketmail for e-mailing while traveling. I got the Pocketmail at Office Max for $120. It runs on AA batteries which last several months.
Enjoy your travels.
Gene

[Gene Haas]

Hello from Parker, CO. I travel a lot with my Cruise Master motorhome and got tired of having to make long distance calls to my 8 siblings and 2 children. In Nov '99 came across and bought the Sharp TM20 PocketMail device. What a difference. I use it to send and receive e-mail from almost any phone anywhere, even in Australia. I just dial an 800 number and hold the little device up to the headpiece of the phone and it automatically sends out my messages and receives any that are waiting for me. Nifty.
More recently I purchased a laptop which I take along on the road but I always count on my Pocketmail for e-mailing while traveling. I got the Pocketmail at Office Max for $120. It runs on AA batteries which last several months.
Enjoy your travels.
Gene

[Mark Sedenquist]

We still have an odd technical difficulty,so the other forum topics are not "visible" from here, but there have been several postings about the use of PocketMail on the Wireless Forum which can be viewed at http://www.roadtripamerica.com/roadtripamericaConference/cfm?cfapp=40

Thanks for your postings!

Editor