Ready, Wi-Fied and Able

As you heard me complain here more than once, the Wi-Fi at our campground wasn't working properly. Okay, so lightning STRUCK the antenna that is near our trailer. That was LAST summer and it still wasn't fixed. Probably nobody complained as much as WE did because  a) people are here usually for only the weekends and probably don't care about the internet, or b) the big motor coaches that pull in usually have their own satellite internet and don't use the campground's Wi-Fi.

There IS another antenna nearby, but it faces in a totally different direction. We barely get a blip on our computer to hook on.

We also have an "air card" that we use to connect to AT& T for internet services when we travel . As long as we have cell service - we have internet. We were as happy as a pig in mud - UNTIL AT& T put the kabash on our unlimited service! The nerve! Now we are allowed only 5 GB per month; if we go over that amount we get charged dearly. I'm not a computer geek, and I'm not really sure what a gigabyte IS, but let me tell you, with Jim and I SHARING the air card here, we almost surpassed that amount within a week.

Yeah.

So Jim said, "That's enough of that!"

I was about to die. This is what I discovered.

The internet is my CRACK. 

I want NEED it EVERYDAY!

But there were days I had to do without it.

I was pretty cranky.

I will be the first to admit it.

The campground store had a strong signal and the owner said that it was okay for me to come down and sit there.

She probably didn't realize that I'd be there for 3 hours at a time! And even then I didn't get to all your blogs to comment. Once in awhile I'd post to Facebook, check my mail, and try to write my OWN blog.

It was rough.

One day when I was pedaling my butt down to the store (with my computer in my bicycle basket!), Jim said, "Ask at the store if I got a package."

"What are you expecting?" I asked.

"I ordered a Yogi antenna to see if that will help us get a signal."

So the first thing that came to my mind was this:

And I'm thinking, "Is there room for Boo-boo?"

And weren't we humiliated enough with the "cantenna" on our roof without putting a couple of dancing bears up there?

I guess not.

You might ask what happened to the cantenna. Well, it worked well in AZ, but here in IL it just wasn't strong enough to pick up a signal. It looks pretty rough, too.

The Yogi antenna DID come in that day and it wasn't a very large box. Unless Yogi was a blow-up bear, I was mistaken as to exactly what this antenna looked like. Here it is.

You can barely see it against those gray skies! The only problem we have with it is that if it is real windy, that antenna whips around and then Jim has to go back outside and adjust it.

So after I plunked my big ole butt in the office a few times and for several hours, the campground took the hint and got the Wi-Fi repaired.

A couple of weekends ago we had full service (5 bars!) and I did a happy dance. I called the office and told them that the Wi-Fi was up and running and that I was a HAPPY CAMPER!!

But, alas, that was the LAST weekend we had FULL service. We're down to only a few bars, but at least we still can connect.

It's pretty bad when Jim walks into the kitchen and the first words out of his mouth are "How many bars do you have?" instead of "Good morning, hon!"

What can I say?

I guess we're both crackheads.