an update

Early in the AM, 3/13/20

Here's what's been happening this last week: I've moved from one campground to another to another - 4 in 4 nights since that last post - trying unsuccessfully to find a wifi signal.  In desperation for a signal, I finally came back to the campground where I made that last post, only to find that I can stay here just 2 nights. 

This one day I had with wifi capability was used completely with trying to locate future campgrounds for the next week, working out routes to get there, checking on tourist sites on the way and getting directions for them.  I did all this because I have no faith at all that I'll be able to pick up another signal for at least the next 4 or 5 days, so wanted to get things figured out while I still could.

This last week has been really frustrating not having a clear idea of how to get where I wanted to go, not to mention how tiring it's been to keep changing locations every night.

I've seen some great things though - Crater of Diamonds, the real hot springs at Hot Springs and the bathhouses, a museum about the 2 Japanese-American internment camps from WWII here in Arkansas (the only 2 east of the Rockies) - and lots of other stuff.  I'm looking forward to writing about all of it, but I can't do that until I have the ability to stay in one place with a wifi signal.

Arkansas has some great state parks and campgrounds, and there are a lot of Corps of Engineers campgrounds around the state.  Maybe that's why there aren't all that many private campgrounds, and the ones I've found online appear to have serious shortcomings.  Even the KOA at Eureka Springs doesn't have wifi at the campsites - I was willing to pay their prices if they did, but there's no point paying double for the same thing I can get at state parks.

Anyway, I have to leave this campground and will keep pressing forward to see more of the state.  Who knows, maybe somewhere along the line I'll find a state park with a signal.  But I'm eyeing a private campground I'll get to by the middle of next week that says they have wifi throughout the campground, so I'm hopeful.

Meanwhile, I'm not getting email or weather reports (a problem given the kind of life I lead).  And it's not just the campgrounds - I've even stopped in a couple of towns where I couldn't pick up a wifi signal on my hotspot.  Too many mountains and too much water?

I'll catch up as soon as I can.