Going on the road a good reason to go online

Everybody needs a little time off once in a while, and I was certainly due. When the time came to vacate the friendly confines of Stately Granese Manor for points unknown, I was more than ready. This year, I decided to enjoy my vacation in the good ol’ United States of America, and headed south to look for the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker in Florida.

Well, sure, there are all kinds of other fun things to do in Florida, and that counted in my choice of destination, but I also wanted to avoid stressing the infrastructure at the Big Swamp sites in Alabama where ornithologists are busily searching for verification that the “Lord God Bird” is indeed alive and well.

I have a strong feeling that it is, and I promise to share my findings with the pros should the occasion arise. So far I’ve managed to come across a colony of red-cockaded woodpeckers, added a red-bellied woodpecker to my life list, and come face-to-optics with an enormous pileated woodpecker that had my heart pounding until I noticed that my new friend was not the target of my search.

While on my vacation I have relied upon a couple of free Internet resources, both to keep in touch with the real world while I was out of the area and to add a bit of entertainment to the hours of nonstop driving. Those of you planning a vacation or trip this winter may find these websites useful, too.

www.faxzero.com

I’d like to tell you that I had such important business dealings in progress that it was mandatory for me to have access to a fax machine at all times during my travels. In truth, I needed the equipment to transmit my ultra-important selections in the office football pool.

I discovered this handy resource while skulking through the brush at famous Fort DeSoto State Park in Florida’s sunny Pinellas County. It’s one of the state’s many fine birding locations, conveniently situated just outside a busy resort community. That was to be the key to my connectivity.

When I realized that the football picks were due, I interrupted my idyll and grabbed the laptop, which was inside my air-conditioned car. I connected to a Wi-Fi hot spot (See next paragraph) at the free location I had bookmarked earlier.

From there I simply browsed to the FaxZero website. Quick as a Florida marsh rabbit I entered the appropriate fax information. I pasted my picks onto the cover page and hit send. A few seconds later my confirmation e-mail arrived, and I was good to go. Total elapsed time was less than 20 minutes.

Fax transmission has never been easier, even with the demise of phone modems in personal computers. Without leaving my car I managed to hook up, set up, and send my transmission in minutes. That, dear friends, is life in the Information Age and the beginning of the end of the cantankerous fax machine. For helping me enter my football picks, www.faxzero.com converts its third down and five spiders.

www.hotspothaven.com

This will be a bit anticlimactic, since you already know that I found myself in dire need of a free wireless hot spot while birding outside St. Petersburg. I used the HotSpot Haven website to find the free connection nearest to my location, and everything worked out for the best.

My case is not an isolated incident. Travelers nationwide have been enjoying fast, free Internet connectivity while traveling for years now, as restaurants, hotels and other businesses have begun to realize that becoming an Internet hot spot is a great way to attract customers.

While some locations are still charging for connectivity, many free sites are available locally and around the country. Visit the HotSpot Haven resource and enter your zip code. I’m sure you’ll find a few surprising freebies just minutes away.

HotSpot Haven is just the site I happened to use. There are truly dozens of Wi-Fi search engines and listing sites that can point you toward free Internet connections in the most surprising places. I managed to send my fax, check my e-mail, and have a look at a few rare-bird sighting bulletins before packing up the computer and heading back into the field. For saving the day, www.hotspothaven.com connects to four handy spiders.

www.roadsideamerica.com

I’ve mentioned this website before, but it merits another visit here. How would you feel if you returned home from a wonderful road trip only to learn that you drove right past 72 Megaplanet, the world’s largest paperweight, or narrowly missed seeing a 37-foot-tall statue of a guy wearing a Pilgrim hat?

That will not happen if you consult the Roadside America website carefully before departing. I noted that an incredibly ornate topiary garden was just a stone’s throw off my path through South Carolina. But sadly, I would be unable to detour through Ashburn, Ga., to see the world’s largest peanut.

A little digging can turn up unusual attractions that will make the miles fly by during even the most tedious family road trip. Back-seat bickering can come to a halt when passengers are presented with the opportunity to view the 60-year-old remains of five concrete dinosaur statues.

Travelers who join me in enjoying the occasional regional oddity will find the Roadside America website an invaluable vacation-planning asset. And stay-at-homes looking for a few laughs may actually discover a local treasure, like the Ship House in Absecon. For adding a few laughs to my road trip, www.roadsideamerica.com picks up five spiders spinning a web on the world’s largest rubber band ball.

I hope that I have managed to help make your next trip a little easier. It never hurts knowing where the next free Wi-Fi hot spot is, or directions to the world’s largest ball of twine. If you have a favorite travel-planning website to share, drop me a note at granese@juno.com. I’ve been picking up my e-mail at Krystal hamburger stand hot spots.