Stephen Nold

Where to obtain WiFi in Fort Davis, Texas
March 11, 2008

It is 5:42 AM Central Time on Tuesday morning.  I have been on our family vacation for four days and my desire to connect to the internet has become important.  I am sitting in our family minivan in Fort Davis, Texas outside of the Limpia Hotel.  It seems to be the best, if not only free, WiFi signal for miles around. 

The signal is not great; I am only getting 11.0 Mbps (megabits per second) which registers as a very low rating on my computer and results in a long delay before most websites load.  As I work, NPR radio is giving me some connection to the outside world and has relieved some of my isolation angst.  For a while I thought I was doomed to a few poorly transmitted country music stations with a ton of whining country singers mixed by scrambled radio waves.  Along with the disruption with my cellular signal, the lack of internet access has been building my isolation apprehensions.

I arose at 5:00 AM this morning and with my lovely bride’s mumbled blessings, slipped out of our rustic room at the Indian Lodge.  I was able to grab a cup of coffee from the 24 hour gift shop in the hotel office and then navigated the beautiful Davis Mountains showcasing the Chihuahuan Desert fauna and floral.  A lumbering raccoon blinked at my headlights as I drove past. 

Last night, I took Stephanie and the boys up skyline drive to what seemed to be the top of the world, where we gazed at some of the brightest stars and clearest constellations we have ever found.  This spot is known as one of the best star gazing spots in North America, due to the elevation and the lack of light pollution.  We saw a very large raccoon, a Javelina who had no concerns about our presence and several smaller blinking eyes that slipped into the underbrush before we could identify the them.

At 6:00 AM, a distant church bell sounded the hour and I briefly wonder if I had stepped back into the dusty days when cowboys roamed the street with their horses.  Having just completed the Cormac McCarthy novel “All the Pretty Horses”, it doesn’t take much to drift into Wild West imagery. 

Amazingly, the Hotel lobby doors are still locked shut at 6:00 AM. Back in Austin, the morning traffic would be intense along the path to my local favorite coffee shop.  In Fort Davis, I have seen a total of three vehicles drive through the town square so far. Guess all the real cowboys are still out on the range boiling their coffee and watching the herds.

I have enjoyed my time away from the hustle of work, but I continue to hear a small voice asking, “how many more days until we return?”

Posted by Stephen Nold on March 11, 2008 | Comments (0)