This week, we left the back roads for the interstate on our way to the Great Lakes. Our reward for trying to speed things up by taking the highway was an excruciating one-hour traffic jam in Southern Michigan. On our way out of town, we'd planned to stop by the Borders in Watertown, New York to access Wi-Fi but it turned out they don't offer it there. It seems not every Borders is wireless -- yet, anyway. If you're planning to stop by a chain that advertises access, it's best to check the JiWire Hotspot Locator first.

On Sunday, we drove west toward Jellystone Park in Mantua, OH. Two highlights of our stay at this campground were the fireflies and the LinkSpot connection. LinkSpot worked great, as always.

The picturesque destination of the week was Grand Haven, Michigan, which is interesting from the Wi-Fi point of view because the whole city is one big hotspot. The local government, in cooperation with Ottawa Wireless, has set up a citywide wireless network that allows anyone to hop online from just about anywhere in town. They even claim the signal extends 20 miles into Lake Michigan.

Wi-Fi on the waterfront at
Grand Haven, MI.

We drove around town to test the access and it worked well. You can sit by the water, enjoy the musical fountain, and update your Web site all at the same time. While Angela and the kids sat on the sunny boardwalk, watching everything from jet-skis to yachts passing by, Richard sat in the shade to post to our WirelessTrips.com blog. Ottawa Wireless charges $4.99 for 24 hours, with price breaks at 3 and 7 days, and is developing similar installations in nearby Ferrysburg and Spring Lake.

At Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Grand Haven that evening, Frank showed Max how to make tracks in the "dirt" with his trains. We listened to them happily chatting outside and making train sounds (toot toot!). But when we walked out later to check on them, we found Max covered in black dust. It wasn't dirt they were playing in. It was old campfire ash! Max looked like a miniature chimney sweep. Ugh!

Frank chats from the RV at Jellystone Park.

The campground connection here was a bit flaky. We'd be online for a few hours, it would burp for an hour or so and then we'd be back on again. This happened several times. On our last night there, we needed to move several large files but the connection completely cut out around 11pm.

On our way out of town in the morning, we accessed the Wi-Fi network at Panera Bread, a really nice bakery and cafe. It was a pleasant experience -- fast connection, great food, big tables, and the smell of warm bread wafting from the kitchen. There were even power outlets within reach and none of the children spilled any chocolate milk on our computers! We were there for about two hours and nobody at Panera Bread complained. They just smiled and let us refill our coffee cups.

Making the connection at Panera Bread.

Accessing the networks at shops and restaurants is usually quite simple. Just open up your browser and try to go to any Web address. That action will force your computer to go through the network's sign-in process. Usually there is a disclaimer and a few buttons you have to push before you are actually online, and sometimes an hourly or daily fee to be paid by credit card.

Grand Haven is almost directly across Lake Michigan from Richard's hometown, Racine, Wisconsin. In fact, if we had an amphibious RV, we could have driven directly across the Lake and arrived in about an hour. Instead, we will have to drive around the lake and right though downtown Chicago on the way to Grandma's house, a route we dread.

Next week, we'll be visiting Grandma Hoy in Wisconsin and staying at Jellystone Park - Caledonia. They don't have Wi-Fi access so we'll be testing the connections at the local Wi-Fi-enabled McDonald's in Sturtevant, Wisconsin and the Flying J Truck Stop just outside of Milwaukee. While we're working, Grandma will be spoiling the children, as usual.