RoadTrip: Off to Maryland

[bkdelong]

Mom, (harpnfiddle), Nate, (necr03), and I are off this morning to head to Maryland to see my brother Jon, (jdbryce), off to, *sigh*, war in Iraq. His leave starts tonight and he heads out Thursday. God I hate how that sounds.

Anyway, I've decided to do some experimenting on this trip and on our way down 84W in CT, the Garden State Pkwy, and the NJ Turnpike, I've plotted strategic "break points" to get food or coffee as well as have access to wireless. Easy pull-offs where my brother and I can pop email, write any responses, check traffic for the remainder of the route, and continue on.

Cheesy, I know but we're all tech geeks in the family - even Mom - so I thought it would be fun. I'm going to try to make a post at each location.

Going down, first stop is Starbucks Danbury off I-84. Then lunch at the Brookdale Rest Stop on the Garden State Pkwy, (McDonalds wireless), and finally another Starbucks in Cherry Hill, NJ. Then off to Jon's.

I'd love this thread to be a deposit for words of advice for him, pointers to rules of what he can and cannot have, information about soldier Internet connectivity in Iraq and the various Net cafes the contractors have setup over there, connections to other people in LJ over-there who he can connect with and maybe even Iraq-specific family support groups on LJ as well.

Comments

[kimmparker.livejournal.com]

I know acess overseas depends on where he'll be stationed. My brother-in-law is a Marine who, because he navigates supply aircraft, is usually stationed at "major bases" in Iraq and Kuwait. When at those bases he can get pretty good acess to at least email and net. Unfortunatly, when ever there is an "incident" (terrorist or otherwise) that results in major casulties the military will shut down all net acess except for critical use---i.e. NO email out. This can get very worrisome for the families and it can last for a while. Ed has been everywhere from Fallugah to Bagdad (needless to say which my sister hates most).

And on a silly note---as Ed and Leanne are currently stationed in West Point I'vegotten to know the location of all those Starbucks on the Turnpike. Nice places to stop and refill on cafinee. It's a gorgeous day in MD today, so at least the tip won't be mared by rain :)