Chugging along

I didn't get much done over the weekend. I'm still standing at the divergence of two roads, or more accurately one road and one pair of rails. I did speak to one of Best Buy's computer people about the laptop, though! He said there's no real danger to my computer in connecting to whatever network is available wherever I happen to end up, so I don't have to invest in a security suite beyond the usual. He also brought my attention to what is called a LaptopConnect card, which in principle enables your computer to connect to the Internet from anywhere in the country using AT&T's wireless network. If I go by train this is probably indispensable, since I doubt Amtrak cars come with ISPs. Based on my research online, you ought to think of this card as a cell phone for your computer; as with a cell phone, the card is approximately free after the mail-in rebate, but then you have to buy a contract to make it work. There's sort of a multiplicity of contracts available, and the price scheme doesn't seem to be available over the Internet. I need to go to an AT&T store to find out whether this is affordable.

Tomorrow I'm going to call the Amtrak station in Orlando -- the closest full-service station to Fort Myers -- and ask them how far in advance you typically have to book in order to ride. If the answer is more than two or three days the train option is problematic. Amtrak's website seems to think that I could leave from Orlando tomorrow if I felt like it, and it says full bedrooms are sold out on that particular train, which suggests that if there were no space available in coach the website would know that and wouldn't let me book. I don't intend to travel the whole distance coach, of course; if one is going to travel for days at a time, at some point one would like a bed and some privacy. I may have to make do with coach for some stretches, though, because upgrades to a modest "Viewliner Roomette" cost more than the entire fare. A lot more. You can ride coach from Orlando to Seattle for $336, but if you want to avoid coach on all three of the trains involved, it's more like $1700. Not bad for what I'm planning -- if I made a beeline to Seattle by car, stopping only to eat and sleep in the nearest budget inn, I wouldn't get away with much less than that -- but entirely uneconomical for an average passenger. To be fair, though, there's a lot of difference between a seat in coach and a roomette, especially considering that the roomette comes with meals included plus various room amenities like A/C, an electrical outlet for the lappy, and an in-room sink and toilet. (You still have to use the communal showers; to avoid that you'd need a full bedroom, which runs an extra grand or so over the course of the trip.)

Of course, I won't be making a beeline for Seattle, no matter what mode of transportation I settle on. The trip will be made in shorter hops, hopefully with a few days spent at the cities that serve as my waypoints. If I go by train, I'll probably take coach on shorter trips and enjoy a roomette for longer ones.