I’m writing this while traveling to the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Tomasi family is also traveling north for the holiday weekend, and as a result we decided (for the first time) to hook up and do some family member swapping in the vehicles and do a bit of caravanning. So, here I sit in Chuck’s passenger seat (with AC power… thanks Chuck!) writing an entry. Mercedes and Regan are also here to keep Julie and Liisa company – sort of – and we’re listening to a gentleman discuss manners and other generally good behaviors. Perhaps my girls can learn a few things from this? (Nah, probably not.)

The big thing about this trip will be to determine how far the new GSM coverage areas will reach, and whether that will include GPRS access. I’ve already discovered that there’s something not quite right with the EDGE/GRPS card that we for testing a few weeks back. Since it won’t authenticate I’ve turned to my usual GPRS access via my work cell phone.

So, we’re getting to the end of the line soon. Better publish now. Hopefully I’ll have a good report once we arrive at our destination… updates to follow.

7:30 p.m.: AT&T Wireless coverage drops off at the usual spot just a bit south of Abrams. Strangely, Cellular One coverage picked up where AT&T left off, and even more surprising was that GRPS worked. Of course, this lasted for only 10 minutes as Oconto was a barren wasteland. (Yet, another 8 minutes north of Oconto and I see we have Cellular One with GPRS again.)

8:40 p.m.: Cellular One is a little spotty yet, but we’ve had pretty continuous coverage from 10 miles north of Menominee, MI through Cedar River.

10:40 p.m.: No big surprises here, really; Cellular One is obviously the carrier that AT&T Wireless has contracted with to expand their GSM America plan coverage in this part of the country. There was a significant “hole” around Escanaba, MI where there was no coverage at all, but now that we’re at our destination near Marquette it’s reasonably good. GPRS is also available here. I know that there are no roaming charges for GSM phone calls but GPRS may be another story entirely. If I find out any details I’ll be sure to report them here.

That’s all for now!