Posted by: wifiguy14k on 08/07/2004 18:05:56

For a day trip, I planned to head out south of Boston to Nantucket. Although smaller than Martha’s Vineyard, the locals told me that Nantucket has more residential areas and a greater chance for Wi-Fi. So I worked it into my itinerary. I didn’t have time for both of the islands off Cape Cod.

Then at breakfast … foiled! I opened the newspaper to see that Peter Howe of The Boston Globe wrote a nice, comprehensive piece detailing how Wi-Blast was one month away from making Nantucket an 800-acre hot zone. Rats, I was just ahead of the curve

Decision time … do I go with my plan and explore Nantucket, although Peter gave me a Fodor-like forecast? Or do I go to Martha’s place? That was easy. I always wanted to checkout The Vineyard. (By the way, I also read about Nantucket a day after the Boston Globe story in Wi-Fi Networking News … so that confirmed my decision to look for something new.)

To The Vineyard!

“Won’t you stay on the vineyard for the summer
Won’t you stay on the vineyard for the year
We’ll find a little house down there in Oak Bluffs
And our children is all that we’ll hear.”

“The Vineyard”
— Jackopierce

After riding the ferry from Wood Hole near Cape Cod to the little tourist haven Oak Bluffs, I hopped on the Wi-Fi Guy shuttlecraft (my mountain bike). Not a bad day at the office, riding along the sandy beaches of the rich and privileged.

On the ferry boat to the Vineyard, I met some really great people who took an interest in the Wi-Fi Guy project. I warned them that I mix in my opinions, and they told me we would all get along just fine, as long as I didn’t share any of my thoughts on politics.

What a cool place. Travelers are first greeted by what is refuted to be the oldest carousel in the country. Then there is a bountiful choice of sea food restaurants, ice cream stands, bars and lots of shops.

Mopeds are everywhere – racing up and down the beach strands and in between the colorful Victorian homes and bungalows.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I found on the island was a wedding, in progress, at the lighthouse on Telegraph Hill. I snapped a few photos and rode on. (Later, I read that the lighthouse was voted the number one place on MV for wedding photos. I concur.)

But that was the last love I found on Martha’s V … nope, no love for The Wi-Fi Guy … or at least no signal anyway – the people were great. I road around about four hours, covering as much territory as I could, which probably wasn’t even half of the island.

I am still kicking myself that I didn’t bring the orange SUV over on the ferry. You can do it, but you have to make advanced reservations for autos. My idea was to do some test driving of the Wi-Fi Guymobile, back and forth over the Chappaquiddick roads to see if a gas-guzzling SUV, driven by a liberal Republican, could negotiated the dangerous stretches. … Could have been a great photo opp. I digress …

The one time I did plan ahead, I rode back to the ferry landing early. I hung out a while and then was told the last ferry of the evening would leave in 5 minutes … from the other side of island. Needless to say, I was moving pretty fast on my bike – and I made it with at least 40 seconds to spare.

After striking out on the Wi-Fi mission, I headed back across the water to Wood Hole. Just as I did crossing Seattle Puget Sound, and then again on a ferry crossing Lake Champlain to Vermont, I scanned for Wi-Fi one last time on the MV ferry. Still nothing. So, once again, I relied on my backup. I plugged in the Sierra Wireless Aircard, from T-Mobile, and sent little e-mail “postcards” – from the ferry to friends.

This is cool. After the ferry lands, there is a special bus for bicycles – for the short trip back to the parking lot. So, on the last ferry run, there were only three cyclists with our own special bus. We were ushered out of there faster than candidates at a street shooting.

The other cyclists struck up a conversation and to my surprise confessed that they too would be voting for President Bush, in his upcoming victory. Nice, smart people.

Martha’s Vineyard – no Wi-Fi and apparently not enough flotation devices over the years … the score: 1 body piercing on a scale of 7 body piercings.

Stay tuned!