Actually the issue about satellites versus air card seems circular. Most RVers have rigs that are simply too big for RV boondocking, except in a few places. If there doesn't happen to be cellphone coverage there, the RVer then believes that he must spend thousands of dollars on satellite internet. Why not save tens of thousands of dollars by buying a smaller rig that can camp in more places?
Recently we headed to the east side of Chino Valley, north of Prescott, AZ. I began passing knolls and foothills by the time the public land had started. That kills cellphone coverage. Worse yet, the road headed downhill to the Verde River. You never find cellphone coverage in holes and trenches.
After walking several spur roads and striking out, I retreated to a completely different road, and finally won. I guess all the walking and the heat had taken their toll on the two camping canines.
Then something else got my attention. For some time I had seen a helicopter working. Finally I saw what it was doing:
So that's how they build utility lines in remote places. The 'copter even lowers the pole into the pre-drilled hole.
I wondered how close the helicopter would come to flying right over my trailer. But surely they had a good method for attaching those utility poles to the 'copter. (A question or a statement?) If he dropped one of those babies it could really sting one of my solar panels. Imagine trying to explain it to the insurance company.
A hard hat explained how to stay out of the helicopter's flight path. I took his advice.
The helicopter made a round trip every five minutes, ferrying metal pole after pole. At first it was kind of cute. A Harley guy might say that the flying ferry boat had a visceral beat. But I'm not a Harley guy. I was afraid of trying to take a mid-day nap--what if I woke up in the middle of the movie, Apocalypse Now?
A few miles ahead there was a large substation that stepped the voltage down from 560,000 volts! It was coming from Edward Abbey's beloved dam at Page, AZ, on its way to running Phoenix's air conditioners. (Which by the way, they shouldn't need since it's only a dry heat.)
In a way I was disappointed. What if all of those impossible-looking utility lines that I have seen in the mountains were built like this? It seems so unsporting.
I had always fantasized that building them was the ultimate test of man, machine, and mule, back in the Heroic Age when men were made of iron, and utility poles were made of wood.
