WiFi Internet access has become a common feature at RV parks, and, here in Valdez, the service was about average: not too speedy with all too common service drops. Today I learned one of the causes.

We received mail here in Valdez, so I needed to spend a few hours catching up on a couple weeks of bills and records. It’s all computerized, of course, and Internet enables downloading transactions, reconciling balances, etc. I was off to a good start with pretty good WiFi service in the morning, but about noon it died.

I resorted to my Verizon telephone for a backup Internet connection which, in this area, is about as slow as the dial-up modems we used in the 1980s. After a couple hours of frustration I walked to the office to ask if anything had changed that might cause their WiFi to be down.

“No. Nothing new,” replied the owner. “Ever since we put in the second access point, it has been acting a bit strange. You might just have to bring your computer up here to the office so you get a stronger signal.”

Back at the RV I found that the “second access point” — the only one strong enough to reach out to the RVs —  wasn’t available. I walked back up to the office with my IPOD Touch — which is a pretty good WiFi sniffer.

When I mentioned that access point “Sea Otter 2” was not available at all, she led me toward the door and started talking about having to do something to her truck. A bit perplexed, I followed and watched her unplug the vacuum cleaner that was next to the open doors of her pickup. She then plugged a yellow extension cord into the open receptacle. It looped several feet down to the ground and then up fifteen feet to disappear behind the eave.

“Try it now,” she said. Naturally, the IPOD reported a strong, healthy “Sea Otter 2” signal, and here I am back at the RV with a good connection once again.

It’s funny how it always seems to work better when it’s plugged in!

Fortunately,there’s more to Valdez (and life!) than Internet, and we enjoyed our stay here. Take a look at the photos in the album titled 07-31 Valdez at the right.