Headed from Boise to where my family reunion I was a bit surprised with how much cell service there was across the barren wasteland. Personally, I wouldn’t have noticed all that much, but I was travelling with my niece and her friend and they were both texting through much of the trip.

Going home I trimmed about 45 minutes off my trip by bypassing Bend by going through Oregon’s “Outback”. With the exception of a few spots where a large geological feature would block the signal for 15 minutes I had three or four bars of 3G just about the whole way.

While all of that is great, I also had 3G at the campsite. Not cool.

Even though the turnout was disappointing, those of us who were there had a good time. As a word of warning, if you’re going to be camping in the Cascades this time of year, be sure to get the strongest bug spray you can find. 40% DEET worked great.