Is this the Vehicle that will take me across Canada? The story began several weeks ago with some couch surfers who needed to sell a Van they had driven from Vancouver to Montreal and Toronto. Unfortunately, they were not able to sell it. Which was lucky for me, because it meant they were willing to sign it over to me (in actuality, they signed it over to my mother to make it easier to insure). Now, the plan is to drive it across this great land.
Looking at google maps, I’ve decided that the northern route is best. Toronto, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Kamloops, Vancouver. On the whole, it’s only about 100km longer than the more conventional route through Calgary, and it affords the benefit of seeing Mount Robson, not seeing Calgary, and a more interesting prairie drive.
I’m quite excited about what I will see along the way. Prospects include seeing the neighborhood my mom originally moved to (somewhere near Thunder Bay), standing at the corner of Portage and Main in Winnipeg, and wandering through the West Edmonton Mall. I hope to blog about the adventures from the moving van – hopefully posting updates from whatever wireless access I can borrow along the way.
Do people have suggestions of what to see along the way?
Only a Northern Song 
If I do come along, I should definitely pick up a smartphone first. Google Maps accessible everywhere might be very useful, and it would aid in chronicling the journey.
A smartphone would be good, but much could be done via laptops as well.
For me, the ability to plug in something resembling a conventional keyboard would be essential in choosing a smartphone or pocket internet device.
I realize that a netbook is not a replacement for a smartphone or a kindle reader. Everything is a compromise, however, and for me the netbook I’m working on right now is just about the perfect compromise.
They key improvement would be to enable the netbook with 3G wireless – which I think is possible nowadays, and certainly something I would consider
I wonder if my Apple bluetooth keyboard would work with any of the smartphones I am considering.
They all have Bluetooth connectivity, after all.