Cell phone reception is seriously spotty here in the mountains. We’re very fortunate to get a good signal where we’re living now. I had the long distance cut off because we get free long distance with our plans, and we have enough rollover minutes to talk until doomsday.

It’s kind of ironic. Rural areas are where one needs a cell phone the most, in my opinion anyway. I guess if I was in a really bad neighborhood in the city I’d want one in case I had car trouble or something, but otherwise you can get to a phone pretty easily. But breaking down on one of these isolated back roads can be pretty scary. Yet in the places you need them the most, it seems that there’s no signal.

I remember one year when my mom and brother and his family came down for Pumpkin’s birthday. I told them to call if they needed further directions. But they ended up being a half hour or so late. They said they missed a turn and had trouble getting back on track. When I asked why they didn’t call one of us, Bro said they hadn’t gotten a signal on their fancy unlocked cell phones the whole way down here. They couldn’t even get one at the park where we were, yet our phones had good signals.

Maybe it has to do with the network or something. I can pick up intermittently around here, but once I get across the state line when I’m going up to visit them, it’s all over but the crying until I’m almost there. But I can pick up in town up there. I wonder why?