How We Stay Connected
By Tom Neal
Bigfoot Trails Basecamp | Independent Adventure Media
When we moved out to the Bigfoot Trails property, it was kind of like Gilligan's Island. "No phones, no lights, no internet," or however the song goes. I don't remember.
We used to have Xfinity when we lived in town, and it was great, but that wasn't really an option here. After doing some investigating, I finally decided on Starlink, mostly because of its portability.
I have the dish set up out in the open area next to the driveway at the property, but it only takes a couple of minutes to unplug it, wind up the cable, stash it in the underbelly storage, and hit the road. I've unleashed the power of the internet at the beach, but mostly when we leave the property, we use it at the racetrack.
At the track, I set the satellite up on the roof and we use it for TV at night. Sometimes we can stream the events we're at during the day, depending on the track, but mostly I use it to access the spreadsheet logbook I designed for my wife and her Mustang. I can stay connected and help her race better.
I can also work on my Independent Adventure Media website, updating things as needed. Then, after the race is done, we pack it up, head home, set it back up in a minute, and we're back to work at home.
At home, I have it set up and run the test on it. I'm only "Okay" according to its visibility rating for the satellite connection in the sky, but we have a lot of trees here.
Even with that "Okay" connection, I have no problems with the internet or streaming movies. I'm not a gamer, so I don't know how it would be for that, but I can tell you that for what I use it for, it is fucking awesome.
I get an internet connection at the beach where my cell phone has no service.
That's pretty damn useful when you like getting away from everything.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tom Neal is the founder of Bigfoot Trails Basecamp, an independent adventure media project built around real experiences. He’s spent most of his life around vehicles, motorcycles, racing, travel, and projects that tend to take longer and cost more than originally planned.
After decades of doing all that stuff, he’s learned that the best stories usually aren’t the ones you planned. They’re the people you meet, the places you stumble across, the things that go wrong, and the moments you never expected.
That’s what he wants to capture with BTB.
He doesn’t want to write about adventure from the outside. He wants to go experience it, then tell you what happened.
Bigfoot Trails Basecamp | Independent Adventure Media
STARLINK REFERRAL
I use Starlink every day and have been happy with it. If you're interested in trying it, you can use my referral link below.
Starlink currently offers me a $100 referral reward if someone signs up through my referral and activates service.
