Ok, it would have been an easy day from Needles Outpost to Mesa Verde National Park. That is it would have been easy if we hadn’t stopped in Cortez, CO to try and put more time on our Verizon USB modem so we can continue to update this blog.
First we discovered that our AT&T cell phone won’t work here. We went in to an AT&T store to ask them why. Answer: because we have a 2G phone and they don’t have anything that runs 2G here. Of course they would be happy to sell me a 3G phone (which if I could actually get from AT&T, I’d have done when we were starting out in North Dakota). So that is pretty useless.
Then I went in to a Verizon outlet, since I can’t get on-line with Verizon to add money to my account. The store couldn’t get it to work either, so they gave me their phone and I called Verizon tech support. After 20 minutes on hold, the technician told me that I can’t add money through their web site. However, he would do it over the phone for me, if I gave him a credit card. So I did that, and then he asked me for my ZIP code on the billing address for the card. I said, “I don’t have a ZIP code, it’s not a US card.” At which point he said, “well then give me a different card that has a ZIP code.”
At that point I came to the conclusion that I know the cause of the US financial crisis. If everyone in the US thinks that the rest of the world works their way, no wonder they don’t get why they are soon to be one of the poorest of the developed nations. You can’t be a world leader anymore by assuming the rest of the world works your way. The US cellular system is terrible. The rest of the world has long ago surpassed it.
Rant over. We got to Mesa Verde National Park, and are checked in to a very nice campsite. It is not very busy as it is end of season. And to top it all off, they have free wi-fi in the campsite, so who needs Verizon anyway!