Welp, I'm on the road again. Given this is a short trip but without the proper planning even a 2 day trip can be a nightmare.

I'm writing from Junction City, Kansas in a Holiday Inn Express. There wasn't a regular one anywhere available so in an express I went. I must be becoming a snob about hotels. It's a nice enough room, if a little plain.



Don't mind the clutter.

But I didn't start this article about the room. Or even being in Kansas.

I wrote this article because I'm an idiot. I am so aggravated at myself for pulling a rookie move and I'm becoming an old pro at this traveling gig since I'm technically away more than home. Don't laugh at me.

I left my cell phone charger at home.

*Sigh*

Even though the battery should be able to last for days, it really has a life span of all day with regular use and bluetooth connectivity. No problem since I just toss it on the charger at night. Trouble is I woke up on Sunday at 5 AM, and in my bleary eyed state of consciousness I neglected to grab my charger for either my phone or my headset. Worse is I didn't realize it until Late Sunday after I had used it constantly to keep myself from being to bored during the 2 hour drive from Kansas City to Junction City. It was on its last legs when I noticed.

So whats a guy to do? My first thought was "Hey, there's a Walmart maybe they have a charger." Then reality hit and I remembered I have a Helio Ocean made by Pantech. I knew they wouldn't have one but I figured what could it hurt.

So I walk around Wall WOrld for a bit, in automotive thinking they might have one by the car chargers, and electronics hoping they might have at least something for a Pantech since I was pretty sure they wouldn't have any Helio specific chargers. I was SOL. Then I noticed the Prepay phones.

Hmm....

After much review of the available options I settled on a $20 Net10 phone. The current special was 300 minutes of service, and service for 2 months. Sold. So now I am the proud owner of a Nokia 1600 no frills phone and enough minutes to get me by til I get home.



Here you can see my lifeline communication device (Don't Call it a Phone!) and its rather sad simple temporary replacement.

Of course this leads me to this. When did phones become throwaways? Twenty bucks, no credit checks, no identification even. Off the grid communication. Unreal. Given the phone is no frills (no mp3, camera, video, nothing) its not a bad phone. It sounds good and has speaker so I can forgo my headset. I don't get it.

Maybe I'm not meant to. Whatever the case at least I'm back in communication and not locked into a land line.

At least I have my Zune, and my laptop. I remembered those chargers.