Challenges of rural life

There are many things I enjoy about where I live: listening to the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves of the huge oak tree in the front yard; the incredible variety of birds that are singing; the smell of newly cut hay; being able to see the stars pop out in the sky at night; and seeing all of the wildlife. However, there are times when I get frustrated because there are certain ammenities that we do not have. I can do without restaurant delivery and I don't mind driving 15 miles to the nearest grocery store (30 miles to my favorite grocery store). However, I do mind that we are essentially trapped without the availability of options regarding "non-dialup" internet - the options are cellular modem (which I have) or satellite (which is prohibitively expensive and subject to outages with the number of storms we get in the southeast during the spring and summer). And I live halfway between the state capital and a major university (each 40 miles from my house) - yet I still don't have access. Argh.