I resisted it too for months, for the same reason, until a certain radio club members buit a few well placed repeaters. The whole thing has gained a momentum and now we have a network spanning over 3 countries.
It's pretty funny to relive the experience of the past when the geography instead of nationality was the main factor affecting human connections.
solar node just will not stay charged.
nrf based microcontrollers (as opposed to esp32) need surprisingly low power to stay up. I'd say get a Sensecap solar from seeed studio and give it a try.