I've just launched a new Bitshares API node located in Kansas City Missouri.
You can add the node from any of the reference wallets found at bitshares.org
Within the wallet, click the connection in the bottom right corner to bring up the list of available nodes. Under the top "Active node" there is blue text on the right that says "Add Node". Click this. Give it a name of your choice, paste the above address, and click confirm. The Node will now be in your list and due to a UI bug will probably say "Down" in red. If you want to connect to this node, hover with your mouse and click "Activate". You should now be connected.
I would be interested in anyone who connects to this node if you could share what kind of latency you are seeing and the general location from where you are connecting. If you're using a VPN I'd expect to see much higher latency and may cause some connection issues.
-xel
my thanks to @ihashfury for providing a detailed walk-through for configuring nginx and letsencrypt
@ihashfury/distributed-access-to-the-bitshares-decentralised-exchange