by Steven K. Roberts Reston, Virginia 13,962 miles October 2, 1987 Yes, we’re still alive. Through the frenzy of the last three weeks, I have opened a half-dozen mini-files, each an aborted attempt at writing this update. Since the Easton story I have lived a year’s worth of adventure and change, with the notion of…

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I hardly need to write an introduction to this one… I bet most people reading this have had the uncomfortable experience of being on a plane or other public place, trying to work, and realizing that a seatmate or other stranger is reading the screen. You squirm to change the angle, switch to another task,…

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Our trek down the East Coast included a stop to visit the publisher that was working on my book, then we pressed on through the Pine Barrens and out to the Jersey Shore… then on to Florida. My tales of this epoch are in the Notes from the East and Junkyards and Tollbridges stories.  High-tech bicyclist…

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Three decades after this photo, carrying hundreds of gigabytes on my key ring and picking up 8-terabyte drives on Amazon for a the cost of dinner-for-two in a tourist town, it is really hard to remember a time before PDFs. But in 1987 there was a big challenge when riding a computerized bicycle still under…

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by Steven K. Roberts Easton, Pennsylvania 13,505 miles September 3, 1987 Somewhere in the Delaware River Valley of northern New Jersey, in the back yard of a hostel that’s supposed to be open, I drown in a sea of white noise. The tent around me roars with rain — the sound pouring into my head,…

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This short piece appeared during the Winnebiko II epoch, though that photo was taken on Bainbridge Island in 1986 before proper fabric side panels rendered the console waterproof. by Andy Dappen Backpacker September, 1987 It’s a bike! It’s a computer! It’s an RV! It’s a Winnebiko — an 8-foot, 225-pound, recumbent bicycle with all the…

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Steve and Maggie passing through Binghamton, New York August 26, 1987 Author Steven K. Roberts, who calls himself “High Tech Nomad,” and Maggie Victor, both from Ohio, ride their recumbent bicycles through Binghamton yesterday. They were to spend the night in Conklin on their way to Washington, DC. Roberts’ bike carries five computers, two solar…

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first published as “The Other Woman” ©1987 Steven K. Roberts Ithaca, NY (13,231 miles) August 21, 1987 The road, once begun, never stops. Tonight in Ithaca, over a fine dinner of linguine and wine, coffee and sorbet, we spoke of travel. Hitchhiking marathons of 17 years ago were revived in candlelight; freight-hopping adventures came to…

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This story by James Ainsworth in the Ithaca Journal was unusual for this epoch of the journey… his fascination with the implications is palpable and he focused on the personal side, in the space of a short article hinting at a sense of cultural transformation. I was delighted to find this in the binders… along…

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During my bicycling adventures, I often spoke of the essential tools that were integrated into a liberating system… recumbent, laptop, solar panels, network connection, and base office. This lively column had so much reader feedback (bypassing the editor, who had no clue about the galvanizing effect of including my email address) that I began to…

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