I have always been amused by this 1984 photo in the Daily Texan. It reminds me of the vigor of my youth, when I was a human engine — a tanned mass of slow-twitch muscle fiber cranking out hundred-mile days. That is hard to imagine now in my creaky dotage, so photos like this are…

Read More
Words on Wheels, Writer's Digest

As a budding freelancer, Writer’s Digest had been one of my most-studied magazines for years, teaching me the craft and providing monthly doses of motivation. The photo was taken on the Indianapolis 500 Speedway, and that map was my standard postcard that I sent to folks during my travels… updated with a route of the…

Read More

by Steven K. Roberts Online Today June, 1984 (written early March, 1984) NOTE: A more detailed version of this is Chapter 24 of Computing Across America. I awoke in my tent, confused about the insistent sound that pierced the night and shattered my dreams. I was still groping for the telephone with a sleepy right…

Read More

This article dovetails with the CBS Morning News piece… I pedaled the Winnebiko into Huntsville on May 24, 1984 with a film crew in tow. Sadly, I am missing the continuation of the text, but the photos by Jimmie Morris are excellent. (I especially love the one above, with that enigmatic figure in the background.…

Read More

Computing Across America, chapter 33 by Steven K. Roberts Lake Livingston, Texas May 23, 1984 Thanks for all the excitement! The owner of the Cafe Texan in Huntsville, after I ate lunch there Amazing what a book contract can do to you. In tiny Toomey, on the edge of Texas, I hung up the pay…

Read More

This is quite a substantial article for an on-the-road interview; it was a 92-mile day between my overnight stops in Lafayette and Lake Charles. I like the way the author captured the sense of movement — not just a snapshot.  by Angela Gott Jennings Daily News May 17, 1984 Imagine a vehicle equipped with a computer, a…

Read More

Computing Across America, chapter 32 by Steven K. Roberts Lake Charles, Louisiana May 16, 1984 This chapter captures the moment I first met a Mac. I had seen the Dolphin and Dorado at Xerox PARC during an Artificial Intelligence conference in 1981… as well as the Star for business on display at NCC ’81… but…

Read More

I have always loved this article in the media binder… mostly because of that delightful photo above (or larger below). I was staying in the home of a Baton Rouge mayoral candidate, and one day I went for a ride with his wife and kids (in the trailer just out of frame). I find the…

Read More

I spent a delightful few days in Baton Rouge in early May, 1984 – visiting my aunt, staying with the mayor’s family, getting to know an interesting audiophile, and even having a bizarre cultural encounter that spawned a fun book chapter. Somewhere in there, WBRZ Channel 2 television got wind of my adventure, and this…

Read More

This actually took place in late January, 1984, and the story that became part of my monthly narrative in Online Today (below) ended up getting fleshed out into one of my favorite chapters in Computing Across America. by Steven K. Roberts Online Today May, 1984 It’s not easy to leave paradise. I managed to put it…

Read More