A crazy encounter on the C&O Canal Towpath

This event on the Chesapeake and Ohio Towpath in Maryland was the first of the truly bizarre encounters of my bicycle adventure… bordering on the terrifying, rife with absurdity, and yielding a crazy tale that entertained audiences for years. It became a full chapter in the Computing Across America book (and is in the PDF free…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 22 by Steven K. Roberts Northern Florida January 31, 1984 (photo by Katy Peden, Clearwater)  You’re taking the trip and the trip’s taking you in equal measure. If it takes you five years to finish, the pace will still be exactly right.— Barbara Bernstein There are many ways to travel. You can drive to…

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This short photo/caption appeared in the local paper in Clearwater, Florida, just as I arrived via J36 sailboat after three weeks in Key West. On the road again… High-tech bike Clearwater Sun – January 26, 1984 Photo by David Sigler Steven Roberts sits astride his recumbent bicycle Wednesday during a brief stop in Clearwater. The…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 21 by Steven K. Roberts Gulf of Mexico January 22, 1984 If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.— E. B. White I wandered the docks of Fort Zachary Taylor with a yellow plastic band affixed to…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 20 by Steven K. Roberts Key West, Florida January 19, 1984 It’s better to burn out than fade away.— Neil Young Nothing had changed, but everything was different. I rode the familiar streets, taking a serpentine route to where I supposed the action was. I didn’t have the money to stay on…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 19 by Steven K. Roberts Key West, Florida January 13, 1984 You can’t have paradise and a network node.— Charles McGuinness (Photo above by Barbara Bernstein, taken in the garden of Key West’s idyllic Merlinn Guest House as I signed in to check mail and upload a story.) I stood and…

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It is stunning to contemplate the cultural changes that have taken place in the decades since publication of this beautifully written story in the Key West newspaper. I had arrived in town via computerized bicycle… which was odd enough. But what captured the writer’s imagination was the rendezvous in progress, as I was spending a…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 18 by Steven K. Roberts Key West, Florida January 3, 1984 Where are you coming from?— Question heard all down the coast, contrasting sharply with the usual “Where are you going?” It had been a hard day. I was southbound at the 28th parallel, searching for a place to sleep. This was…

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My on-the-road column about dealing with personal computers continues with a piece on reality. Photo above is the author at the Multibus base-office machine back in Ohio. by Steven K. Roberts Information Today January, 1984 In this, the second part of our series on microcomputers, I think it would be appropriate to spend some time…

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Discovering the Basics in Ohiopyle, PA

The adventure was starting to unfold, and my monthly narratives from the road were published in CompuServe’s magazine (as well as more frequently, in the CAA area online) Many, like this one, were later fleshed out as book chapters. by Steven K. Roberts Online Today magazineJanuary, 1984 The journey — the high-tech bicycle odyssey —…

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