This was written in early October 1983, during the 762-mile shakedown cruise that began the adventure aboard the Winnebiko. I was still feeling my way and getting to know the tools, and this is #2 in a monthly column that ran for over a year and a half (this was the origin of the Computing…

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I was starting to get into the groove at this point, and was in Savannah on Thanksgiving Day to visit an old friend from Louisville. This turned into a fun book chapter (including a crazy trip over the tall Savannah River bridge in driving rain and high wind, and the tale of my recent discovery…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 14 by Steven K. Roberts Savannah, Georgia November 26, 1983 Birth and death were easy. It was life that was hard. — Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume Ashepoo, South Carolina — the day before Thanksgiving. I stopped to take a much-needed break from the two-lane truck route known as US 17, and…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 13 by Steven K. Roberts November 22, 1983 There is no such thing as a pretty good omelet. — French proverb Not surprisingly, the first harbingers of the Atlantic Ocean were not fish smells and sea birds, but billboards — acres of billboards. An hour out of Norfolk and they were…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 12 by Steven K. Roberts November 14, 1983 The fickleness of the women I love is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me. –— George Bernard Shaw <pang> The first one came at Shepherd College, a small place situated about as far east as you can…

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Typical of on-the-road newspaper stories during the first year, this overviews the trip and curious technology, then mentions the “nationwide computer network.” Most folks then were not aware of emerging online culture and how it made a crazy adventure like this possible. by William Ruberry Richmond Times-Dispatch November 12, 1983 Steve Roberts had some sleepless…

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I love the closing line of this one:  “This man is very serious about his alternative lifestyle.” <grin> Reston was a brief stop for me, with only a couple of days in this planned community that was yet early in its development stages. I’d be interested in knowing how it has evolved in the past…

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Computing Across America, Chapter 11 by Steven K. Roberts November 6, 1983 Grub first, then ethics.— Bertolt Brecht I paused after the long climb on Maryland’s US40 to gaze at the sign and ponder the feelings a driver might experience when deciding whether to “ditch” his truck off the side of a mountain: ALL TRUCKS…

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In the before times, not only pre-Google but pre-Internet, our tools for online research were esoteric and expensive. In 1982-83 I was obsessed with this technology, and was not only running a small “information brokerage” business but writing articles about how to put these resources to use (along with emerging issues, like downloading). This piece…

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This article in the premiere issue of Information Today was written while I was near the beginning of my bicycle adventure… I remember it feeling almost abstract as I held forth on matters of machine selection while my own life was focused on ultra-portability. It deals with some of the philosophical issues, and is amusing…

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