Just as I was about to hit the road (driving the van to Vancouver for Expo 86), there was a small flurry of media coverage announcing the start of the second trip in the Computing Across America adventure. During the first trip, I had written a regular column in USA Today, so it was nice to have this little update in their pages.

He plans 2nd USA trek on computer-laden bike

USA Today 
August 14, 1986

Steve Roberts — the “high-tech nomad” who biked cross-country a few years ago writing about his experiences on a laptop computer — has gotten his second wind.

On Saturday, Roberts, 33, will begin a cross-country odyssey with no less than five computers aboard his “Winnebiko II.” The 8-foot-long, 225-pound bike sports four keys on each handlebar — so Roberts can type while pedaling — and solar panels to charge all the gadgets. The computers can do everything from verbally warning onlookers to stay away while the bike is unattended to transmitting and receiving messages from satellites. The bike also features a citizens band radio and a ham radio that can patch into phone lines.

After a send-off in Dublin, Ohio, Roberts and his girlfriend will drive to Vancouver, B.C, to exhibit the bike at Expo ’86 then wind down the West Coast before heading East Along the way, Roberts says hell be writing another book. On his last trip he wrote Computing Across America — due out this fall.

What’s next?

Says Roberts: Perhaps Europe on Winnebiko III.

Posted in Media - Winnebiko II and tagged