Traveleng w'Ih ~
c~mpan~on ~ases Ihe
.Iress 0f a p~aneer~ng
IHesty~t. On bo~ra C8
radios help comn~uni
cale on ths road.

%1,

	e_	1~

system The original intentionÄbeing
able to rype while ridingÄquickly
evolved into a complete bicycie conwol
and communications systemÄnor only
rurning ~he Winnebiko inro a mobile
office but also starting so many on-the-
street conversations that ananymiry has
become impossible {That~s half the fun,
of course, given ~he rescarch porential
of social conracts )

The principles are simple enough. The
bike carries five computers, networked
together in way5 tbat vary as a function
of the type of work in progress. When
l'm not pedating, the only one in use is
the HPÄan exquisite machine with
896K. electronic disk, and applications
software baked into ROM. Articies or
bool< chap~ers become files, which are
then transferred from ehe first available
telephone to my Ohio office via elec-
tronic mail on the GEnie computer
network (this articie, however, vvas
e-mailed through Ihe WELL). The HP
performs other jobs (such as managing

.

	Re~e~nbIlog the	my hospitality darabase' a list of ~,500
	Ins~rument pensi o1	contacts retrievabie by name, location,
	52 more Ih~n ~
	bicycie, Mlssion	etc.), but its primary use is textual.
	Control Is wi~hin
		When l'm on the road, everything
		changes. As ideas flow from che rhythm
		of pedals, the depth of breath, and the
		sweet sensalions of movement, my
		f~ngers dance a quiet staccato on the
		handlebars. They move as if playing the
		flute' pressing combinations of eight
		waterproof keys to yield any of 256
		binary codesÄa convenient handlebar/
		keyboard that will t~pe both letters and
		control characters. Up in the console,
		the bicycie control processor reactsÄ
		decoding the incoming dara imo a modi-
		fied Radio Shack Model 100 with 256K

of memory. The net effect: smooth,
machine-readable text caprured while
l'm on the raad, yielding flies that cen
be downloaded to the HP for fine tuning
and subsequent transmission.

Bike writing was the main motive, but
with all that solar-powered processing
horsepower on board, it was inevitable
that a few other functions wouid emerge.
The batter'-charging process is now
under computer control, as are the
security system, self diegnostics, elec-
tronic compass, and more. A fourth
processor handles speech synthesis (it
can read text files out laud and explain
itself to curfous passers-by); a fifeh
rnanages packet data communication via
two-meter ham radio. The term "elec-
tronic cottage on wheels" is by no
means frivolaus, and as the trip pro-
gresses, other prolects slowly get done
(or at least started)Äfor no complex
system i5 ever 100 percent complete.

I'm aiready piotting the development of

the new, improved Winnebiko 111Äa
chance to obsolete all this dedicated
hardware I jost spent eight months
building and replace it with soft instru-
ments . . . a user interface not unlike
the Macintosh (under control of a field
mouse, no doubt). The displays and
controls most important to the casl~ at
hand shouid be the ones that move into
visual prominence on the consoleÄ
with pull-down windows to invoLe
related functions (even satellite nevi-
gation and CD-ROM maps). We have the
technology. The only missing links are a
low-power, high-resolution display and
another year of my time.

THE NETWORK CONNECTION
Full-time bicycie touring rzises an in.
teresting ;ssue. Whac, in the words of
Alvin Toffler, can a traveler use as an
"enclave of stability' while wandering
endlessly across the earth's surface? The
bike itself, while, deeply familiar and
"home" in many ways, is not enaugh
to satisfy that basic need.

My enclaYe of stability is found on
the networksÄa strange amalgam of
satellite and bicycie, cioud and soil, a
place that is no place yet is everyplace
at once. Give me a telephone and l'm
home: all it takes i5 connection of the
computer and a few typed commands
and I cross that familiar threshold, see
the GEnie sign-on messages that let me
know l m inside. Beyond those electronic
portals I meet my ciosest friends, keep
up with the activities of my Ohio office.
publish weckly travel tales, seek help
with arcane technical problems, f~nd kin-
dred spirits, and sometimes lust hang
around bantering with other vaporous
denizens of the networkÄintellectual
projections of real humans sitting some-
where on Earth. I wander freely in
physical space, returning to my stable
home in Dataspace night after night
for stability and secority.

This i5 central to the journey, for it
provides daily communication without
those traditional vvanderers' hassles
of general-delivery maii and telephone
tag. I have an assistant in Ohio named
Kelly, who is my full-time universe inter-
face ("that means I pray for him," she
explains, only half-joking) All com-
munication is funneled through her:
business correspondence is processed
and reported online; personal letters are
held for the nexe "matter transfer"
event; phone calls are forwarded elec-
tronically. She handles money, prints and
mails manuscripts to offline publishers,
and keeps old friends up to date on my
aceivities. Kelly is my link to business
reality, GEnie is my link to Keily, and
the HP compueer system is my link to
the network.

And home is whenever I happen to be
Äas long as there's a telephone nearby.

