Staying Connected
When I am on a trip, even a vacation, I take a laptop and a cell phone. My employer can call me, and I can dial in with the computer to resolve problems. Since I would be away from my employer for an extended period of time on this trip, it seems almost mandatory that I be able to stay in contact. Simple, I just carry a laptop and a cell-phone on this trip.With my keen interest in digital photography, a news event scenario began to take shape. I can become a guest columnist for the local newspaper. With e-mail, I can generate text and pictures while on the road, and have them published weekly. I can call via cell phone while on the road to the morning radio show.
And as long as I am going to use e-mail, I will also stay in touch with family, friends and employer through e-mail.
The one thing that I am concerned about on this ride is the heat. Being an Alaskan and living in Anchorage, where reaching 80°F is a historic event, I am very concerned about being able to cope with the heat while on this ride. The cold is easy, just add more clothing, but heat? You can only take off so much clothing.
Is the heat already beginning to affect my brain? How was my plan going to work. I will need power and a phone line. I'm going to be sleeping in a tent, will they provide these services to my tent every day? Nice thought, but I think not.
Okay, I can stop at places along the way and plug my laptop into an outlet for a quick charge. Maybe I'll visit a library, maybe a laundro-mat. And surely, I can find a phone where I can connect for e-mail. I can use a credit card call, or an 800 number to access the internet. But finding these services at convenient times as I travel through strange communities will not always be easy. Especially when I won't have more than an hour or two at my disposal during the day. And, how long does it take my laptop to recharge anyway?
But wait a minute, The major sponsor of this event is GTE. They are a communications company. It wouldn't be inconceivable that they could provide a mobile communications truck. Each night after dinner, I'll just go to their truck, plug in my laptop, send and receive e-mail, charge my laptop, and live happily ever after. That will be almost as good as a power line and phone cord right to my tent. So I asked them. I was right, I won't get a power line and phone cord to my tent. Nor the truck. I will only get a list of locations of payphones along the way to use. What the hey? I guess this is a fund raising event, not a "The universe orbits around Bill" affair. Boy, this heat really is starting to get to me.
I can begin to see a real entrepreneurial opportunity here. Someone should get a truck, put a big satellite dish on top, load it full of communications gear, a generator, and lots of beer. People like me could pull up for a tall cold one, e-mail home, have another tall cold one, charge the laptop, have another tall cold one to fight off dehydration and heat stroke and live happily ever after.
So I posed this problem to my friends, and the answer was "Solar Cells." They even provided me with the name of a vendor that provides solar cells for laptop computers. The cells are tailored for the adventurer that needs a computer where there is no power. These solar panels are ready for the road, the jungle or anywhere the sun shines. And they are tough, the specs say they will withstand one inch hail stones striking the cells at 52 miles per hour. I'd better check the specs on my bike helmet.
So I plan to take solar cells, and maybe an extra battery. I will add a rack to the back of my bike to carry the laptop and solar cells. I will be able to open the solar cells and strap them to the rack so I can charge my laptop batteries while I ride. I will also be able to charge the cell phone and camera batteries too.
I will also carry a beeper. A beeper (Sky-Page) runs off of a standard battery which lasts for many days. That way, the cell phone only gets used to make outgoing calls, conserving battery life.
I am still debating on how to stay in contact with the computer. What should I do about a phone line? Gaining access to an available phone line at the time needed is not very likely. Using Cellular service for data communications is likely to be slow and expensive. I'm still considering the best solution to computer connectivity. If you have ideas, please send me an e-mail.
All pictures and text (c) 1998 by Bill Peterson, Anchorage, Alaska.