The media took a keen interest in what he was up to, and he’d go on to write a book and publish various columns and features for magazines. In September 1983, he made the first pedal strokes of something that started as a boldly experimental high-tech bike tour and eventually became his career. Steve was so committed to the idea that he sold his car and suburban home before setting off on his first “Computing Across America” trip.

He’d haul camping gear to be able to sleep anywhere and could hit deadlines by connecting to the internet via phone and uploading his pieces in a manner nearly all of us take for granted these days. He spent six months making meticulous arrangements and outfitting a custom recumbent touring bike with a solar-powered Radio Shack Model 100 portable computer that would allow him to keep in touch with his clients and publishers while living on the road full-time. Discontent with being tied to his desk, he began searching for another way of living and working that could satisfy his craving for adventure, freedom, and fun.ĭespite not having any footsteps to follow or a guidebook to consult for such an endeavor, Steve dreamed up a plan that would be unthinkable to most people, even today.

Steve had recently marked the milestone of turning 30 and felt acutely aware of a deep sense of wanderlust that many of this site’s readers will understand well. It was a time well before cell phones existed, the internet was barely in its infancy, and working remotely was still a far-fetched idea. Back in the early 1980s, Steve Roberts was working as a freelance author and computer consultant in Dublin, Ohio.

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