RE: [at-l] Technology on the Trail

[Ronald Moak <ronm@fallingwater.com>]

Jim writes >> But how can you learn it when your nose - and
your attention and your energy  - are focused on that little computer
rather than on the world around you?  If you want to be in the "trail"
world, then why do you think you can really be "IN" that world if you're
dragging along the pieces and the attitudes of the world you're
supposedly leaving behind for 5 or 6 months? <<

Jim,

I don't think that anyone would disagree that carrying a computer wouldn't
effect a hike. But a how much depends upon why you're hiking in the first
place. Each of us has our reason for being there. Some prefer to be "In the
Moment" along the trail. To take what comes along as it comes, to deal with
it and move on. You, yourself said you don't write much on the trail. 

Others view the trail as much a spiritual exploration of themselves as a
physical journey. I simply like to write about what I've seen and how it
effects me. Writing is a chore no matter what the medium. A pen is just as
much a weighty burden as computer when it lays there waiting for you to draw
it along the paper. 

In many ways I'm looking at this summers journey with both enjoyment and
horror. I thoroughly the hours of rhythmic contemplation provide by the
hike. I also dread the process of writing it down. Yet, I dread even more so
leaving thoughts left to blow away. To me it's like going to all the trouble
of plowing a field and never planting the seeds.

I've not decided yet on my method of transcription. I've got a little
tele-mail computer that I've either considered carrying or placing in the
bounce box. I also enjoy to process of pen on paper. Encrusted with dirt,
sweat and smeared by rain, a journal provides a physical link to a time and
place that's long past. Something that's hard to achieve with a computer. I
also hate the process of re-keying it in. Too damn lazy I suppose.

Maybe one day I won't feel the need to fuel the fire, but then I'll probably
no long feel the need to breath. 



Ron "Fallingwater" Moak
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