How did they ever leave home?
History books tell us that in earlier times, men (generally, rather than generic) did gather together their equipment and foodstuffs, and they did set forth to explore the world. They discovered whole continents, the source of mighty rivers, even poles (why a pole?). I’m sitting here, late at night, and I’m puzzled. How did they ever get ready?
We’re almost set to leave on a camping trip. Nothing too rugged. Tents, pneumatic beds, sleeping bags that can withstand any July frost, a stove that requires regular transfusions of fossil fuel. Everything as it should be in this modern age of camping under the stars. We’ve got decades of training. We’re good at what we do.
But we’ve developed a few dependencies that the explorers of bygone times didn’t have. Data. Lots and lots of data, stored carefully and in multiple copies on personal computers and music players and telephones. To go away from home (and by extension, the grid) is unthinkable; we are unable. Instead, I’ve been spending the afternoon backing up hard drives, preparing a variety of CDs, repacking the part of our lives that requires some contact with electricity. We’re ready to discover, uncover, recover and record, no matter what the situation.
Sometime later this evening I’m supposed to sleep, but it really doesn’t matter. In the words of Iggy, I am a passenger, and if the mood strikes me tomorrow, I’ll simply snooze as my significant other does what she loves; she’ll drive, ever onward, slowing only for gas and personal maintenance. I am ready to be on vacation.
