In the woods without electronic mail

Last week, The Gibbs Institute (family division) went on holiday to Yosemite. I, however, wasn't about to leave my business to its own devices for a week. Accordingly, I packed up my laptop and we hit the road. I assumed that phone jacks would be easy to find - after all, this is America.

We had booked rooms at the Wawona hotel just inside the park boundary, and the hotel's surroundings were splendid. My pioneer's heart started to beat mightily with the crisp, clean mountain air, the sight of soaring, majestic pines, and the persistent feeling that one might be attacked at any moment by a hungry bear.

Now I am told that tourists are advised to wear tiny bells on their clothing when they go hiking in bear country. The bells scare away most bears. Tourists are also cautioned to watch the trail, paying particular attention to look for bear droppings that will indicate the presence of bears.

I am also told you can easily identify bear droppings because they have tiny bells in them. But I digress . . .

We checked into the hotel, and I discovered that there were no phones in the rooms. Ho-hum. Well, they must surely have phones in the lobby with computer modem sockets on the side. Nope, they didn't. In fact, the hotel only had two pay phones out on the back porch! Could the hotel management let me use their phone? No.

Alright, I thought, I'll wait until we go to the Yosemite valley. The Ahwanee hotel down there is a much more flashy place; they must have a public phone. So as we went tramping around the Mariposa grove of giant redwoods (wonderful!) and threw snowballs, I kept thinking "I've got to get my e-mail."

Next day, we went to the Ahwanee and it did indeed have public phones. They were, however, hard-wired, did not have sockets and, I suspect, dated from the turn of the century. Back at the Wawona I resorted to pleading, and at 6:30 a.m., management kindly let me unplug their fax and download my e-mail - all 260 messages of it from three days out of the office.

Many people have since chided me, "Oh, you should have left your computer at home." "You should have had a real holiday." (Why is it that in this case advice givers always put that emphasis on the word "real" as if there is some kind of alternative, false holiday?)

What these people don't understand is that e-mail isn't just business. It is an essential part of my, and many other people's, life. I miss not reading my news delivered by e-mail, the exchange of jokes with friends and colleagues, and the chatter of lists and newsgroups.

Many people assume that computers isolate us, separate us from "the real world." But the fact is our lives are richer and more interesting because of our electronic communications. We e-mail addicts tend to have huge circles of friends, acquaintances and contacts who we stay in touch with because it's so easy.

There's also the consideration that business for many people (myself included) can no longer go on hold for a week or even a day or two without e-mail. Sometimes the business communications are no more than short messages such as, "Is this OK?" or "Where's the . . ." but such interactions are important to keep things moving.

It is when you go to places such as Yosemite that you realize what it means to be cut off. I'm going to invest in one of those retro-looking acoustic couplers and pray for low earth-orbit satellite communications to become available.

So, be warned. If you're an e-mail addict, staying in touch can be much harder than you might think, even in America.

Are you an e-mail junkie? Confessions to nwcolumn@gibbs.com or (800) 622-1108, Ext. 7504.

In the woods without electronic mail

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