the camino and technology

[Bob Spenger]

Maura and other members,

I had been reading Hoinacke shortly before I left last fall and finished it
after my return. He makes quite a point about
"the technological trap" that most of us are in. I thought about this a
lot, especially when I used my pearlcorder and my GPS. Then they both
conked out, the pearlcorder early in the game and the GPS after about two
weeks. I didn't think about this in terms of miracles, but the thought
occurred: "Is someone trying to tell me something?"

I mailed them both home and, when I got back, I got the pearlcorder going
again by using it once with the AC adapter. I called Garmin about the GPS
and was told that I could reprogram it by holding down a certain four of
the five buttons. I did this and it worked fine. This procedure wiped out
the memory of the carefully stored waypoints of the Camino Francés, but I
didn't need them any more at that point  and they were not much use anyway
when the instrument could not even be turned on.

I bought a new mini-recorder along the way, but I missed the GPS,
especially along the straight stretches of the meseta. However, I did find
it amusing that the bonds of my "technological trap" had been loosened a
bit by the loss. I never did get free of the urge to find the nearest
cybercafe as soon as I got into a town of size.

regards,

Bob Spenger
rspengeraadelphia


Maura Santangelo wrote:

> If that happens to my laptop we can determine that it was no accident
> but a true camino miracle, I'll keep you posted
> Maura