We Really Have It Easy
While we like to complain about how hard life is, we really have it easy. For the last week I have been cruising through New England and the maritime provinces of Canada in a motorhome with my children. As we traveled through the various states and visited sites from the Revolutionary period, it impressed me how hard communication was at the time. Paul Revere got to Lexington several hours before the redcoats because he was on horseback. The militia men disbanded when the English army did not show up for several hours, only to reassemble at 5 a.m. as the redcoats were marching into Lexington. Ironically, it may have been the communications that started the war. A drum was used to alert the militia to reassemble. The British arm took the drums to be a war call and loaded their weapons. When the militia realized they were heavily outnumbered, they disbanded. However, someone fired a shot and the British soldiers advanced and bayonetted the few militia remaining.
Word of the redcoats firing on the disbanding milita men spread fast. By early afternoon, four thousand colonists were hunting seventeen hundred redcoats. By the time they made it back to Boston harbor, the redcoats had marched 40 miles, half of it under enemy fire, in 24 hours. It is simply amazing that either side was able to conduct a war over a 700 mile stretch were it could take weeks to find out the results of a battle or when and where the enemy had advanced. I wonder what George Washington would have thought of aerial drones, satellite images and fighter planes flying faster than the speed of sound.
My communications have been a little easier than a rider covering 60 miles in a day. When I realized that I forgot to write down the address of one of our camping sites, my wife logged on through my wireless broadband card (we were 10-15 miles from any city) and accessed the internet. A couple of minutes later, we had all the information we needed. The biggest challenge thus far has been in Canada. My card does not work here and I have been forced to rely on WiFi at the RV park. I even have to "roam" to use my cell phone. At least I don't have to send emails by horseback.
Word of the redcoats firing on the disbanding milita men spread fast. By early afternoon, four thousand colonists were hunting seventeen hundred redcoats. By the time they made it back to Boston harbor, the redcoats had marched 40 miles, half of it under enemy fire, in 24 hours. It is simply amazing that either side was able to conduct a war over a 700 mile stretch were it could take weeks to find out the results of a battle or when and where the enemy had advanced. I wonder what George Washington would have thought of aerial drones, satellite images and fighter planes flying faster than the speed of sound.
My communications have been a little easier than a rider covering 60 miles in a day. When I realized that I forgot to write down the address of one of our camping sites, my wife logged on through my wireless broadband card (we were 10-15 miles from any city) and accessed the internet. A couple of minutes later, we had all the information we needed. The biggest challenge thus far has been in Canada. My card does not work here and I have been forced to rely on WiFi at the RV park. I even have to "roam" to use my cell phone. At least I don't have to send emails by horseback.
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