When we first set out to create a real-time web page of our travels, we had no idea of the complicated network of people, computers and services we were going to employ. The chain of events that brings you our new journal entries and photos has taken months of ever-evolving teamwork. Today we utilize networks in Michigan and Boston, Compuserve (chosen for its world-wide network, accessible in major cities via a local phone call), E-Mail, FTP and Telnet. We coordinate all of this through a Prolinear PS-3000 MiniNote Palmtop 386 DOS computer about the size of a video cassette.

Carrying a computer in our backpack has raised a lot of eyebrows and a lot of questions from other travelers. The need to conserve weight makes carrying a computer seems like an extra burden. But with the added 1.5 lb computer and the 12 oz Konexx acoustic coupler for hooking up to a phone, the world is at our fingertips.

Everything we write is stored on a 10 Mb Flash card. Information on all the photographs we take are input to a database. Web page updates and commentaries are E-Mailed via Compuserve to Michigan for editing. Mom applies the ole 'red pencil'. It's a good way for her to keep up with our adventures and her internal grammar checker runs circles around our simple DOS spell checker.

Editing complete, the pages are E-Mailed back to us. Every couple of days we connect to Compuserve to send and receive mail. I'm sure there are people who tell tales of their phone booth encounter with a frog, two backpackers and a trail of wires emanating from a little grey box.

With the edited files we run Doslynx to insure all links on the web page work so no one will end up on a road to nowhere. There's always a chance that we will miss a few so back home Dad is constantly bringing up Netscape to check it all out.

Files are then transmitted to our Boston UNIX-based NEXT server through FTP via the DOS Compuserve Information Manager (CIM). But DOS CIM has limits, so each FTP session is suplimented with a com file that changes all of our 8.3 filenames (DOS limitations) to html equivalents. Back in Boston, Tom runs the come file and with a successful run, the page is updated.

Photographs taken with our Cannon Rebel XS camera are added later. There is a time delay in getting the slides processed, sorted, filenames assigned and names then entered into the html files. If processing is available in the area where we are, we have it done on the road. If not, undeveloped rolls are sent to Michigan. Now here's where all our record keeping pays off. We let Big Al (aka Dad) know which photos go into the web pages. Since we may never see these pictures before we get home, he edits them for quality. Once 80-100 slides are accumulated they are processed onto a Kodak Photo CD-ROM. Thus the time-lapse between your reading our written entries and seeing the pictures that accent them.

Big Al is also the one responsible for the icons and banners you see on the page, taking time from his photo restoration projects to spiff up our page.

From the CD-ROM the images are brought into a Michigan MAC, made into GIF or JPG files using Photoshop, assigned numbered filenames and sent to our Boston-based server. The files are dropped into the appropriate directories and their numbered filenames are emailed to us. Then, finally, after we've had the chance to update all the journal entries with the photo filenames, re-FTP them and have Tom run a new com file to change the html filenames again, voila! the photographs appear on our web page.

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it all. But we have it all down to a science. We're constantly searching for new ways to communicate on-line, so over time you'll see the web page grow and change. We - Janet, John and Fargo Frog - want to keep you entertained and anticipating our next adventure. If you happen to know of places overseas along our route that have internet access, we'd love to know so we can bring you the best web page possible. Thanks for tuning in!