This was taken and posted from a shady spot on the trail. Odd behavior for a Luddite. “Luddite” is in this phone’s dictionary. Odd.

1. 
   Theriomorph 2007 10 28 at 3:45:26 pm

   Damn good color quality for a Luddite.

2. 
   kathy a 2007 10 28 at 5:27:38 pm

   where the hell are you?  mt. diablo, or out that way?  very nice day for a hike.  the sky is brilliant this afternoon.

3. 
   Sven DiMilo 2007 10 28 at 7:33:54 pm

   If I could, I’d throw my wooden shoe into the inner workings of your phone/camera/dictionary/internet-accessor.

4. 
   Sherwood 2007 10 28 at 11:21:58 pm

   T’morph, the color quality sucks.  Chris was posting from Mars, where the sky is pink.  The image software clearly interprets any large patches in the upper half of an image as “sky” and makes it blue.

   Spelunkers know better, as do interplanetary dreamers.

5. 
   Ron Sullivan 2007 10 28 at 11:42:46 pm

   Only fair if you wear that wooden shoe daily, Sven. Better have carved it yourself too.

   Um, with your teeth.

6. 
   Chris Clarke 2007 10 29 at 12:20:59 am

   Sven will change his tune in two weeks when I post from Nipton.

   Unfortunately, that tune change will involve him ramping up the snark, because he’ll be jealous that I’m in Nipton. But that’s OK. I’ll wish he was there too.

   Sherwood, that blue is actually in the LOWER half of the photo, as you would know if you just shed your borealcentric privilege.

7. 
   Rob G 2007 10 29 at 10:41:34 am

   Sven will change his tune in two weeks when I post from Nipton.

   I thought it was spelled N-E-P-T-U-N-E. And the sky there is green, I think.

8. 
   Fred Levitan 2007 10 29 at 4:05:52 pm

   Oh my.  Oh no.  You didn’t?  You didn’t get one of THOSE?  You’ve taken the first unretractable step to membership in the babbling masses?  Not you!  Nah.  Couldn’t be.  If true, I may now actually be the last holdout on the planet.  Don’t you know those things cause brain cancer?  And make gas pumps explode?

   (Please ignore the previous obligatory hypocritical Luddite paragraph.  Really now, blogging Luddites?)

   Please do post from Nipton. or Kelso, or Cima Dome.  If you’re going to be there, I’d rather be you.  Even including infernal device.

   Are you GPS-enabled?  Can we track CRN in its travels?  Do tell.
   
   Kathy, I’m guessing the photo is from Briones, although I can only guess north-central Coast Range oak savanna with any certainty.  Looks familiar, though.  Chris doesn’t have it on his Flickr map, although that should be possible to phone in as well.

9. 
   Rachel Shaw 2007 10 29 at 4:20:28 pm

   Geez.  Next thing you know, you’ll be on Facebook or MySpace or something.  ;)

10. 
    Sven DiMilo 2007 10 29 at 5:36:02 pm

    hoo, “jealous” is right. I’m almost as far from the Mojave as you can get in These United States.
    All the tortoises are snugly burrowed in for winter by now anyway. And all the grapes are sour too. Looking forward to your dispatches.

11. 
    GabeNichols 2007 10 29 at 8:21:43 pm

    Chris,

    Luddite does not mean unthinking hatred of technology, that’s just what the bosses want us to think.  The machines the Luddites smashed were there to replace the labor of humans with the labor of steam destroying the livelihood of countless families for the enrichment of a single capitalist.  It was a completely sensible act of protest against a society that was depriving them of dignity as the first step towards depriving them of liberty.

12. 
    Sherwood 2007 10 29 at 10:07:40 pm

    Chris, I ain’t sheddin’ no privilege.  My daddy worked hard for it.