SWMBO said to me the other day that I've spent more time planning this trip than I will spend actually doing it! Well, she could be right. But I find the planning and research almost as much fun as the trip itself - I think it all adds to the anticipation.
However, there's a balance to be struck here: I don't want to plan it down to a level of detail such that I know when each mile will be riden, and each rest stop taken. Equally, I don't want to turn up in Chicago, pick up the bike, and then have no idea what's out there, and ride past everything. By not booking any en-route hotels, my itinerary is still flexible, allowing some spontaneity. For example, my planning suggests that my first night stop will be after a fairly short ride to Bloomington, IL. This is so that I can get used to the bike, and over any jet lag I might suffer. However, when I eventually do roll into Bloomington I might decide that I feel OK to carry on a bit further - I have that choice. So I think my plans, although comprehensive, will strike a happy medium, but only time will tell.
Something else that a number of other people have mentioned is their surprise that I'm going on a 3 week/3000 mile journey on my own. Now, I'm a pretty sociable fellow I think, but I'm also quite happy in my own company. Other people, especially non-biking other people, don't seem to realise how many people you do meet up with and speak to when you roll up on a bike some place. And, being on your own it is even more likely that you'll strike up a conversation. No, I don't think I'll be going for 3 weeks without talking to anyone! The other advantage of being on your own is that you can do what you want, when you want, without having to consider anyone else. I guess the only slight worry is if something goes wrong, but if you let that stop you doing things, then you'll never do anything.
Now down to the practicalities. I've been wondering how much luggage space I'm going to have on the ElectraGlide, and also how I'm going to mount and wire up the Zumo GPS, so I though I'd reacquaint myself with a real live ElectraGlide in the flesh. So I trundled down to Newcastle Harley-Davidson last Friday with just that intention, and when I got there, guess what? They had no ElectraGlides! How can that be - an HD dealer that doesn't have the flagship of their range in the showroom? Also the atmosphere in the place was terrible. In the old days of Just Harleys the place was buzzing, and there was always a few gnarly old bikers there to chat to. The new dealership seemed very sterile - more like the Audi dealership over the road. What a shame. Anyhow, I think a call to my mate David is in order - I hope he's still got his ElectraGlide!
Days to departure: 21
Paydays to departure: 1
Showing posts with label Zumo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zumo. Show all posts
Monday, 28 March 2011
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Weekly Countdown: 4 weeks to go
I'm in a good frame of mind today, for a number of reasons:
I've also been thinking about getting a bluetooth headset for my crash helmet, like this one, so the SatNav (which doubles as an MP3 player) and phone (which also doubles as an MP3 player) can be connected without wires. Do you think I'll also need my iPod? Just in case I run out of music?
One slight fly in the ointment though: I've been checking the status of my flights back from San Francisco, and they are full on the day I want to come home. So, contingency planning has kicked in, and it looks like flights from Seatle are a good option. I'll monitor the situation, but it's looking like I might need to make 3 flights in order to get home on time: SFO-SEA-LHR-NCL.
Days to departure: 28
Paydays to departure: 1.
Funding: Given up worrying about it!
- My bike was MoT'd last week and is now back on the road. The weather's been very nice the last few days, so I've managed to go out for a couple of rides.
- Last night I fought off a late challenge in my local Poker league and won the league by 15 points.
- But, most of all, it's now less than 1 month until my Road trip! Unfortunately that means it's even less time to my 50th birthday, but let's skip over that bit.
I've also been thinking about getting a bluetooth headset for my crash helmet, like this one, so the SatNav (which doubles as an MP3 player) and phone (which also doubles as an MP3 player) can be connected without wires. Do you think I'll also need my iPod? Just in case I run out of music?
One slight fly in the ointment though: I've been checking the status of my flights back from San Francisco, and they are full on the day I want to come home. So, contingency planning has kicked in, and it looks like flights from Seatle are a good option. I'll monitor the situation, but it's looking like I might need to make 3 flights in order to get home on time: SFO-SEA-LHR-NCL.
Days to departure: 28
Paydays to departure: 1.
Funding: Given up worrying about it!
Monday, 14 March 2011
Weekly Countdown: 5 weeks to go
Where I live there are lots of roundabouts. These roundabouts are mostly big grassy islands, and during spring-time they are resplendent with hosts of golden daffodils. Well, this week I am really excited because said daffs have started to grow. Their green shoots are poking out of the soil of the roundabouts and other grassy banks around town: a sure sign that, after a quite harsh winter, Spring is just around the corner. The thought of this has made me get my arse in gear and get the bike out of the garage again. Unfortunately, that's as far as I've been able to take it because the MOT's run out, but it's booked in for the test on Thursday, so something to look forward to this week if it passes!!
As for my US adventure (or holiday, as SWMBO calls it), planning is well advanced. Bike rental: sorted. Flights to the US: sorted. Route: sorted. Even a few hotels are now sorted
So I am now getting down to planning at a more detailed level. For example, the route, in terms of which town I'll be stopping at each night, is pretty much decided. With a GPS I can input these towns, and it'll come up with a route that connects them all up. However, this is very "destination-centric": the route it chooses will be the "best" route to get you to you chosen destinations, which which is exactly what you want most of the time. For example, if I wanted to go to an exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, the GPS will direct me there by the quickest, or shortest (I can decide) route, I'm not really very interested in the actual roads I use, as long as I get to where I want to be.
But for this trip the individual destinations are not the important part. It's not about riding from town to town in the most efficient manner possible, because I'll spend all my time on Interstates, which is plain dull. No, this trip is about the journey and seeing things on the way. So what I'm doing now is using the Garmin Map Source software (and this is where Garmin beats TomTom hands down, IMHO) to modify the routes between night stops, by adding in points of interest that I've gleaned from many months of research, roads that follow the old Route 66, and generally massaging the route to make it the most interesting possible. Having done this, I can upload these routes to the Zumo, and it'll guide me by my chosen route.
All of this is, of course, quite time consuming. It was also quite enjoyable, until I lost an entire day's work when I hit the wrong key and deleted the route I'd been working on. At that point my laptop nearly went through the window, and the trip cancelled! However I eventually calmed down, and re did it all again.
I'm finding this process very useful for collating and bringing together into one place all the research and information that I've found from many sources. The number of post-its that are scattered around the place has reduced significantly! However, my recent "finger trouble" has reminded me how easy it would be to lose it all, so I will still need to bring with me good old paper maps, in case the technology lets me down.
Days to departure: 35
Paydays to departure: 1.
Funding: $$$OK, with help from my Flexible Friend$$$
As for my US adventure (or holiday, as SWMBO calls it), planning is well advanced. Bike rental: sorted. Flights to the US: sorted. Route: sorted. Even a few hotels are now sorted
So I am now getting down to planning at a more detailed level. For example, the route, in terms of which town I'll be stopping at each night, is pretty much decided. With a GPS I can input these towns, and it'll come up with a route that connects them all up. However, this is very "destination-centric": the route it chooses will be the "best" route to get you to you chosen destinations, which which is exactly what you want most of the time. For example, if I wanted to go to an exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, the GPS will direct me there by the quickest, or shortest (I can decide) route, I'm not really very interested in the actual roads I use, as long as I get to where I want to be.
But for this trip the individual destinations are not the important part. It's not about riding from town to town in the most efficient manner possible, because I'll spend all my time on Interstates, which is plain dull. No, this trip is about the journey and seeing things on the way. So what I'm doing now is using the Garmin Map Source software (and this is where Garmin beats TomTom hands down, IMHO) to modify the routes between night stops, by adding in points of interest that I've gleaned from many months of research, roads that follow the old Route 66, and generally massaging the route to make it the most interesting possible. Having done this, I can upload these routes to the Zumo, and it'll guide me by my chosen route.
All of this is, of course, quite time consuming. It was also quite enjoyable, until I lost an entire day's work when I hit the wrong key and deleted the route I'd been working on. At that point my laptop nearly went through the window, and the trip cancelled! However I eventually calmed down, and re did it all again.
I'm finding this process very useful for collating and bringing together into one place all the research and information that I've found from many sources. The number of post-its that are scattered around the place has reduced significantly! However, my recent "finger trouble" has reminded me how easy it would be to lose it all, so I will still need to bring with me good old paper maps, in case the technology lets me down.
Days to departure: 35
Paydays to departure: 1.
Funding: $$$OK, with help from my Flexible Friend$$$
Monday, 28 February 2011
Weekly Countdown: 7 Plotting the route
Another week passes and the excitement is beginning to mount, things are coming together, and it's getting closer now.
The eBay items all sold, and in all I made over £200! Quite a result I think, and so I'll start to have a look for more items to sell. However, unless I get a largish windfall in the next 7 weeks (the lottery tickets have been bought!), I think that I'll have to resign myself to not having quite enough, and letting the plastic take the strain.
As I mentioned in my last post, the new maps for the GPS arrived, and so this week I've spent some time inputting Points of Interest (PoIs), and playing around with routes. At the moment, my itinerary is looking like this:
Week 1:
18April, Monday: Arrive in Chicago
19April, Tuesday: Pick up bike & ride to Bloomington, IL
20April, Wednesday: Ride to St. Louis, MO
21April, Thursday: On to Springfield, MO
22April, Friday: Overnight in Tulsa, OK
23April, Saturday: Ride to Clinton, OK
24April, Sunday: Ride to Amarillo, TX
Week 2:
25April, Monday: Ride to Santa Fe, NM
26April, Tuesday: Rest day in Santa Fe
27April, Wednesday: Ride to Holbrook, AZ
28April, Thursday: Sidetrip to Grand Canyon, AZ
29April, Friday: Ride to Needles, CA (Happy Birthday Simon, and happy wedding to William and Kate)
30April, Saturday: Laughlin River Run
01May, Sunday: Side trip to Las Vegas, NV
Week 3:
02May, Monday: Rest day in Las Vegas.
03May, Tuesday: Back onto Route 66 and ride to Victorville, CA
04May, Wednesday: The last stage of my Rt66 adventure to Santa Monica - I've done it! Probably overnight up the coast somewhere (Santa Barbara?).
05May, Thursday: Continue up the PCH to Monterey, CA
06May, Friday: The last full day - make it to San Fransisco
07May, Saturday: Return Bike & Fly Home
08May, Sunday: Arrive back home
I'm sure it'll be fine tuned and tweaked, right up until my departure, and probably during the trip too. For example, my gut feeling is that the second half, from Texas onwards, will be the more interesting part, so I'm looking at whether I should speed up the first part so I can spend more time on the second.
Of course, the trip is not just about riding across America, it's about experiencing the places and meeting the people, so if I find somewhere that's really nice I will spend a bit of time there. Equally if there's not much of interest around I can zip onto the Interstate for a bit.
This week I'm going to continue with the GPS side of things, and, most importantly, decide on my travel arrangements to and from the US.
Days to departure: 49
Paydays to departure: Payday today, so I suppose just 1 left.
Funding: $$$Covered by my credit limit$$$
The eBay items all sold, and in all I made over £200! Quite a result I think, and so I'll start to have a look for more items to sell. However, unless I get a largish windfall in the next 7 weeks (the lottery tickets have been bought!), I think that I'll have to resign myself to not having quite enough, and letting the plastic take the strain.
As I mentioned in my last post, the new maps for the GPS arrived, and so this week I've spent some time inputting Points of Interest (PoIs), and playing around with routes. At the moment, my itinerary is looking like this:
Week 1:
18April, Monday: Arrive in Chicago
19April, Tuesday: Pick up bike & ride to Bloomington, IL
20April, Wednesday: Ride to St. Louis, MO
21April, Thursday: On to Springfield, MO
22April, Friday: Overnight in Tulsa, OK
23April, Saturday: Ride to Clinton, OK
24April, Sunday: Ride to Amarillo, TX
Week 2:
25April, Monday: Ride to Santa Fe, NM
26April, Tuesday: Rest day in Santa Fe
27April, Wednesday: Ride to Holbrook, AZ
28April, Thursday: Sidetrip to Grand Canyon, AZ
29April, Friday: Ride to Needles, CA (Happy Birthday Simon, and happy wedding to William and Kate)
30April, Saturday: Laughlin River Run
01May, Sunday: Side trip to Las Vegas, NV
Week 3:
02May, Monday: Rest day in Las Vegas.
03May, Tuesday: Back onto Route 66 and ride to Victorville, CA
04May, Wednesday: The last stage of my Rt66 adventure to Santa Monica - I've done it! Probably overnight up the coast somewhere (Santa Barbara?).
05May, Thursday: Continue up the PCH to Monterey, CA
06May, Friday: The last full day - make it to San Fransisco
07May, Saturday: Return Bike & Fly Home
08May, Sunday: Arrive back home
I'm sure it'll be fine tuned and tweaked, right up until my departure, and probably during the trip too. For example, my gut feeling is that the second half, from Texas onwards, will be the more interesting part, so I'm looking at whether I should speed up the first part so I can spend more time on the second.
Of course, the trip is not just about riding across America, it's about experiencing the places and meeting the people, so if I find somewhere that's really nice I will spend a bit of time there. Equally if there's not much of interest around I can zip onto the Interstate for a bit.
This week I'm going to continue with the GPS side of things, and, most importantly, decide on my travel arrangements to and from the US.
Days to departure: 49
Paydays to departure: Payday today, so I suppose just 1 left.
Funding: $$$Covered by my credit limit$$$
Monday, 14 February 2011
Weekly countdown: 9
In only nine weeks from today I will be boarding a flight to Chicago to start the adventure!
The route is pretty much planned out. I will book a hotel for the first night in Chicago, and I'll pick the bike up the next day. After that, I will book my accommodation from day to day, depending on how far I get and what I see on the way. The only other fixed date I have is to be in San Fransisco on Saturday 7 May to drop the bike off and get the plane home.
So, all that's left is planning what to take! David Badcock, a friend of mine who has done this sort of thing a number of times once told me: Before the trip, make a pile of all the things you want to take with you, and then make a second pile of the money you have for the trip. Now, halve the size of the first pile, and double the size of the second, then you'll be close to what you need. This sounds a bit harsh, but he is the voice of experience, so on this I'll take his word.
I'm planning on taking as little as I can with me. After all, the US is not a backward country, and if I'm desperate for anything I'll be able to get it there, all I need is a credit card! So, other than my riding gear (need to cater for wet weather and for warm), a few t-shirts and changes of shreddies, I only need to take my techy gadgets.
I'll be taking 2 cameras: my Sony A200 DSLR, and Leica C-Lux 2 compact. I'll also be taking my iGotU GPS tracker to geotag everything, and to be able to plot my trip. Then there's the laptop. This is needed to manipulate the photos, update the blog, and make copies of everything, in case I lose them. It'll also come in handy for a quick fix of on-line poker when I have some time to spare.
To navigate on the bike, I'll be taking my Garmin Zumo 550 sat nav. I need to download a new set of maps, as it only has Europe at the moment. I shall spend many a happy hour loading up the routes and points of interest to that!
And, as far as that other pile is concerned, I spent most of yesterday afternoon listing unwanted items on eBay!
Days to departure: 63
Paydays to departure: Still 2
Funding: $$$Fingers crossed that my eBay sales do the business!$$$
The route is pretty much planned out. I will book a hotel for the first night in Chicago, and I'll pick the bike up the next day. After that, I will book my accommodation from day to day, depending on how far I get and what I see on the way. The only other fixed date I have is to be in San Fransisco on Saturday 7 May to drop the bike off and get the plane home.
So, all that's left is planning what to take! David Badcock, a friend of mine who has done this sort of thing a number of times once told me: Before the trip, make a pile of all the things you want to take with you, and then make a second pile of the money you have for the trip. Now, halve the size of the first pile, and double the size of the second, then you'll be close to what you need. This sounds a bit harsh, but he is the voice of experience, so on this I'll take his word.
I'm planning on taking as little as I can with me. After all, the US is not a backward country, and if I'm desperate for anything I'll be able to get it there, all I need is a credit card! So, other than my riding gear (need to cater for wet weather and for warm), a few t-shirts and changes of shreddies, I only need to take my techy gadgets.
I'll be taking 2 cameras: my Sony A200 DSLR, and Leica C-Lux 2 compact. I'll also be taking my iGotU GPS tracker to geotag everything, and to be able to plot my trip. Then there's the laptop. This is needed to manipulate the photos, update the blog, and make copies of everything, in case I lose them. It'll also come in handy for a quick fix of on-line poker when I have some time to spare.
To navigate on the bike, I'll be taking my Garmin Zumo 550 sat nav. I need to download a new set of maps, as it only has Europe at the moment. I shall spend many a happy hour loading up the routes and points of interest to that!
And, as far as that other pile is concerned, I spent most of yesterday afternoon listing unwanted items on eBay!
Days to departure: 63
Paydays to departure: Still 2
Funding: $$$Fingers crossed that my eBay sales do the business!$$$
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