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: $$$Covered by my credit limit$$$
Monday, 28 February 2011
Monday, 21 February 2011
Weekly Countdown: 8. It's all about the money
The past week has been busy, and I've got some organising done.
Some of my eBay listings ended last night, everything sold, and raised the princely sum of £45 or so. By the time eBay and PayPal take their cut, that will be cut down to less than £40, but it's forty quid for stuff I had no need for, so it comes in handy and gets frees some space at home.
The big dollar items I'm selling were listed for 10 days, so they don't end until Wednesday (an old Garmin Street Pilot III, and a touring screen for my bike that I wasn't happy with). I've got high hopes for them, and might clear close to £100 - and it all goes into the Route 66 fund!
This past week I've been thinking about accomodation on my trip. I've got a good deal on the Crowne Plaza in central Chicago on my first night - $90 sounds good to me anyway, so that's booked. Of course you have to add tax on everything, but even so, it's a nice hotel and very central. That's important as I'll be without transport until I pick up the bike the next day, so I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere.
I also looked at hotels around Laughlin when I'm planning to be there for the River Run, but needless to say, they are in demand, so quite expensive. I might be better off staying in Needles or Kingman.
I looked at hotels in Las Vegas too, and found I could get a room there for $30 per night (Sundsay and Monday night) at the Imperial Palace hotel on the strip, but reviews are not great. Then again, it's just me on my own for 2 nights, and it's better than camping! I'm going to need some cheap hotels on the way to keep the average down to my bugeted $75 per night, so I'm still deciding about that.
I've also ordered the US maps for my Garmin Zumo GPS. At £45 the price has come down quite a lot since I first started looking a couple of years ago - then it was cheaper to buy a GPS over there than buy additional maps! So that's where the money's gone from the tat I sold on eBay this week, so you could say that the maps were free! Next week I start the long but enjoyable task of mapping the route into the GPS mapping software. Can't wait!
Days to departure: 54
Paydays to departure: Still 2
Funding: $$$Desperatley looking for more eBay-able items$$$
Some of my eBay listings ended last night, everything sold, and raised the princely sum of £45 or so. By the time eBay and PayPal take their cut, that will be cut down to less than £40, but it's forty quid for stuff I had no need for, so it comes in handy and gets frees some space at home.
The big dollar items I'm selling were listed for 10 days, so they don't end until Wednesday (an old Garmin Street Pilot III, and a touring screen for my bike that I wasn't happy with). I've got high hopes for them, and might clear close to £100 - and it all goes into the Route 66 fund!
This past week I've been thinking about accomodation on my trip. I've got a good deal on the Crowne Plaza in central Chicago on my first night - $90 sounds good to me anyway, so that's booked. Of course you have to add tax on everything, but even so, it's a nice hotel and very central. That's important as I'll be without transport until I pick up the bike the next day, so I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere.
I also looked at hotels around Laughlin when I'm planning to be there for the River Run, but needless to say, they are in demand, so quite expensive. I might be better off staying in Needles or Kingman.
I looked at hotels in Las Vegas too, and found I could get a room there for $30 per night (Sundsay and Monday night) at the Imperial Palace hotel on the strip, but reviews are not great. Then again, it's just me on my own for 2 nights, and it's better than camping! I'm going to need some cheap hotels on the way to keep the average down to my bugeted $75 per night, so I'm still deciding about that.
I've also ordered the US maps for my Garmin Zumo GPS. At £45 the price has come down quite a lot since I first started looking a couple of years ago - then it was cheaper to buy a GPS over there than buy additional maps! So that's where the money's gone from the tat I sold on eBay this week, so you could say that the maps were free! Next week I start the long but enjoyable task of mapping the route into the GPS mapping software. Can't wait!
Days to departure: 54
Paydays to departure: Still 2
Funding: $$$Desperatley looking for more eBay-able items$$$
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: $$$Fingers crossed that my eBay sales do the business!$$$
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
The deed is done!
There, I've gone and done it. I am now committed (and some say, should be). Today I passed a sizable amount of money to EagleRiders for the bike rental for my trip across America.
So now $3000 lighter, a Harley Davidson Electra Glide is booked for collection at Chicago on April 19th, and together we will travel through 9 states to Santa Monica, California. Then we'll travel up the coast, and eventually will part in San Francisco 18 days later.
So, there we are. Having made the non-refundable payment, the trip is on, there's no going back now!
Days to departure: 68
Paydays to departure: 2
Funding: $$$Less than yesterday!$$$
So now $3000 lighter, a Harley Davidson Electra Glide is booked for collection at Chicago on April 19th, and together we will travel through 9 states to Santa Monica, California. Then we'll travel up the coast, and eventually will part in San Francisco 18 days later.
So, there we are. Having made the non-refundable payment, the trip is on, there's no going back now!
Days to departure: 68
Paydays to departure: 2
Funding: $$$Less than yesterday!$$$
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Back to Plan A ...
OK, so following feed back from some of my Facebook friends (and some of them are actually real friends too!) I have decided to bite the bullet and revert back to my original plan. I feel like a weight has lifted!
So, on April 18th 2011 (yes, less than 3 months left to go), I will board a plane bound for Chicago IL, to start my journey across America to Los Angeles, and then up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Fransisco, about 3000 miles in all.
I'll be following Route 66 (roughly) to LA, with a few side trips to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. Also, purely by luck, I will be passing close to Laughlin NV at the time that the Laughlin River Run is on, so I will be calling in to check that out. This is the infamous event that, in April 2002, saw 2 motorcycle gangs clash, culminating in a shoot out in Harrah's casino, with fatal consequences. Hopefully it won't be that dramatic whilst I'm there!
I've been in contact with EagleRider and managed to negotiate a bit of a discount with them, so this is now the best way to do the trip, on a Harley Davidson Electraglide! I'm going to see if I can get any more discount, and then book the bike in the next couple of days.
Anyway, normal service has now been resumed!
Days to departure: 96
Paydays to departure: 3
Funding: $$$Not enough$$$
So, on April 18th 2011 (yes, less than 3 months left to go), I will board a plane bound for Chicago IL, to start my journey across America to Los Angeles, and then up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Fransisco, about 3000 miles in all.
I'll be following Route 66 (roughly) to LA, with a few side trips to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. Also, purely by luck, I will be passing close to Laughlin NV at the time that the Laughlin River Run is on, so I will be calling in to check that out. This is the infamous event that, in April 2002, saw 2 motorcycle gangs clash, culminating in a shoot out in Harrah's casino, with fatal consequences. Hopefully it won't be that dramatic whilst I'm there!
I've been in contact with EagleRider and managed to negotiate a bit of a discount with them, so this is now the best way to do the trip, on a Harley Davidson Electraglide! I'm going to see if I can get any more discount, and then book the bike in the next couple of days.
Anyway, normal service has now been resumed!
Days to departure: 96
Paydays to departure: 3
Funding: $$$Not enough$$$
Monday, 17 January 2011
I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
Ok, so it's 3 months, nearly, since my last post on here. Since then I have confirmed 3 weeks off from work, and gained acceptance from my family that I'm going on 18th April.
So why haven't I actually started to book things, like the ferry? I've been wondering that myself and have come to the conclusion that, for the last year, my head has been ruling my heart in deciding to tour eastern Europe. However, deep down inside, in my heart of hearts, I really want to do the American thing.
Not sure what to do really. For the difference in cost (about £1500), should I bite the bullet and just do Route 66? What would you do? On the other hand, that sort of money would get me started with a dirt bike, which is what I want to do when I get back. Decisions, decisions. Trouble is, all the time I'm dithering, the ferry price is going up. Got to decide soon..........
So why haven't I actually started to book things, like the ferry? I've been wondering that myself and have come to the conclusion that, for the last year, my head has been ruling my heart in deciding to tour eastern Europe. However, deep down inside, in my heart of hearts, I really want to do the American thing.
Not sure what to do really. For the difference in cost (about £1500), should I bite the bullet and just do Route 66? What would you do? On the other hand, that sort of money would get me started with a dirt bike, which is what I want to do when I get back. Decisions, decisions. Trouble is, all the time I'm dithering, the ferry price is going up. Got to decide soon..........
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Taking shape
A good thing happened the other day - I asked my boss for 3 weeks off in April/May and he said - "OK!"
That's given me the impetus to start things moving again on the planning front. Dates are now almost set, and I will leave the UK on Monday, April 18th, 2011. This is the first day of the school Easter holidays, and as Easter is late next year, my 3 weeks away will also take in the May bank holiday, meaning that I will only have to take 12 days leave for the 3 weeks off. That means I'll have enough leave left for a family holiday later in the year.
My birthday is on 14th April, so I'm expecting SWMBO to arrange a surprise party on the following weekend + it's our wedding anniversary on the 16th, so am not expecting to be in a fit state to leave on Sunday 17th. Hence, leaving on 18th, by which time I should have recovered.
Also, by being away over the 2 week Easter break, SWMBO will only have 1 week when she has to get Nathan to school. A good result all round, although the weather is likely to be slightly colder.....
So, I said the dates are almost set - the only thing I need to do is get final sign-off from SWMBO, then I can book ferry tickets!!! Then there's no backing out.
As for the route, I've decided that East is the way to go, and provisionally, on arrival at Amsterdam I will head off across Holland and Germany stopping in Berlin, then on to Krakow in Poland, then make my way down across many of the former Soviet countries all the way to Istanbul in Turkey. Route back will take in Croatia, Vienna, and Prague along the way.
Still putting the detail together, but it's looking like around 4000miles in total. Should be do-able I think!
Time to departure: 170 days
Number of paydays to departure: 6
Money raised to date: Not enough (but getting there).
BTW, for those who haven't realised, SWMBO = Gillian, my better half.
That's given me the impetus to start things moving again on the planning front. Dates are now almost set, and I will leave the UK on Monday, April 18th, 2011. This is the first day of the school Easter holidays, and as Easter is late next year, my 3 weeks away will also take in the May bank holiday, meaning that I will only have to take 12 days leave for the 3 weeks off. That means I'll have enough leave left for a family holiday later in the year.
My birthday is on 14th April, so I'm expecting SWMBO to arrange a surprise party on the following weekend + it's our wedding anniversary on the 16th, so am not expecting to be in a fit state to leave on Sunday 17th. Hence, leaving on 18th, by which time I should have recovered.
Also, by being away over the 2 week Easter break, SWMBO will only have 1 week when she has to get Nathan to school. A good result all round, although the weather is likely to be slightly colder.....
So, I said the dates are almost set - the only thing I need to do is get final sign-off from SWMBO, then I can book ferry tickets!!! Then there's no backing out.
As for the route, I've decided that East is the way to go, and provisionally, on arrival at Amsterdam I will head off across Holland and Germany stopping in Berlin, then on to Krakow in Poland, then make my way down across many of the former Soviet countries all the way to Istanbul in Turkey. Route back will take in Croatia, Vienna, and Prague along the way.
Still putting the detail together, but it's looking like around 4000miles in total. Should be do-able I think!
Time to departure: 170 days
Number of paydays to departure: 6
Money raised to date: Not enough (but getting there).
BTW, for those who haven't realised, SWMBO = Gillian, my better half.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Winter's on its way
It's been a while since I posted here, and summer has come and gone, all too quickly.
And a busy few months it's been. Plenty of motorcycling. A family holiday in Florida, a new kitchen installed at home (fantastic btw), and last week a business trip to Madrid - a fun city I'd never been to before.
But now the nights are drawing in, in about a month the clocks change and winter will well and truly be here. That's the time that the planning of my trip will really gather pace, and the thought that come spring, I'll be gearing up and ready to leave, will keep me going.
I was talking to SWMBO the other day (well, I have to sometimes), and she suggested that I plan my trip over Easter, as it's quite late next year. That would mean that the 3 weeks would span 3 bank holidays - thus saving me from using quite so much annual leave. I'll consider this as it would be a good idea. I think the stumbling block now could be getting time off work - I'll broach the subject with my boss over the next couple of weeks, but I need to start firming dates up now, as I want to get my ferry tickets booked.
And a busy few months it's been. Plenty of motorcycling. A family holiday in Florida, a new kitchen installed at home (fantastic btw), and last week a business trip to Madrid - a fun city I'd never been to before.
But now the nights are drawing in, in about a month the clocks change and winter will well and truly be here. That's the time that the planning of my trip will really gather pace, and the thought that come spring, I'll be gearing up and ready to leave, will keep me going.
I was talking to SWMBO the other day (well, I have to sometimes), and she suggested that I plan my trip over Easter, as it's quite late next year. That would mean that the 3 weeks would span 3 bank holidays - thus saving me from using quite so much annual leave. I'll consider this as it would be a good idea. I think the stumbling block now could be getting time off work - I'll broach the subject with my boss over the next couple of weeks, but I need to start firming dates up now, as I want to get my ferry tickets booked.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
GPS tracker - first try
I went out with the family yesterday to Kielder Water, so thought I'd try out this GPS logger that I mentioned in my last post. The results are here:
A few tweaks required, but overall very impressed! Geo tagging photos worked well, and seems to accurately place them on the map. I had the log rate set to 15 seconds. This is probably good for walking or cycling, but in a car or on a motor bike, it's not quick enough ( at 60mph, saving your position every 15s means you cover a quarter of a mile in between - not good enough). I did notice that you can set dual rates so for example, every 15s when your speed is below say 30mph, and every second when it's above that.
Warning: Geek Alert:
Another shortcoming is that the software supplied will only geo tag jpeg photos. As I shoot in RAW format on my Sony A200, this is a slight issue. Yesterday, I set the camera to shoot RAW and jpeg, so tagged the jpeg versions. Actually this is not a bad option, that I think I'll use more - it means you have a viewable version of the photo immediately without having to post-process them. However I'd really like the original RAWs to be tagged too. A bit of research, and I found you can do this, using the @trip software to export the track as a GPX file, and then a piece of free software called GeoSetter, which can tag most photo formats (including many RAW formats). Job done!
I think this will be a really good way of tracking my trip, and keeping track of the photos that I take, so a good investment I think!
A few tweaks required, but overall very impressed! Geo tagging photos worked well, and seems to accurately place them on the map. I had the log rate set to 15 seconds. This is probably good for walking or cycling, but in a car or on a motor bike, it's not quick enough ( at 60mph, saving your position every 15s means you cover a quarter of a mile in between - not good enough). I did notice that you can set dual rates so for example, every 15s when your speed is below say 30mph, and every second when it's above that.
Warning: Geek Alert:
Another shortcoming is that the software supplied will only geo tag jpeg photos. As I shoot in RAW format on my Sony A200, this is a slight issue. Yesterday, I set the camera to shoot RAW and jpeg, so tagged the jpeg versions. Actually this is not a bad option, that I think I'll use more - it means you have a viewable version of the photo immediately without having to post-process them. However I'd really like the original RAWs to be tagged too. A bit of research, and I found you can do this, using the @trip software to export the track as a GPX file, and then a piece of free software called GeoSetter, which can tag most photo formats (including many RAW formats). Job done!
I think this will be a really good way of tracking my trip, and keeping track of the photos that I take, so a good investment I think!
Thursday, 3 June 2010
A new toy
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I like my gadgets. And yesterday, I added a new one to my collection! This new toy is an i-gotU GPS tracker. This clever little device saves your location (latitude, longitude and altitude) every so often (say, every 15 seconds), so that a track of your travels is built up.
That's clever enough, but the really clever bit is in the software - so when you're back from your trip, you down load the track to your PC, and the software allows you to publish it in the form of a travel blog using Google maps - can you see where I'm going with this? You'll certainly be able to see where I've been!
Even more clever still, is this: You can use the software to automatically geo-tag photographs you took whilst on the trip (that is add location info into the photo's meta-data), and add them to the map in the right locations!!! This all sounds incredibly cool to someone as geeky as me, who happens to be going on a long trip. If it works as well as promised it'll be ideal for helping to keep a record of the Trip for posterity, and let family and friends know where he is whilst he's away.
I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but will over the weekend, and I'll report back here!
That's clever enough, but the really clever bit is in the software - so when you're back from your trip, you down load the track to your PC, and the software allows you to publish it in the form of a travel blog using Google maps - can you see where I'm going with this? You'll certainly be able to see where I've been!
Even more clever still, is this: You can use the software to automatically geo-tag photographs you took whilst on the trip (that is add location info into the photo's meta-data), and add them to the map in the right locations!!! This all sounds incredibly cool to someone as geeky as me, who happens to be going on a long trip. If it works as well as promised it'll be ideal for helping to keep a record of the Trip for posterity, and let family and friends know where he is whilst he's away.
I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but will over the weekend, and I'll report back here!
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