Routing from hell

This evening (6/30) Karan and I spent over 2.5 hours on routing days 5 and six on the GPS and the paper map. In MapSource, the easiest way to route is search the towns in order, add them to the route and go to the next town. I just found out there is a boatload of Egg's, Au's and almost every other little town you can think of. Mapsource will show the state or province of the town, but that does us little good, since it doesn't show up on the paper map. Also Saint might show up as St.,Sankt, or any other version they feel like. I'm thinking the hundred bucks I spent on the Euro version of MapSource will be well worth it when we are wandering around the mountains.

Making new friends

Edelweiss sent a list of the tour participants out in our tour package a few weeks back. The list had emails on it, and I thought about reaching out to some of the group.

This afternoon, I got beat to the punch. Eric Salin from Montreal sent out an email saying hi to everyone. He's already had responses from Bob Dale in Toronto and Russ Chan from Oakville, CA.

This will add a lot to the trip to know what others are looking to get out of the trip and we'll know a little something about each other before we get there. Kind of adds a little to the fun factor too, I've never hung out with Canadians that I didn't have a hell of a good time.

More Routing, Shoei Helmet

KK and I have been working this afternoon (6/25) on getting the maps marked and the GPS routes built in MapSource. It's getting highly complicated. Some of the points Edelweiss puts on the tour route are just tourist attractions that don't show on the maps or on the software. Plus, there are multiple towns of the same names. You can build a route with a small town as a routing point and all of the sudden the route goes a long way out of the area. You can tell when the mileage spikes. After day one, there are options on the routes you can take. Route 1 is the shorter, more stops, more culture. Route 2 will be more mileage, more seat time. I'm sure we'll sample either based on the guides recommendations.

On Monday, my Shoei helmet came in from MotorcycleGear.com (formerly NewEnough in Shallowater). Putting on a Shoei's like the first time you slept on sheets with a high thread count. It's nice. I installed the Sena and it went together nicely. I took it to Damron's this morning to get the opinions of the consigliere (a mafia term for the smart guys). Jim Davidson and Callum McCasland are helping us

out on the trip with some GPS mounts that should fit on the GS. Jim's loaning us some helmet carriers, MotorcycleGear.com has them on terminal backorder, and we can't get any. We'll carry the helmets with us. No telling what would happen in the luggage compartment.

TiVo Desktop

We recently upgraded our cable box to a TiVo with Suddenlink. I like the TiVo a lot better than the old box.
Recently TiVo came out with a product called TiVo Desktop plus that allows you to move items recorded on your TiVo to your desktop or laptop computer. Once they are one your computer, you can convert them to different formats for portable devices like IPads and smart phones.
I've converted a couple of movies and moved them to my Sony PSP go so we can watch them on the plane. LifeTime has a big Nora Roberts marathon coming on Sunday, so I've got the TiVo set to catch all of that for Karan, she's a fan of that kind of stuff. Once they are stored and converted I can move them over to her IPad, which is kind of cool.

https://www3.tivo.com/store/accessories-software.do?WT.mc_id=PS2005&gclid=CMmflpC1wKkCFYxL2godNAnLfA

Bluetooth Headsets

The Sena Bluetooth headsets KK let me order for Father's Day came in yesterday, and I've had time to charge them and install them in her helmet. I ordered them from RocketMoto and they are very slick. http://www.rocketmoto.com/index.php/brands/sena-bluetooth/smh10-dual-pack.html

We both use custom earplugs from EAR Inc.( http://www.earinc.com/p2-music-competition.php) so I ordered the baseplate for the headsets that you can plug in the earplugs. The setup was easy to put in the helmet. I am going to order a new Shoei next week, so I put an extra plate on my old HJC helmet that I use when I ride the dual sport Suzuki. We easily paired the two helmets and talked on the intercom and they paired with my droid. You can listen to music from the smart phone and switch over to the intercom to talk. The controls are big and easy to use so they won't be a distraction when riding.

Rex is going to order a set so we'll all have the same set up. You can pair up to four headsets, but only have a conversation with one at a time. We'll have to figure out a signal system so we can let each other know when we want to talk.

Planning the routes

I built the Day 1 route, Erding to Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber in MapSource and imported it to Google Earth for the image.

Everyone rides the same route on day 1. The following days you can choose the short route and see the sites, or the long route and have a more active ride.
The guide calls attention to a lot of historic sites.

Less than a month away

We are less than a month away, and already things are starting to get moving. Edelweiss sent an additional package with a lot more info. It had maps and tour guide books with a lot of information. I'll do a future post with the cities and routes in the near future.

I ordered a set of Bluetooth headsets from RocketMoto yesterday, the Sena SMH10. This should be a neat setup. They provide intercom and and any other audio source that's Bluetooth. MP3, cell, and so on. RocketMoto's service is outstanding, they shipped same day, and they gave me a nice discount for being on the AdvRider board.