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Messages - Ladyworldcyclist

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16
Routes / Re: Alaska to Argentina
« on: March 22, 2011, 07:05:18 pm »
You will have to go around the Darien Gap in southern Panama.  There are no roads plus there are a lot of bandits hanging around in the jungle. 

17
Routes / Re: Info Required for First Time Southern Tier
« on: March 22, 2011, 07:03:07 pm »
We did the ST way back in 1996.  Started in FL in Jan and arrived in San Diego just in time for tax day.  We took a week long side trip to Big Bend NP plus we visited just about every park along the way.  We hit bad ice storms near Houston and wound up renting a car for a week to wait out the bad weather.  So we would not recommend the middle of winter as a good time.

For some reason the ferry across the Mississippi was not running and we had to hitch with some truckers.  That's not the normal situation, but it could happen again.
 
Water in Texas can be a big issue as some of the towns we went by were basically ghost towns.  The ride up to Davis Observatory was worth the visit, but if you're on a really tight schedule you may want to bypass it.

I agree that when those wind storms hit you can end up completely stalled.  We got stuck in 2 or 3 and wound up having to hold up or make just 4 miles per hour.  One word of warning, when those wind storms hit a lot of sand gets blown around and that can damage your tent.  Take a hotel room.

RE: shipping your bikes.  If you fly British Air they count your bike as your second bag.  So the cost is currently $50/bike in a bike shop bike box.  That's what it was last year but by 2012 that may change.  One small tip for protecting your bike, use those foam pipe insulation tubes you can buy at a hardware store.  These split nicely and wrap around each tube.  Make sure they're well taped in place.  You toss them when you arrive in San Diego and then buy new ones when you're done.  Always use a fork spacer and we also use a plastic piece of pipe to ensure the rear frame dropouts don't get smashed.  Remove your rear derailleur since it will usually be pushed right on the side of the box.  This makes sure it doesn't get bent.  Even still, expect damage.  Every time we take our bikes on a plane they come out of the experience with new scratches and dings.  Last year my frame pump got smashed and I got a big new dent in my downtube.

Just remember, if you're not dirty you're not doing anything.

18
Routes / Resupply on road to Bella Coola, BC
« on: March 22, 2011, 06:42:28 pm »
Has anybody been along the road to Bella Coola, BC lately?  If so, what is the food resupply situation like?  Are the stores reasonably well stocked in summer or should we plan to carry extra?

19
Fred, we bought the 2011 version of City Navigator which includes some 6 million POIs which I'll bet include almost every off route waypoint that ACA has with the exception of perhaps a few bike shops and the more out of the way places.  So I'm tempted to delete the ACA off route waypoints and then combine the routes and then see what I wind up with.  If that's still too much for the Etrex I'll just include off road routes; i.e. Lewis and Clark thru Lolo pass and the GDMBR.

We've been riding ACA routes since 1988 so we're used to not having a GPS so it's no big deal.  It just makes finding services easier.  Even the GDMBR didn't give us any problems with getting lost.  Too bad Garmin put such a dumb limit on their handheld units.

20
Thanks Fred.  What about converting the waypoints to POIs using GPXtoPOI and then merging the many routes so there's just one per map section which would wind up fewer than 50.  Would that work?  I think POIs get written with the maps onto the SD card.

21
GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Getting around Garmin Waypoint limits
« on: March 19, 2011, 10:04:30 pm »
We are planning a long tour that will cover about 1/2 of the Trans Am maps, a couple panels of Lewis and Clark, most of the Great Parks maps, several states of the GDMBR maps, plus the British Columbia portion of the Trans Canada trail.  All of these have GPX files available with hundreds of waypoints and many routes.  The problem is, we are working with a Garmin Etrex Vista CX.  I can easily put the City navigator 2011 maps on an SD card.  But how can I get around the 500 waypoint and 50 route limit?  We won't be carrying a laptop so we can't just load data on the Garmin as we go along.  I don't think this Garmin will read waypoints and routes from the SD card and those limits will really cut down what we can take.  Is there a workaround?

Thanks

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