I don't know how many of you had conversations with Fred Hiltz, but I'm sure all have benefited from his presence as a moderator on the forum -- in this discussion area in particular -- and I wanted to let you know that he has passed away from a long fought illness.
In 2002, Fred volunteered to be part of the then-new GPS waypoint project. (blog post:
http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/11/meet-fred-hiltz-routes-mapping.html) His support was invaluable. He established naming conventions, wrote user and admin guides and generally walked us through the process. The original round of waypoints for the entire route network were created by him.
He then extended his volunteer time and became a forum moderator helping us keep the spam-bots in check and answering questions from his deep well of bicycle travel experiences. He was most active in the GPS Discussion helping countless cyclists get their GPS units up and running, but also chimed in the General Discussion and Routes areas regularly.
He was the Adventure Cycling Volunteer of the Year in 2008 (
http://www.adventurecycling.org/news/20081106.cfm?use=web) and was a Life Member. He will be missed.
There is to be a Circle of Remembrance for him in his community on April 20. If you would like to express your gratitude for his efforts, I will collect and share them with his widow, Ann.
.Jennifer.
