All in all, everything is going well so far. Breaking the camera for the time-lapse setup was an early disappointment, but at least I'm still having a ton of fun. 700 miles yesterday, 400 today. Here's what's working great:
- My cold weather gear is still holding up! Most of today was in the 50's and 40's and I didn't really have problems. This is pretty key, since it will determine how comfortable I am the last few days of the trip especially. The important thing is that the same temps that were making me miserable before are merely slightly uncomfortable now - so hopefully the worst I encounter this trip will just be *slightly* miserable. Better than always miserable!
- The Blackberry GPS is tracking my location properly this time around, but all day today had problems getting a data signal to upload the data to the tracking site. I'm starting to think it may be a problem with the Blackberry, I'll check it next time I am somewhere I expect I really should have a data signal (like Houston).
- The BGT-31 GPS datalogger is fantastic! No problems with battery life or accuracy so far, very pleased with it. I'll really be able to get some cool data from it.
- I learned from last time that packing/unpacking every day got old fast. This time I organized my gear such that I only need to unpack the backpack to get at my camping gear - thus when I'm in a motel, I can easily get the couple things I need without fuss. Huge win, it made getting out of Las Cruces really fast and easy this morning.
Gotta admit that I10 has been pretty nice so far, relatively empty and comfortable with pretty nice scenery - just so bloody straight! But that's okay, going for distance now, and it's easy to find more comfortable seating positions when you don't have to worry about going around corners! A couple more days of this and I'll definitely be ready to leave the interstate again though.
One cool thing I enjoyed today was drafting behind trucks. They go a lot slower but if you find the right one (I don't know why, but there's a huge difference in the turbulence behind different trucks - some are a total nightmare to be behind) it makes for a fairly placid ride, cuts a lot of the wind and cold. Cruising at 70MPH behind the right truck feels like you're doing 20MPH down a country road.
Anyway, did this for a good 100 or so miles today, usually when I got to around 30-40 miles of gas left and wanted to really stretch it out and take a break - Texas doesn't have "No services for XX miles" signs, really annoying! I've been on stretches of the INTERSTATE that don't have gas stations for nearly 100 miles! It's like being in Europe, bloody weird. I kinda make it a point to gas up any time I see a sign that is like "Town A, 20 miles, Town B 110 miles" though because it probably means no gas until Town B - so far I've been able to time 'em right and turn out ok.
Tomorrow should be warmer according the weather report on the wall here, hope that's true! Good thing I'm not in New York right now, heard they are getting sick snow on the news...
- My cold weather gear is still holding up! Most of today was in the 50's and 40's and I didn't really have problems. This is pretty key, since it will determine how comfortable I am the last few days of the trip especially. The important thing is that the same temps that were making me miserable before are merely slightly uncomfortable now - so hopefully the worst I encounter this trip will just be *slightly* miserable. Better than always miserable!
- The Blackberry GPS is tracking my location properly this time around, but all day today had problems getting a data signal to upload the data to the tracking site. I'm starting to think it may be a problem with the Blackberry, I'll check it next time I am somewhere I expect I really should have a data signal (like Houston).
- The BGT-31 GPS datalogger is fantastic! No problems with battery life or accuracy so far, very pleased with it. I'll really be able to get some cool data from it.
- I learned from last time that packing/unpacking every day got old fast. This time I organized my gear such that I only need to unpack the backpack to get at my camping gear - thus when I'm in a motel, I can easily get the couple things I need without fuss. Huge win, it made getting out of Las Cruces really fast and easy this morning.
Gotta admit that I10 has been pretty nice so far, relatively empty and comfortable with pretty nice scenery - just so bloody straight! But that's okay, going for distance now, and it's easy to find more comfortable seating positions when you don't have to worry about going around corners! A couple more days of this and I'll definitely be ready to leave the interstate again though.
One cool thing I enjoyed today was drafting behind trucks. They go a lot slower but if you find the right one (I don't know why, but there's a huge difference in the turbulence behind different trucks - some are a total nightmare to be behind) it makes for a fairly placid ride, cuts a lot of the wind and cold. Cruising at 70MPH behind the right truck feels like you're doing 20MPH down a country road.
Anyway, did this for a good 100 or so miles today, usually when I got to around 30-40 miles of gas left and wanted to really stretch it out and take a break - Texas doesn't have "No services for XX miles" signs, really annoying! I've been on stretches of the INTERSTATE that don't have gas stations for nearly 100 miles! It's like being in Europe, bloody weird. I kinda make it a point to gas up any time I see a sign that is like "Town A, 20 miles, Town B 110 miles" though because it probably means no gas until Town B - so far I've been able to time 'em right and turn out ok.
Tomorrow should be warmer according the weather report on the wall here, hope that's true! Good thing I'm not in New York right now, heard they are getting sick snow on the news...
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