DennyG

Second! Great!! Great!!! I'm thinking of printing out the "south from Big Springs" shot and taping it to my windshield for garage sitting on rainy days. Superb stuff.

That sounds like exactly the "correct" behavior. A bit better than hoped for, actually. It's kind of funny - and another example of "one size doesn't fit all" - that some of the things you're discounting are what I find most attractive in the PDA approach. I'd love to have a route that I've carefully crafted with SA faithfully read back to me as I follow it. "Faithfully" is the key word here. The SA+Quest combination usually does a tolerable job but it can be extremely irritating when it doesn't.

Not exactly. Electronics are no nearer perfection than humans - just quicker at some stuff some times. There are, you know, stories of people driving off the road because their navigation system said "turn here". Can I assume that we will soon have photos of the new GPS taken with the new camera?

Heck you're almost there. Nothing more required but time & money.

There are maps reproduced in the Clark/Meeks book from the 1925 PPOO guide and maps at ppoo.org (which Bucfan mentioned) from 1926. Whereas the Dixie Highway followed scads of north-south roads simultaneous, the PPOO followed scads of east-west routes one at a time.

I was aware of the maps at FHWA but apparently hadn't looked at them too closely. Since later maps (that I'm slightly more familiar with:-) show the PPOO going through Crawsfordsville, IN, and Danville, IL (i.e., US-136), your Chrisman comment at first made me go "Huh?". But it was just one of the many reroutings that had people calling it "a highway that couldn't make up its mind". I've just acquired a recently published book called "Call of the Road - The Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway" that I really have some mixed feelings about. Anna Clark put it together based on the notes of Dr. Harold Meeks. Meeks wrote a book on the Yellowstone Trail which I don't own but believe is a pretty good work. Meeks died before he could finish his planned PPOO book and Clark has essentially published his notes for it. I certainly appreciate the notes being available but can't help feeling the $32 price tag for the 104 page spiral bound book is a bit high. I know it's a small audience and Clark may be just covering her costs but the price itself will help limit the audience and the quality of the book doesn't seem to justify it. It contains quite a few pictures and many are in color. It's not a glossy photo book so the pictures have that "ink jet" look although I imagine the printing method is actually something a bit above that. But what seems most aggravating and unnecessary is that some photos are merely stretched or scrunched to fit a space. Clark, or who ever did the photo editing, seems unaware of the concept of cropping so when a rectangular photo is to go into a square space, there's a good chance one dimension will just be changed to accomplish it. I'm from Darke County, Ohio, and see the Annie Oakley statue pictured in the book on a regular basis. The short plump Annie in the book is kind of amusing but it ain't Annie.

I saw the news about the expiring exemption but not the campaign to keep it going. I've long wanted to ride her and considered splurging on a three nighter right before the Tall Stacks Festival here last year. I talked myself out of it and felt a major twinge of regret the instant I read the first hint that she might be retired. If she isn't saved, it's unlikely there will be any bargain cruises during her final months. I've never been on board but I've seen her many times in port or passing on the river. She's a beauty. Guess I better get over to http://www.save-the-delta-queen.org/ to see what I can do.

For several years my lone vehicle was a "conversion" van. I use quotation marks because I'm the guy who did the conversion which was nothing more than paneling, insulation, and a bed. The refrigerator was an Igloo cooler and the stove was a Coleman. It was comfortable enough for lots of camping trips and even one California trip. But that was in my expressway driving days and I never thought I'd like to drive anything bigger and the 13 MPG was part of the reason. I have thought of something smaller. Maybe a mini-pickup with a small "Travels with Charlie" style addition. I was run out of more than one parking lot with the van and I'd guess the amount of free overnight parking is even less today. Another guess is that the bigger the vehicle, the scarcer the parking. But I asked for input and I ought to be a little more open minded if I expect to get any more. I'll be working on that.

Woooo Hoooo!! This is cool. Jennifer, you've pointed me to something really neat. Now, I've never had any desire to place photos on a Flickr map but I have had occasion to wonder just where a photo was taken. I usually have the GPS on and logging enabled but I rarely use the logs. I have uploaded logs to help locate a photo but my methods have been crude techniques like looking for the place where I turned around or a jog that indicates where I pulled off the road. Not too convenient or reliable. I have just downloaded a free piece of software called Location Stamper from wwmx.org. Then I: uploaded the current logs from my GPS to Garmin MapSource exported yesterday's log in GPX format (a standard) read the GPX file into Location Stamper selected, in Location Stamper, a photo taken yesterday grinned happily as the software wrote the location into the photo's exif data And until today I didn't even know it was possible.

Since I don't own a BT-20 I could be completely wrong but I believe that it, like the LT-20, is simply a GPS receiver with no storage capability. Maintaining tracks would be a function of the software it is feeding. DeLorme SA certainly does this so it seems likely that the DeLorme PDA software does but I've paced no bets either way. Now about this geotagging thing. I don't know how I've missed it but I have - completely. (Kind of a Colbert/Lincoln Highway thing, I guess.) There are rumored to be programs around that will add geotags to a photo's exif data but the first one I've tried (locr) seems to have a little trouble running. I'll get back to you on that. Jennifer, I'd welcome any leads you may have for geotagging software.

Welcome aboard, Kevin. I'm going to take this opportunity to ask for a brief list of pros & cons on RV travel versus the motel kind. In a couple of years I hope to have some more time to spend on roads somewhere and a small RV might be a possibility if there are real advantages to it. I'll admit to being a little prejudiced against it since the idea that I couldn't follow virtually any paved road between any two points seems a big negative. I've told myself that higher fuel costs & park rentals would approach motel costs but I've no facts to support that. I don't think I'd like RVing but I don't really know. I guess what I'm asking is for a few "Why I like my RV" points.

I'm certainly glad you didn't let all the trumpet blowing scare you away. Welcome.

Great job by Michael. I'm sure that sold a few books and will get some folks off of the interstate for a mile or two.

Lincoln Highway? Dayton? They must be from an obscure Dixie-Lincoln connecter. Aww, we know what you meant. That museum sounds like a "gotta see" but, of course, I gotta get there first.

Three's definitely a charm for this thread. I remember it when it first started in August of last year. I know I at least skimmed the article that first post pointed to but I somehow missed the link to us89society.org and more. Then it stirred again in March and I started off to read the NG article but got distracted (I guess). I did read all the forum posts but didn't grasp the magnitude of Brian's project then. Today I read the online PDF and it finally clicked. This was the same US-89 that I enjoy so much in Arizona. Of course, I knew that at some level last August and again in March but it wasn't on the right level. Tonight I visited and joined the US Route 89 Appreciation Society. I've still got to finish that National Geographic article but this time I won't fail. I know I have to wait for Brian's mile by mile project but it won't be easy. What a tease that PDF is.

I've long known that I needed to get more time in the northwest USA and trip reports like this are strong reminders why. Someday.

Something in these posts, but I'm not sure what, just triggered this thought about GPS. It's not just about routing. For years I used a unit (Garmin GPS III) that had no routing capability. If necessary, I could use it to feed routing software (e.g., SA, S&T) on a laptop but all by itself it was a valuable self positioning atlas and a great landmark locater. Admittedly the screen size makes the pages in that atlas kind of small but the "you are here" point is automatically marked on a map that you can scroll and zoom. Some roadside attractions may be known to the GPS but not some of the cooler ones. Say, for example, you think you might someday be in the neighborhood of an early nineteenth century roadside grave. Just plug in the coordinates (N 40 30.795, W 83 0.998) and if you do happen to be roaming the area finding the marvelous landmark will be easy. Your Rand McNally won't do that for you.

I think we've clearly demonstrated why one size doesn't fit all. Both Garmin & DeLorme (& Microsoft & Magellan & ABunchOfOtherFolks) have good maps so yes, the Quest has plenty of both town & country detail provided the appropriate maps are loaded. I'm confident the same is true of other purpose built units (including the Quest II which has all maps preloaded). Calling operation of any of the units "intuitive" is probably being a bit generous but purpose built units will generally be easier to use in a car than a laptop or (I'm guessing here) a PDA. They will have things like dedicated buttons & high contrast screens and won't have things like full keyboards.

Yes. As you approach the boundary large dragons rise up and will, presumably, devour anyone daring to cross. I've always turned back. Sorry. Seriously, that's a real concern and I don't know the answer. Some comments I've seen on using a Palm with the GPS & software Palm offers (made by Tom Tom) indicate that you can't navigate across map boundaries even if maps on both sides of the boundary are loaded. That's pretty grim. In the case of the Quest (and other Garmin units) there is a built in base map of major roads. Navigation is seamless between all loaded detail maps and the base map. You can load details for just New York City and San Francisco and plot a course from Times Square to the Golden Gate. All streets would be available within the two cities but only expressways and the like would be available between them. My guess is that the Palm with the DeLorme software is somewhere between. I can't imagine DeLorme not supporting navigation between all contiguous maps but, unless there is some base map that I'm unaware of, there would be no way to navigate between disjoint maps. This is something you could test, up to a point, with what you have. Load a couple of contiguous maps and then a couple far far away. First off, it's possible it won't even let you do that and only supports the loading of one contiguous area. If it does let you load them, try plotting routes between various points and see what happens. Another test would be to use the desktop version to plot a route that runs outside of areas loaded into the Palm and see what happens when you download the route.

There is a "Handheld Export" tab in SA that appears to allow map segments to be selected for downloading to the PDA. This seems quite similar to the way I select maps in Garmin's MapSource for output to the Quest. I assume there is some software included with SA that is installed on the PDA. I guess I have it but, having no PDA, didn't pay much attention. The EMTAC 4.0 is interesting but I don't see any features that set it apart. I bet you could preload all the DeLorme maps you want on a $10 SD card. And they'd be...ah... DeLorme maps - familiar and shared with your desktop/laptop. That Seidio device is rather intriguing. It seems to address the mounting, power, and speaker issues. It includes no maps or software but I'm certain that it would work with DeLorme. Already having the PDA does allow saving some money in putting together a "system" but maybe not as much as it should. Each of the GPS units you've mentioned are in the $150 range and each has its own cons (e.g., the BT-20 relies on the PDA speaker, the EMTAC introduces different maps, the Seidio is tied to the car). Apparently Palm offers its own product (3207NA GPS Adapter Kit), too. Even though it includes maps & software, it likely would work with DeLorme. The EMTAC unit probably would, too. In looking for the reviews you mentioned (I didn't find them but didn't try too hard, either.) I learned that Amazon has some factory remanufactured Quest units for $190 (new units are $366). This is clearly not the ultimate GPS but it works for me. Some negatives people with other units have mentioned are screen size (it's just 2.2x1.5), lack of street names in spoken directions, need to download maps, and no touch screen. There are certainly others. With the exception of spoken street names, each of those I've mentioned is somewhat based on personal preference. For example, the small screen size makes it less intrusive in the car (My vehicles do not have huge cockpits.) and allows me to mark the location and slip the unit in my pocket when parking the car and hastily heading into a crowd. Don't think that hasn't saved me more than once. For me, the single negative is the slight discrepancies between the Garmin & DeLorme maps. Garmin does have their own routing software and using it would solve that problem. But I consider the Garmin software rather weak so I've chosen what is, to me, the lesser of the two evils. My one current complaint wouldn't exist in a setup using DeLorme software on a PDA but I'd probably have others. There is no universally perfect solution. I suggest listing the features you'd like in order of importance. Then try to find a solution that delivers "gotta haves" at a price you're willing to pay. If it happens to cover some "kinda wants" that's a bonus. Ah, yes. But then, you have one of those cars with a roof. Jennifer, since you already have the DeLorme software and the PDA, why not go ahead and install it and download some maps. You can drive around pretending you have GPS and it will answer some of the questions without spending any money.

You're supposed to be traveling with a navigator - not a passenger. I've looked at online descriptions of the Palm TX & the BT-20 and that actually sounds like it might be a good setup. Questions I have are: Mobile power for the TX (The BT-20 includes a 12 VDC adapter) Voice output for turns, etc. Outdoor visibility (My lap top is almost unreadable) Operability for driver (e.g., zoom, pan, find. The Quest does this well.) If the answers were good, it might be a worthy replacement for the Quest. Of course, that won't happen for awhile and by then there will be a whole new catalog.

I've been hearing about Clearview for a long time and I guess I've seen some of it but I sure didn't notice it at the time. That probably means they've done a good job of keeping it from traumatizing us who aren't all that observant when it come to sign fonts. But now let me assist mobilene in veering off topic. I say assist because he's the one who posted a link to a page that is maintained by Richard Moeur and which has a link to Richard's personal site at it's bottom. If you follow that link, you'll find some more links including one called "Our Big Road Trips". Richard is a Practicing Traffic Engineer (so says his signature) who posts now and then on the Route 66 Yahoo group. He and his wife collaborate on reporting road trips via email and a picture of the day. Those emails then become the trip reports accessed via "Our Big Road Trips". You would probably enjoy the trip reports and Richard can probably tell you plenty about Clearview, too. And remember - mobilene started it.

Not exactly... I have an LT-20 which is the USB only (no Blue Tooth) version and I have DeLorme SA 2008. I do not have a PDA. In the car, I normally use a Garmin Quest and bought the LT-20 when I upgraded from SA 2006 to SA 2008 and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse - less than $30 for the GPS. I've used it a couple of times with my laptop and was quite pleased with it. The Garman Quest is extremely practical in the car but there can be some translation problems in transferring carefully prepared SA 2008 routes to it from the laptop. There have been two occasions where I couldn't sort things out myself and really wanted follow the SA 2008 route so I fired up the laptop+LT-20 combination. It worked great but it's mighty awkward for a crew of one. The PDA would solve some of the awkwardness and, since it's using DeLorme maps and software, should not have any of the translation issues I see with the Garmin. I doubt that in car visibility and operability are quite as good as a purpose designed unit like the Quest but both are probably much better than the laptop.

"In sight, it must be right." Grill behind the counter "diner style", food cooked to order, real (they got ice-cream in 'em) malts & shakes. http://www.steaknshake.com/

Most excellent photos.