I can even touch the sky.
Swallowing the colors of the sounds I hear,
Am I just a crazy guy?
You bet.
- Bob Daisley
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| GPS Plotting in Real-Time From My Flight to Australia |
I'll be putting myself under surveillance again on this trip, so if you want to track my position and progress as the kilometers tick by, click the "Where is Shrug" link atop the right column. I can also send and receive text messages via my Garmin satellite communicator. The inbound GPS messaging address is ktm_scott@inreach.garmin.com. The virtual number for texting this account is +1 201-594-7252, but to prevent fraud/spamming, I have to initiate contact with you, or reply to your email message sent to me at the address above before Garmin will deliver your text messages to me. Just how long and from where I will be reachable on the GPS device will depend on the Chinese Communist
Party's persistence and their will to suppress this highly-valuable and
potentially subversive information. 😏 Seriously, they get really picky about mapping data. Remember that my ability to respond
may be delayed, and that I will be 11 hours ahead of Central time while
in Nepal and 14 hours ahead while in Tibet. I have no data/messaging limit, so I invite all messages, but please include your name because the portion of my brain that used to remember such details has
been dormant for decades. Feel free to try it and send me a test message. I will receive it when I power on the Garmin device. Then, I can add your address to my messenger's contact list and there will be no need to include your name after I receive your first message.
When everything works as it should, my trusty ten year-old Garmin inReach SE satellite communicator should collect my GPS position at two-minute intervals, although the upload interval depends on clear line of sight from my motorcycle to the satellites. Each dot on the path lines represents a 2-minute travel interval. Once the map loads, viewers can click a blue dot to see a pop-up window with details of my movement at that point in time. I know it's terribly exciting, but try to remain calm.😏When you zoom in, the lines that define my movement may appear as if I'm cutting corners and zigzagging, but I assure you that I am sticking to the path. Even though I'm a much slower rider these days, I could traverse many corners in two minutes. If it works now like it did on the Oz trip in 2016, readers should be able to view my trip tracks from my window seat when I depart DFW, and as I cross the Atlantic to Paris. I'll kill tracking when I land there and hopefully restart it when I depart Paris for Colombo, and then again to Kathmandu.
The Garmin mapping link (try the local test drives) will connect directly to the Garmin site that hosts my GPS uplink data. There is also a link in the upper right of the this blog's contents column that will open a new browser tab to view the latest tracking map data anytime during my trip. Scroll with your mouse to zoom in once the map appears, then select Aerial from the map types icon in the upper left of the map. If your browser sends a redirect warning, it's legit.
I will be shooting pictures and videos and will try to take copious notes each day, but I don't anticipate having many opportunities to update the blog after I depart Kathmandu. When it comes to Internet access, that region of the world makes my homestead seem like downtown Dallas by comparison. Once I cross the Tibetan border, I am likely to really go dark because the Chinese block most internet access; especially map data Tibet. I'm hoping the Iridium satellite messaging won't be blocked, but we shall see.