Motorcycle Journeys Trip Logs

Tag: trip planning

  • MapSource for US

    I’m not sure what to plan for the US. I would like to hit the national parks in New England particularly the Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park area so I found a list of the best campgrounds in the New England states and added waypoints for the best of those.

    Jean-Francois mentioned an interest in following the Appalachian Trail and sent me a link to a forum thread that discussed a MapSource route. I found the route on it has so many waypoints it’s hard to visualize.  I used the strip map provided on the National Park Service website (http://www.nps.gov/appa/planyourvisit/upload/APPA%20Map.pdf) to add waypoints and then in Topo mapped a route that was cross country (not on roads). I then switched over to City Navigator and found the roads closest to the cross country trail. You can download my Appalchian Trail MapSource file at http://www.motorcycle-journeys.com/current/routes_maps/routes_maps.html

    I have the National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways so I map a route in MapSource for each of their recommended routes in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

    The MapSource file for the New England scenic routes and camping spots is also at http://www.motorcycle-journeys.com/current/routes_maps/routes_maps.html.

  • Side trip to Labrador for JF

    Jean-Francois told me he would like to make a run from Baie Comeau north into Labrador to Churchill Falls. He said it’s deep gravel that I would not like so he will leave me where there is good whale watching to keep me busy while he’s gone.

    I have added it to MapSource and it’s an additional 1035 miles round trip.

    Since I hate to miss out on things I did a little research to see what I could find out about the route and if I might be able to do it. One man described it as a deep gravel road with turns so tight you can see your own tail lights. I’ll stay in Baie Comeau.

    New trip totals for JF:
    Land miles –                           12,198.10
    Water miles (ferry rides) –      694.60
    Total miles –                           12,892.70

  • MapSource for Canada

    It’s ended up being an interesting project to enter the worksheet list into MapSource. I would do a find within MapSource and many of the places didn’t exist so I would have to go to an internet search. Some didn’t come up in an internet search, so I would have to go back to the books and read up on the area and find things on the internet that are located around them. There were a few that I simply couldn’t locate.

    Some the items on the worksheet were general information or duplicates so I ended up with 247 waypoints in the Canadian provinces alone.

    The next step was playing connect the dots with the waypoints in a logical itinerary that would flow.  I have worked at this for about a month and  have 262 waypoints (I have run across more things to add) on 47 routes. I have entered comments for almost all waypoints explaining their importance. A worksheet of the waypoints with comments and coordinates is available at http://motorcycle-journeys.com/current/routes_maps/routes_maps.html.

    Grand totals round trip from Texas:

    Land miles –                           11,163.10
    Water miles (ferry rides) –      694.60
    Total miles –                           11,857.70

    Need I mention how glad I am Jean-Francois is going?

    The Mapsource file can be downloaded at http://www.motorcycle-journeys.com/current/routes_maps/routes_maps.html.

  • Change in start date – end of June

    Jean-Francois called today to tell me he will be delayed 6 weeks in returning to the US. The new date is May 30 so he thinks we should plan on starting the trip the end of June.

    He has decided to buy a new motorcycle and asked me to start searching for a 2006-2008 BMW R1200 GS pr GSA. I’ll send him links that he’ll be able to look at on weekends when he has internet access.

  • Mileage for Newfoundland

    I ran across a website today for a man who did a Newfoundland motorcycle trip. He mentioned it was 1900 miles so I was curious where he started from. It took a while for the realization to dawn the he didn’t mean 1900 miles round trip from his home — he meant 1900 miles on the island of Newfoundland alone.

    I now wonder what the total mileage for this trip is going to come in at.