POLYMASH

I rode the RT from Atlantic Highlands to Port Jervis this last Sunday to experience the last of the fall color.

On the way already it became clear that Atlantic Highlands retains the fall colors later into the season than the rest of New Jersey, heading west and then north the leaves had mostly fallen, but there was enough of a color splash here and there to make up for it… I only stopped at times to snap a picture, but the weather was fantastic for late November, and the ride was fun.

I’m always torn between trying to join up with the “Jersey Shore BMW Riders”, but I’m a little intimidated at the prospect of riding in a group (and messing up somehow), but the biggest concern as a photographer is that when I see something interesting my ensuing behavior is predictably erratic: First I see something visually enticing out of the corner of my eye, then a debate ensues in my aging brain about wether to turn around and take a photograph or not, and finally I may or may not hit the brakes to the imagined dismay of my fortunately absent ride mates.

Besides, this is a two edge sword in another way: If I do turn around, the picture invariably will not be interesting, but if I don’t, I will scold myself over a lost “once in a lifetime” photo op for the rest of the ride. So you can appreciate that I tend to err on the side of worn down brakes and bad pictures…

Having once again planned the route with my trusty bikeroutetoaster.com app, I’ve also recently become aware of a great way to plan a route using google maps directly. In google maps I can modify a route easily to suite me by dragging it onto the roads I’d like to travel… However, the problem has been that once I have a suitable rout, there is no good way to get a google map route converted and downloaded to my (Garmin Zumo) GPS.  Well, now there is a fantastic tool that does just that: MaptoGPX.

Here an excerpt from their site, as well as another useful link to the GPS Visualizer site:

The Google Maps API is great, but it doesn’t have an easy way to export data in GPX format. This bookmarklet is my attempt at a hack to get information out of Google Maps and into GPX, suitable for loading on a GPS.

This bookmarklet can create a GPX file based on driving directions, an address search or a local search. The GPX file will contain a route, a single waypoint, or up to ten waypoints, respectively. The code for extracting waypoints from local search originally came from this page.

I’ve recorded a short screencast to illustrate:

If you’re looking for a utility to display GPX files in Google Maps, I recommend GPS Visualizer.

Once in Port Jervis, it was time to shed some layers of clothing due to the global warming inspired November day, stop for lunch at the Erie Hotel and Restaurant, and then head into squid country to begin the Hawk’s Nest part of the ride… As I was leaving Port Jervis, my Rev’it touring suit, a cherished gift from my father, was drawing some curious looks from the assembled Harley & Chrome Rider crowd. OK, it was almost 70F out, but I figure I’ll be laughing in the rain and 35F degree weather.

About four miles from Port Jervis, the section of New York Route 97 has been frequently used in television commercials and advertisements.  It was interesting to switch from the Harley scene to 100s of sports bikes enjoying Hawk’s Nest in a matter of miles. Curiously most of the squids were parked on the scenic overlooks along the route and not riding, but it could be they were so fast as to simply not register with me, though I’m sure I should have heard the whine of passing engines.

A 30 minute drive from Port Jervis along this scenic road will lead to the oldest wire suspension bridge in the United States and a museum/home of noted author, Zane Grey.

The overall trip was approx 320 miles, a good day out…

Check out the trip as posted on Everytrail.com.  I used HoudahGeo to push GPS tracking data from my motorcycle’s Zumo into the pictures EXIF data, and when uploading the resulting images, the Everytrail site automatically maps them as follows: Atlantic Highlands to Port Jervis

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 4:39 pm and is filed under BMW Motorcycle Rides, General Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.