New Background Maps For Garmin Users

As if you needed any more reason to gloat, those of you who own Garmin GPS units have yet one additional reason for being glad you do — the new Map Overlay feature just announced for the Colorado, Oregon (200, 300, 400 and 550), and Dakota models.

Unlike the rest of us who are still dependant on the "altruism" of our manufacturers to "get around" to updating our background maps – and of course pay their exhorbitant fees – you can now "update" your maps to any image that you find more useful.

To top it all off, the process uses our favorite free geo-graphic program – Google Earth. And adding insult to our already burdensome Garmin-envy, our other favorite program, GPSvisualizer, is just waiting to make your new-found ability plush with multiple kinds of maps (subject of the next tutorial).

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Map Update: Arizona Trails, West

To continue the endeavor which began last week, I obtained an Arizona Trails West Region (Arizona Trails Backroads Guides) book and typed away at all the descriptions.

Therefore, once again this week, the Arizona Trails master file has been upgraded with completely new descriptions in the Western region. [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Offroading Home: Arizona Trails]

But, it's almost getting too cold to type — my guess is that it'll be time to start migrating soon.

Learn A Little More

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The book Arizona Trails West Region (Arizona Trails Backroads Guides) is an excellent resource to plan an offroad trip in Arizona. Each route is accompanied by turn-by-turn navigational aids going in both directions and photos of sites along the way. If you are going to purchase it, please consider doing so using the links on this page. There will be no extra cost to you, but a portion will go to keeping this site going and the trails coming.

New Trails: Arizona, Northeast

Thanks to a generous benefactor who loaned me their Arizona Trails Northeast Region book, the Arizona Trails master file has been upgraded with new descriptions and several new trails in the Northeast region. [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Offroading Home: Arizona Trails]

All the Arizona Northeast Region trails now have directions to the starting and ending locations, in addition to the standard length, time and months open.

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Entertainment: Hale Centre Theater - "Curtains"

Wow! What a theatrical experience! However… my Tensor Tympani is still in lactic acidosis from the workout.

As soon as the "disclaimer" announcer came on before the curtain went up and was unintelligibly buried behind the over-modulated "background" music — I knew we had drawn the 'punk-rocker' audio man who had blown out his cochlea on heavy-metal.

I just wish that the producer/directors/sound designers (Sally Dietlein/Jennifer Hohl/Dan Morgan) would interject some form of standardization or quality control into their sound design. We go from crack-all-your-fillings in Treasure Island to the magnificent audio of Scarlet Pimpernell and things in-between – all in one Hale Center Theater season.

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Not Gonna' Happen This Year

The one thing that I look most forward to all year has blown up in my face… the annual ride up to Kennecott overlook with my bud Jeff and his kids.

That's what you get, I guess, when you put it off till the fall like we did. The weather turns cold and the kids don't seem to want to go out in it. We've done the ride ever since Herriman became summer snowbird headquarters.

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We Did What?!!!

I didn't think much about it when Mom and Dad were invited for a "drive" a couple of weeks ago by some life-long friends in Ogden.

They returned with the kind of fire in their eyes and the tannish glow to the skin that only being out of the house and outdoors brings. And they effused with blustery tails reminiscent of our old Boy Scout "Snipe hunting" adventures.

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New Area - New Trail

That's right — an entirely new tab on the website navigation bar! "ALL-ELSE" contains a master Google Earth file for all those submissions which don't fit in the other major offroading areas. [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: OffroadingHome/All-Else]

The first offroad track to populate the new master map was submitted by Bernie Cook who recently rode the Cambell Lake Loop ATV/UTV trail in Wyoming.

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Summer Snowbirding: The Fall

The signs of the times are upon us. Our favorite source of produce, Fujiwara's Farmer's Market (on 124th S in Riverton, near I-15) is beginning to fill up with straw bales — an absolute indicator that Halloween is screaming down the path directly at us.

Unfortunately, that also means that our favorite thing to eat – succulent ears of sweet corn – is also coming to an end. The Fujiwara brothers apologize profusely, but what can they do? They've made an almost superhuman effort to keep their coolers stocked with corn in this "down" year for corn due to the prolonged early rains – but, alas, it is not meant to be.

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New Trails: California, Northern Sierra

Continuing the mad rush to return three offroading map books, I have now finished extensive updates to the California: Northern Sierra Region with many new hand-drawn trails from published waypoints and completely updated route descriptions.   [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Offroading Home: California Trails]

Similar to those finished last week, Colorado: North Central, and the week before that, Colorado: Southwest, these trails are through beautiful forested country with significant historical significance.

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New Trails: Colorado North Central Region

Under the gun to see that the person who loaned me the book got it back in time — I continued the all-night vigil and hand entered more than 20 new trails in the Colorado North Central Region. All of the trail description's have also been improved and/or re-done.   [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Colorado Trails]

Take a quick look on over to the website and see my handiwork! With the Southwestern Region done last week and the Front Range Region done last month, almost the entire Colorado map has been upgraded!

Now is probably a good time to explain how/why Offroading Home maps integrate with the written maps in the book: Colorado Trails North Central Region by Peter Massey et. al..

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New Trails: Southwest Colorado

Somewhat like getting hit in the head with a rock, I just got a new book and found that it contained 25 more trails than what it had supplied on disk. That meant a lot of "hand drawing" of track lines and entering of waypoints if I wanted to add it to the master file — which I obviously did. [For a free Google Earth file of this route see: Colorado Trails]

Take a look on over at the web site and navigate to Colorado Trails Southwest Region, and see over 25 new trails and 23 other updated desctiptions, directions and locations.

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Doing GPS: 201 - "From GPS to Google" (Part 3)

The adventure that you planned for weeks has come to fruition and you now have only memories of sights, sounds and smells to give you solace during your work-a-day existence.

But wait, you did remember to turn on your GPS and you have the whole thing down in digital format; but, how do you look at it during your coffee break? Lets plug that thing in, fire up our software and create a Google Earth file that will fly us over the whole trail.

This week we complete our understanding of "GPS Visualizer" and make a shareable KML file which fits our own personal preferences and requirements.

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Jordan Districts - "Silver Crest" Elementary School

Finishing touches are still being put on Jordan School District's new elementary school near Snowbird Headquarters, probably even while the school kids watch longingly out the windows.

Needless to say the traffic pattern around the area has been a nightmare for the past year while they constructed the odd school. Why odd you ask... well, for one thing its an elementary school and it's two story. Not common.

And for another, they plunked it down right in the middle of about the only road into Herriman — hard to believe some money didn't line some pockets for that one!

But, the real oddity is the exorbitant price tag! It seems to me as if the entire school board had no more sense than a couple of adolescent newlyweds who think they absolutely can't live without a house and all the furnishings better than their parents.

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Doing GPS: 105 - "'Visualizing' GPS Data"

What a bumpy ride making this screencast has been. After four tries it was still too long so I decided, yet again, to split discussing a new program - "GPS Visualizer" - into two parts.

'Visualizer' is such a broad, flexible program that putting its explanation into basic, plug-and-play language was nearly impossible. So I developed a basic 'template' of sorts which will allow you to nearly 'fall into' your first file.

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Entertainment: Hale Centre Theater - The Scarlet Pimpernel"

Disport, diversion, entertainment - no matter what you call it, at least the latest production at Hale Center Theater fits the description.

As the house lights dimmed, it was obvious that the child size carousel on the focal point of the circular stage was already stage lit; and with the million dollar stage it was easy to make the whole parquet floor, on which it rested, rotate so "Marguerite" could enter and begin her opening sopranic solo.

At the second verse however, just as the music swelled, the entire stage rising (or audience sinking) to reveal a full size duplicate of the carousel complete with Elizabethan costumed riders, signaled that we were in for a "wild ride" (if only the audio didn't drive us out).

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