----------------------

Friday, 22 August -

This morning I contacted Garmin Tech Support about my problems with the new Montana GPS. The Garmin Express program on my laptop was supposed to have offered me the opportunity to update my maps one time. The City Navigator North America NT maps on the distribution disk are 2014.10 and the latest version is 2015.20 as of earlier this month.
After checking a few things the tech asked if I have TWO Montanas and another time asked if I had two accounts. It turns out there are two records for the same serial number, apparently caused by all the problems I had during the registration and map installation processes the other day. One of the units has the North America maps attached, the other doesn’t. After trying a few things the tech said she’d have to get the Software team involved and switched me to another tech. This guy went through a lot of double-checking and said he was successful in deleting one of the records but it still would not recognize the maps for my unit--- even though they are loaded on it. In the end all he could do is open a ticket for the IT group, whoever that is and turnaround time will be a few days to a few weeks, depending on how complex the problem turns out to be. Thank goodness the maps I already have in the unit are only a year old.... I’m good for now and can wait out the fix without an impact to our plans.
After hanging up with the techs I worked with the GPS for a few hours to set up two profiles and customize them to Automotive and Hiking uses. Now I use it to drive to a trailhead and simply change profiles to switch from road maps and tools to hiking maps and toolset.
I also wrote up a set of notes on what has been happening with the GPS and the changes I’ve made in case I need them in the future.
That afternoon I drove to the gym and did my weights-and-elliptical circuit. I did the 3 miles on the elliptical in 25:24 which I see is one second quicker than last time. I felt like I was struggling so was surprised to see it turned out that well.
That evening we watched the first two episodes of season five of ‘Southland’.

----------------------

Thursday, 21 August -

We had an afternoon planned together and I wanted a motorcycle ride so I rode the Thruxton in to Starbucks this morning for a coffee and Twitter-fest (reading, not tweeting!). Afterwards, I went to the local Best Buy to check out the form-factor of a Garmin dash cam. It’s small enough but I don’t know what I’d do about the power feed. If I plug it in to the cigar lighter receptacle, I’d have to be careful to pull the plug whenever I park since that receptacle is always powered (unlike more modern cars). Also, I park the van pointed toward the sun here at home and I’d think that would be bad for the unit. And I sure don’t want to be messing with it each time I drive. The whole point of a dashcam is to have something that automatically turns on and off with the vehicle ignition switch and remains in place all the time. I’ll have to give that some more thought.
I then headed home and worked a bit on the web until lunch time. We then drove up to Mom and Dad’s apartment to work on a few small problems for them. Dad then made supper for us.
That evening we watched a ‘The Killing’ episode-- ‘Super 8’.

--------------------

Wednesday, 20 August -

This morning I mowed the lower section of our lawn in about an hour. Though the grass was still a little wet I started early to have maximum shade on this very humid day.
Labashi was using her laptop today so I could only get a few minutes to check whether the online map-management software recognizes the mapset I installed yesterday. It does not so I’ll have to call Garmin Tech Support when I can borrow Labashi’s laptop. (I have to use her laptop because mine has an older operating system and doesn’t support Garmin Express).
After lunch I set the GPS up in Labashi’s car and drove in to Starbucks to pick up some Doubleshots and see how the GPS does. I changed the mechanical-sounding voice (‘American Jill’) to the less-capable but better sounding ‘American Michelle’. The former sounds robotic because it has speech-generation of street names (‘turn left at Main Street’) while the latter merely says ‘turn left’. I was disappointed to see the maps do not yet know of the north York Starbucks though it has been open for quite some time. Also, I had to turn the volume up to 100% to have a loud-enough voice from the speakers with the car windows down.
From Starbucks I drove to Rocky Ridge Park for my walk. Though today was a sticky day, there was a light wind so the mid-80’s day wasn’t bad. I jogged about a mile of the route and lowered my time another four minutes from last time-- now 1:30:30.
That evening we watched few innings of the Little League World Series to watch Mo Ne Davis pitch.
We also watched an episode of ‘The Killing’.

---------------------

Tuesday, 19 August -

After breakfast with Orat and Lucy, Labashi and I headed home. We had a beautiful sunny day for our drive and listened to ‘This American Life’ episodes as we drove.
By Williamsport we were ready for an early lunch. We used the old GPS to find a Wendy’s but it had been converted to a local restaurant. In trying to get back to US15, we ran onto an upscale bar-be-que restaurant-- Bootleg BBQ--- and had lunch there.
We made it home by 1430 and had the van unloaded in about half an hour. Weather was MUCH stickier here so we took it easy for a few hours.
After cooling off, I went to work on the new GPS and managed to get the City Navigator mapset loaded in about an hour. I then called the shop where I had bought the GPS about two problems-- the guarantee certificate had the wrong serial number and the maps were out of date. The shop owner assured me there was no problem with the incorrect serial number and referred me to Garmin Tech Support on the latter. I connected with Tech Support easily and learned I can get the latest maps once their server sees I’ve loaded the older maps on my unit. For some reason there’s a delay in that process. I’ll have to check again tomorrow and if it doesn’t show the updated record by then I’ll have to call Tech Support again. Once the update is reccorded at Garmin, the Garmin Express app should recognize the fact that my maps are updated and offer me the opportunity to update.
After supper I mowed for an hour and finished the front lawn. We then watched the last episode of Southland Season Four on DVD and an episode of ‘The Killing’ on Netflix Instant.

----------------------

Monday, 18 August-

Today we spent a couple of hours getting ready and then went geocaching with the grandkids. We did pretty well. We found seven of eight caches and only missed the other because we didn’t want to go so far off trail into the thick weeds.
Late in the day we drove to a local pizza shop in Canandaigua for supper with the extended family.

--------------------

Sunday, 17 August -

This morning we drove from our freebie campsite at Sugar Hill State Forest to Orat’s home outside Rochester. The drive up through the lakes was a beauty.
We made it to Orat’s by 1000 and spent the rest of the morning chatting around the kitchen table. Labashi then went off with the grandkids to make movies. Orat and I continued catching up with family news.
After supper most of the group played Chatter Matters but I spent the time on the web-- I’m not much of a game player.

---------------------

Saturday, 16 August -

Today called the post office to see if I could put a hold on mail delivery of my GPS coming in from California. We were planning to leave mid-afternoon and the tracking app says the package was in Harrisburg this morning. I didn’t want it sitting out while we’re away for the weekend.
To my surprise, the post office lady checked and found the package had arrived and was about to be put out for delivery. I rushed over and picked it up and began working with it, suddenly hoping I’d be able to use it this weekend.
Unfortunately, I had problem after problem and just kept getting more and more frustrated. I have not seen a set of applications so badly lacking in integration. One app led me through a firmware update and declared success. But when I went to load maps, that app told me the unit’s firmware is out of date. And told me my brand new maps are a year out of date and should be updated (after I had specifically asked the seller about the currency of the maps and had been assured they’re the latest).
As I started to load the map DVD to the laptop, it told me this process would take 25 minutes, then every few seconds updated that figure until it said the installation would take four hours and 37 minutes. Since we’d be leaving before that today, I thought I’d cancel and was about to do so. But suddenly the counter went to 50 minutes, then 25, then 10, then finished, all within about three minutes of telling me it was going to take four hours and 37 minutes.
The Unlock Maps function told me to connect my GPS to the laptop and look for it to show up as an external drive to the laptop. Then it asked for the serial number. Which is under the battery. There was no cancellation function. I unmounted the external drive but the display on the GPS said it was still connected. After removing the batteries to get the serial number (and no, it wasn’t on the box) I started again but now the app couldn’t find the unit for several tries.
I eventually got through that and found out how to load the maps about an hour before our scheduled departure. But the loader app then said: “This may take hours, do you want to proceed?” and I abandoned the effort until my return.
We left the house around 1400 and headed north on a beautiful summer’s day. Three hours later we were nearing our goal for the night, a state forest campsite I had visited two years ago. Unfortunately, the waypoint for it was in my old, crashed GPS. I had looked at the roads to it on Google Maps last night but had failed to record a GPS position. That meant we were looking for a turnoff which may or may not be signed. As it turns out, the turnoff is not signed and we missed it.
However, we then blundered upon a sign to another state forest and I knew that one. By seven we were in a freebie campsite in Sugar Hill State Forest and it was just starting to rain.
The rain didn’t last long but we made and ate supper in the van. I then spent the evening catching up the blog and Labashi read. Ah, Wilderness!

---------------------

Friday, 15 August -

Today I worked all day to finish the research and writeup on the history of my great-great-grandfather’s military unit. At times I felt I was getting overwhelmed with the detail but by the end of the day I was able to send it out.
No gym today-- resting from yesterday’s push.
That evening we watched ‘Southland’ 4, disc 3 episodes one and two.

----------------------

Thursday, 14 August -

I woke very early and decided to update the software on the laptop and iPad. That went surprisingly easy.
I then spent the next few hours researching prices on the Garmin Montana GPS and put in an order that afternoon. I decided to go with a refurbished unit and was lucky enough to get discounts for the maps and automotive mount so I was happy with the order.
I rode the Thruxton over to Rocky Ridge and stepped up the pace on my end-to-end route. 1:34 today!
That evening we watched ‘Southland’ 4 disc 2 episodes.

-----------------------

Wednesday, 13 August -

Today I got around to painting the electrical service box on the end of the house. It’s exposed to the hot sun and over the years had faded and now started to rust. I had a nice Winter Gray paint leftover from another project. With a few minutes of sanding, cleaning, and taping off, I had it prepped in about 20 minutes and put on two coats of paint.
That afternoon I rode over to the gym for a 10-minutes-per-station circuit.
That evening we watched the next two episodes of ‘The Killing.

----------------------

Tuesday, 12 August -

Today was a rainy day for a change. I got back to my research on great-great-grandDad’s Civil War unit and then spent a couple of hours researching and writing an email to a fellow travel-van fanatic we met at Lake Erie earlier this summer. We’re trying to come up with some ideas on a place to meet for a weekend get-together.
That evening Labashi and I started a new TV series--- ‘The Killing’. After watching the pilot, I think we’re in for the long haul.

---------------------

Monday, 11 August -

This morning I set up the extension ladder and cleaned out the gutters on the house. They tend to fill with needles from our pines and I need to get up there three or four times a year to clear them out, hopefully in advance of a big rain.
While looking about up there I noticed one window frame needed work so spent the rest of the day scraping, repairing cracks with plastic wood, priming and painting. I finished up about an hour before a fairly strong downpour started but the paint was dry enough to handle it.
That evening we watched ‘Southland’ 4:4-5.

---------------------

Sunday, 10 August -

This morning we drove in to Doylesburg to the Catholic church. This one had burned down a few years ago and this was our first chance to get back to see the new one. We were out taking photos of cemetary stones when a couple came by to work on the church. We were invited in to see the interior and enjoyed every minute of it. The reconstruction is simple and in its own way even more impressive than a heavily-decorated one.
We then drove on across the Cross Road to see the farm where my mother grew up and I spent several happy summer vacations with my grandparents.
We then visited the Path Valley Cemetary to visit stones of several relatives before crossing the mountain to the turnpike’s Blue Mountain interchange and a quick ride home.
Later in the day I rode the Thruxton in to Starbucks and circled around through two vintage car shows in the parking lots of Quaker Steak and Lube in York and Iggy Bops in Manchester. It was a perfect evening for just riding and looking at the classics.
That evening we watched three eps of ‘Southland’ -season four.

----------------------

Saturday, 9 August -

Today I wanted to get back out to the state forest for just a quick overnight with Labashi. We drove up to the Tuscarora State Forest and spent a few hours cruising the gravel roads before going to Fowler Hollow State Park for our campsite. We were very surprised to find all the drive-in campsites filled and most of the walk-in ones taken.
We parked Mocha Joe at a picnic site and went for a walk. We hiked back the Fowler Hollow Trail to the second lean-to and then returned via the Sawmill Trail and Perry Lumber Company road, a total of about four miles.
We then drove up Hemlock Road to one of the State Forest campsites and had a pleasant evening there.

----------------------

Friday, 8 August -

I did more research on the Montana GPS and then we drove over to Mom and Dad’s for a celebration. We’ve not been to Bonefish for awhile and gave it a shot today. I’ve had hit-or-miss luck there in the past but today was thumbs-up all the way. I tried the roasted-pepper tomato bisque and the new Pad Thai bowl and loved it.

------------------------

Thursday, 7 August -

I spent the morning and much of the afternoon researching the Garmin Montana GPS. I think this might be a better fit than a Nuvi. The latter has some nice features but the flexibility of the Montana’s customization is much better. It’s also a much more expensive GPS and I’ll have to spend more for map updates but I think it will be worth the difference.
No gym or walk today-- time for a rest day.

---------------------

Wednesday, 6 August -

Work continued today on the Civil War unit history research. I’ve decided to switch from an email format to Pages so I can easily manage footnotes. I don’t have much experience with the more advanced features of Pages so am learning as I’m going (and enjoying the process).
That afternoon I loaded the folding mountain bike onto the back of my motorcycle (the F650GS) and took it to Rocky Ridge. I only rode for about an hour but it was a great workout and confidence builder.
That evening we finished the season on ‘True Detective.’ I have to say I was disappointed. Up to the last two episodes I thought the series was exceptional but it seemed to get lost in the end.

-----------------------

Tuesday, 5 August -

I spent most of the day researching and writing about the Civil War unit history I started last week and got though a major battle. The complexity of all the factors around the preparations for the battle and its execution were fascinating. The research led me down so many paths I crashed my web browser with so many active windows. Fortunately, I’ve been printing off sources and keeping good track of where I’ve been finding the information so the crash wasn’t a problem.
That afternoon I went back to my ten-minutes-per-station drill and continued with the heavier weights.
That evening-- another ‘True Detective’ ep.

-----------------------

Monday, 4 August -

This morning I wrote a long email to my brothers and nephew about my mountain-biking trip to Tuscarora State Forest last week.
I then posted a blog update to catch up to the end of July.
At Rocky Ridge County Park, I walked my end-to-end route and slow-jogged about a mile of the five-mile circuit, finishing in 1:42.
That evening we watched an excellent documentary about Ai Wei Wei, the Chinese artist and dissident.

--------------------

Sunday, 3 August -

Today I continued learning and writing about my great-great-grandfather’s Civil War unit history, working straight through to mid-afternoon.
I then rode to the gym and changed my routine. I added weight to each of the three lifting stations and then did 3 miles on the elliptical. I’ve not been on the elliptical this long for a while so expected my time to suffer. I ended up with a 25:25 on the 10 setting which is only about half a minute slower than my best.
That evening we watched ‘True Detective’ season one’s ‘Haunted Houses’ episode.

---------------------

Saturday, 2 August -

This morning I began researching and writing an email about my great-great-grandfather’s unit in the Civil War. As I read the unit’s history I realized there’s a lot more to the story, i.e., it assumes the reader already has a fairly extensive knowledge of Civil War times. That of course leads me deeper and deeper into the internet in search of answers to my many questions. I love it!
That afternoon I went to the gym and did my regular 10-minutes-each rotation for an hour.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘True Detective‘ season one-- midway through the season.

--------------------

Friday, 1 August -

Today was a bit of a lazy day. I spent a couple of hours researching Garmin GPS models since I’m going to have to replace my old formerly-trusty 255W. I then jumped on the Thruxton and rode down to Best Buy to try out the screen formats and see if the deal they have going on is worthwhile. I spent about an hour working the new six-inch display and the older 7-inch model and came to the conclusion I could go with either of those but definitely want something bigger than my old 4.3-inch display. And the five-inch model isn’t enough of a difference. As to the deal, well, the model on sale is just getting too old. The 6-inch models are 2014 models but even the newest 7-inch model is a 2013. I think I’ll try to wait for a deal. I have my old 60cs I can use for now. I did see I can get a used 255W for about $25 off of Ebay but then I’d just have another about-to-let-me-down unit with an old set of maps.
That afternoon I had planned to go to the gym but I instead did some house cleaning-- running the vac and a bit of dusting.
That evening we watched ‘Maidentrip’, an excellent documentary about teenager Laura Dekker’s two-year sailing voyage around the world single-handed. Absolutely amazing. And if you look at her web site (lauradekker.com) you’ll see she’s still traveling.

************ END OF POST ***********