2010 Tour: Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks: 10 Days, 3000 Miles, 2-up

[naustin]

Top Notch!  What a fantastic trip and report.  Great pics too  .  

I have to admit, I'm a bit envious that your wife is willing to tour on the bike like that.  My wife and I love visiting the national parks, but we either take the car or I ride and she drives  .  

My wife is awesome!  She had no problem fitting everything she needed for 12 day tour in one saddlebag, plus she left enough space for a souvenir sweatshirt!

She has her endorsement, and she has a buell blast that she occasionally rides around town, but on tours, we both prefer to be on one bike.  It prevents us from camping, but the we really enjoy riding together.  The key for us has been to limit our one-day milage to no more than 500 and never more than 3 long days consecutively.

Next time

[JGreb]

Thanks!

The Google earth screen shots are really pretty easy.  Garmin Mapsource will link the route path directly into Google Earth.   Then, you can just fullscreen your Google Earth Window and hit your Print Screen key on the keyboard to copy a screen shot to the clipboard.  Open up Photoshop or any image editing progam, Paste, and save the screen shot as a new image.   Then you can post it just like any other photo.

The tough part is saving out Google Earth vidoe tours without paying $500 for the Pro version.  There is a way to do it, but my crappy onboard video card in this cheapo Dell Laptop can't handle it at any screen resolution above 320x240.....

Thanks for the info, I'll have to give it a try

[MotoCommuter]

Nick,

Nice trip and report. My wife and I do a little 2 up touring every year, mostly in GA/TN/NC/VA/WV. We are planning on heading west next June.

Question, did you ever figure out what the issue was on the Starcom1 in regards to your wife's mike being open? I have the same issue. I contacted Tecstar and they said to replace her headset, which I did, which didn't correct the issue. Let me know if you figured it out.

Regards,

Kurt

[naustin]

Its never quite worked right.   Great at low speeds - but wind noise at high speed is a problem.  I can't get the vox adjustment and mic sensitivity to balance it out.

I assumed the problem was my lack of patience combined with our Cheap HJC helmets.   Maybe if we had Aria or top end shoei helmets, the ambient noise would be a lot lower inside the helmet, and especially under the chin bar area, and that might be the key.  

[MotoCommuter]

Nick,

I don't think it is the helmets. I contacted Tecstar and they responded to check the following settings:

1) Volume is set to 20%
2) Mic sensitivity set to 80% clockwise
3) balance set to midway.

I'll give these a whirl and see.

Kurt

[motormike]

Nice report and pics!

I really enjoyed reading it.

[kendenton]

Great report, great pics!  I was in Yellowstone and Glacier in July, unfortunately not on 2 wheels.

I also did the "Hidden Lake Overlook" walk, but there was no boardwalk to be found in July:

[Skee]

Great pics.  Thanks for sharing.

I really like the Google Earth views - first time I've seen it - I didn't know you could zoom that far out.

I swear we saw that same herd of goats on the Hidden Lake trail.  They must hang out there & mooch off the tourists.

Wish I could talk my wife into a long 2-up trip.  You made it look easy.

[robertemcclellan]

Absolutely stunning pictures, videos and descriptions of it all!  Thanks for sharing it.

[naustin]

Nick,

I don't think it is the helmets. I contacted Tecstar and they responded to check the following settings:

1) Volume is set to 20%
2) Mic sensitivity set to 80% clockwise
3) balance set to midway.

I'll give these a whirl and see.

Kurt

Thanks for the tip - I'll give that a try...  


Thanks for all the additional positive comments - it really was a Great Trip!

[1Arm]

Looks like a great trip, thanks for putting the effort into a very well done report.