nichepoetryandprose

On February 21, I began the third phase of my virtual bike trip through central France.  For Phase 3 of my trip, I plan to bike in 12 days from Exireuil to Magné just west of Niort.

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Although the first two phases of my trip have been a success, I have encountered two problems:

1. the time it takes to print the maps and views and scan them for the notebook, and

2. the ink it has taken to print out enough views to make the trip more interesting.

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With some trial and error, I have found a solution.  I have gone digital.  To save time, I am now using my Flash Drive and a portable computer.

1. I now prepare my trip by saving the Street View images to a file on my Flash Drive (USB portable drive).  I don’t print the images and this saves ink.  I can also save as many Street View images as I want to represent the trip.

2. I transfer the images to my small computer via its USB port.  You could use a laptop, but I have an inexpensive ASUS Eee PC my son gave me several years ago.  It is just the right size to put on the book shelf of my stationary cycle.

small PC and notebook on the book shelf of my stationary bike

3. If my small computer is not available, I can also use my SONY S-Frame (a digital Photo Display unit).  It also has a USB port and it cycles through the photos or lets me view them one by one.

4. When I begin my bike ride, I just turn on the PC, call up the USB drive and look at the photos one at a time, or in a slide show.  I also save an image of the Google Map so I can follow along at my rate of  ’10 minutes equals 10 km’.

view of Street View map on PC – thin red line represents the path I am following – this is generated in Street View of Google Earth

5.  I miss my ‘notebook’ version, so I do print out a map and a memento image of my bike trip on a given day.

6.  I can easily use the images on my PC to do my drawings!

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Day 1 map (from Google Earth) showing distance travelled

Log Book:  February 21, 2013

Area travelled:   from ‘outskirts of Exireuil’ to ‘center of Exireuil’

Distance:  30 minutes      3.0 km

Best view: two people out working in their very tidy garden

Notes:  Not at all the rural landscape of my earlier biking.  I saw apartment buildings and a roundabout for the first time on my trip.  I got lost and went around the roundabout eight times before I found the right road!!!! 

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apartment building in Exireuil (image from Google Street View)

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Distance Travelled Feb 21 : 3.0 km

Total Distance Travelled Jan 30 to Feb 21 :  34.8 km

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When you bike, do you prefer rural or urban areas??  

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Copyright  Jane Tims  2013