2610 Goes CaFlooey

This post is more of an informational post, but of course I have to tell the story first and if you want the information on how to fix the problem I encounted, you have to read the story.

I own a Garmin 2610 which has well over 60, 000 miles on it, providing directions to me to all sorts of places. To say that I rely on this technogadget would be an understatement.

While I was in Maine celebrating the NER BDay, I left the GPS on my bike over night. Now I never ever ever do this, never ever never, except for this night. I woke up the next morning and looked and said geeeezzzzzzz you are getting old, you forgot to bring the GPS in. I approached the bike to warm it up before the days ride and since I have to wind my hand dwon between the GPS and ignition switch, I can't help but look down at the unit. Whoa! there seemed to be a bubble in the screen. I took my hand, gave a slight twist of the wrist and placed my thumb's fingernail directly onto the bubble. I am estimating it was a precise 22 1/2 degrees between the screen and my thumb's nail. I believe my subconcious mind wanted to see if this apparent bubble would move or maybe it was just a piece of stuff lying on the screen. ( I knew it was a bubble and not a piece of stuff, I was just self-justifying my actions, I am just making excuses here) Within a nanosecond of touching the screen, the screen screamed out with a squechnzumbling sound. I know thats not a word, but if you understand onomatopoeia it sounded just like that. That may have been the sound of my stomach made as well as my eyes watched the screen shrivel, crumble, flake, disintegrate, collaspe, turn to powder, cave in, wither, ebb and flow, detonate, squeal like a gutted pig and other such actions and sounds that I can not begin to describe. All of this happened in less that 2 nanoseconds because by the time the 2nd nanosecond elasped, I was running around in circles, jumping up and down, saying "what a fuckin idiot I am" over and over and over.

Since I did not take a picture of the screen, this is what it looked like

My fellow NER friends (at least 6 of them), who were standing around talking about last night , drinking their morning coffee, looked up to see the anguished state I was in and approached me with concern and sympathy. I am sure they thought something horrid happened or that I was seriously hurt. Mental tormentation is more painful than physical pain.

Just like I never ever ever ever leave the unit outside, I know better to try to get the bubble out of the screen with a sharp instrument like a fingernail. My only excuse is it was early and it was one of those situations this never happens to you, it is something that you only read about. Yes I have read about the infamous screen delimanation Garmin StreetPilots and knew within quarter of a nanosecond what my 2610 was doing.

With the initial shock ebbing a bit I started to plan for the future. I quickly threw out the idea of applying for unemployment and decided I could follow one of the other NERds back to MA. Oh the agony of having to follow a paper map and not the lil purple line.

When I got home I ordered a Garmin 2720 StreetPilot from GetYourFeetWet with a 4 year warranty on it. Hey for 15.00 how could I go wrong. The SP arrived before the week was out. But then I began to investigate a fix for the 2610. I called Garmin, told them what had happened and asked if they would like to provide a new one. The representative looked up my unit and said, well it is over 3 years old and well out of warranty. I had to try didn't I ?. With that resolved I began asking questions exactly what the covering on the screen did. Not knowing the technical side of the unit, he patched me over to one of the manufacturing experts. I asked if this was purely a protective element or would the touch screen be effected. He told me it was purely a protective anti-glare covering. I asked if I bought some Palm pilot screen protectors, would this be a solution. He hold me that would be an excellent idea.

Off to Staples, picked up a pack of Palm Pilot screen protectors for $25, which contained 4 or 5 of them. Dang these were expensive, but they could be returned. Next to Best Buy to see if they had a generic version of the screen protectors. Yup, something like $13 for 4 of them, however I did not purchase them at this time. The Palm ones were returned the next day. Next step, research solutions on the Inet. I came across an article that indicated you could get thin clear plastic vinyl from a fabric store. Off to Jo Ann Fabrics and picked up a half yard of the stuff for something like $.93. Now we are talking.

Got home, created a template exactly the right size for the screen on a 2610. Traced the template onto the vinyl, cut a piece out. 2 drops of water on the screen to act as a smoothing/lubricating agent, placed the vinyl on the screen, pressed out the air with a credit card and viola ! The 2610 is in working order.

So now I have a repaired 2610 and a brand new 2720 as a back up GPS. Life is whole again the earth is again, tilting at 23.44 degrees. Oh and I have enough vinyl leftover to repair at least 50 more SP's.

Us Guys can be so Dumb

As they say a pic is worth a 1000 words

In A Slump

This weekend was the annual (we have had 2 and 1 planned for next year so this qualifies as an annual event) NER Birthday Bash. This is a get together of the folks that I ride and socialize with. I left work early on Friday and rode up with Jan, Alan, Cole and Jarrad, making stops at Heritage Harley so that I could purchase a double shot glass. Cole was on the back of Alan's VStrom, her first ride on a bike and I think she may be hooked on riding. Only took like 100 miles.

Jan and Jarrad



Alan and Cole





On the way up somewhere in NH around Lake Winni, this ST1300 passed me in a very familiar red riding jacket. So I throttled up to stay with him, passing a Suzi SV650. The rider on the ST not to be out done, throttled up, and I reciprocated. The two us had a nice rhythm going on the twisties. Now I normally do not ride this spirited on unfamiliar roads, but for some reason this was different. We arrived at a stop sign, which completed our little bout. It was Easy Ed on the ST. Later that evening, he made a comment about the Connie following him and he figured it just couldn’t be Willie, because Willie just doesn’t ride that spirited. I just grinned. Turn Turn Turn!

Part of the weekend fare centered around me taunting and teasing Teri with TP. Last year she TP’d my bike, changed her mind and cleaned it off before I ever saw it. I only saw pictures. The week before the Bash, on at least a daily basis I would post a picture of duct tape, silly string, toilet paper and other images, to set the scene of the impending crime. Dave, Teri’s husband, apparently came prepared for a retaliatory strike with multiple cans of silly string and the comment, “You know this stuff is really hard to get off”. During BBQ on Saturday, I placed an empty roll of TP at their table, as another remainder that the wee hours of the morning were approaching. On Saturday night or Sunday morning, I tied a neatly made bow TP around the handle of the trailer where they kept their bike. For this year, I decided the UNDERSTATEMENT was more than enough to set Teri up for NEXT YEAR IN VERMONT!!!



Teri and Dave (in the purple shirt)


Saturday, I met with Lunatic Tim for breakfast at the Deluxe Diner in Rumford, ME. He is the most knowledgeable person I know about motorcycles, how they operate and what a particular model's idiosyncrasies are. He is the-go-to guy when I have questions. If he doesn’t know he will find out. Oh he is a great guy also and so is his wife Kimi.

The Deluxe

Tim

Before I left for breakfast, I realized I left my 2610 outside over night. I never ever do this, but I did (so much for the never ever). Low and behold there was an itsy bitsy teeney weenie bubble in the screen. Of course I had to touch it and of course I used my fingernail and BAM the whole screen shriveled up. Yes the cursed delamination of a Street Pilot. Sigh (actually it was more ah FUCK,but there was people standing around when I did this). I figured the whole unit was a gonner, as I peeled stuff off the screen. However the unit seemed to be working, so I justified in my head that I got good service out of this one and maybe it was time to upgrade to a new unit. Self Justification is such a good thing, especially when you know that is bull shit, which is another form of self-justification

After a great breakfast at the Deluxe, I headed for North Country HD in Augusta for a shot glass. I spoke with Carlene a bit, who owned Chips in Northbridge, MA. It was still early, so off to Wiscasset to Red's Eats. This is one of those 1000 places you must visit before you die places. I have been here once before and I think the line never goes down. I wasn't about to stand in line for fried food. So I accomplished one of the 1000's, 999 more to go.

On the way back to the Riverview Resort, I came across a sign that said "Bridge Out 2 miles", so I simply started to find other roads to get around this. Well even with the 2610 I managed to get myself hopelessly lost. The 2610 got me out of my mess, taking me some back road, which had Dancer and Prancer merrily coming across a field. I stopped, they stopped. I stared them down, they stared me down. We were at an impasse. I reached for my camera, pushed the on button, lens extends, raise the camera in an aiming position and Dancer dasher across the road, Prancer turns and high tailsin the opposite direction. Here's a pic of Dancer, telling me exactly how they felt about the situation.

On my journey back to my weekend home, I came across Dancer's and Prancer's family reunion.

Saturday night was about good food, lively topics of discussion and just hanging around with friends. Oh there might of been some beer and jello shots involved during those hours as well.

Sunday I rode home with Pam, Dave, Denise and Bill. It was nice just to follow and not be chasin stuff. No agenda, no place to stop at, no pictures that had to be taken, just riding. We rode out RT2, took a left onto RT113 passing Evans Notch, dropped down into Fryeburg and Conway, over the Kanc Rt 112, and down 175. At this point Dave and Pam split off and I followed Bill and Denise to home, where we finished the day with some great Chinese food and of course some really good conversation about life in general.

Now with all that said, doesn’t it sound like a perfect weekend. So why am I in the DUMPS. Because right now I have run out of places to go and there is still plenty of riding season left. I am sure I will figure out places to go, see, take pictures of and will manage to put another 2,000+ miles on in the next 7 weeks, so this is just a temporary void, soon to be filled with chasin stuff.

Driving with Mr Walter

One of my favorite stops was the Walter P Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, MI (just outside of Detroit).

I could try to write my own little blah blah on Walter but Wikipedia does such a great job, why not give them credit, so here you go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Chrysler


My short video on the Museum
Click here to watch "Chrylser"

Random Thoughts from the Yellow Brick Road

The yellow brick road is really a purple line in a Garmin 2610 and that is exactly what I did for 5704 miles. It is going to take me a while to sort through the 1500+ photos I took, and recollect the 61 National Parks in 13 states and 1 province and 101 INKs. With this trip I completed the IBA Master Travel Award ( see here http://www.ironbutt.com/rides/npt.htm ). While this is what I originally set out to accomplish, I have reaped much much more than that. I came, I saw, I experienced and I learned. This might be an addiction of the good kind. There are 391 national parks out there so there is so much more to see. (you should be able to click any photo and see if full size)

Before leaving, I contemplated whether or not, I would enjoy traveling alone for 16 days. I rationalized saying I should not be lonely because once you are on your bike you are essentially alone. It is only at those stops that you would miss talking about a sight you may have seen, a sensation you felt on the road, or a particular aroma you may have smelled. Conclusion, I just didn’t mine riding alone. I spoke with people at the stops like they were my long lost friends, spoke with the bar tenders at dinner (it is much cozier to sit at the bar versus a table for 4 by yourself), and the folks at the national parks are just some of the friendliest and most helpful people on earth.


It is a formiable task to update your blog with an overwhelming amount of information. Note to myself get a wireless card for laptop and make sure you stay in places with wireless. 2nd note to myself once you do that, will you really feel like writing or just chillin watchin the local news on TV. 3rd note to myself don't worry about the wireless NIC card.





Iowa has cornered the market on corn. There sure is a lot of it. They have soy beans as well.




The Yellow Brick Road connection. How could I have forgotten this pic.

The dirt in the midwest is black. Must account for why so much farming happens out there.

Riding in Illinois and Indiana is very very boring


St Louis Missouri is a very very busy city. It is has that old time dirty look of a very industrial city. The arches are truly amazing and they do appear to be a gateway to the west

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial ceiling in St Louis is a work of art.

Gettin your kicks on Route 66 is still possible but the road has been replaced with the interstate system. Rt 66 was officially designated as irrelevant.



There a ton of windmills being erected in the mid west. You may have to click the second one to see all the windmills.





Once you hit Arkansas the roads South to North (the direction I was traveling) were made with a straight edge and do not vary more than an 1/8th of an inch over the 400+ miles to Omaha, Nebraska no matter what road you select. The roads don’t get remotely twisty again until you hit the Adirondacks in NY. Wisconsin might have roads with a few bends in on second thought.

Missouri names many of their roads AZ, ZZ, QA, which I can not figure out why and forgot to ask. They use numbered routes too, but a lot of the roads are lettered routes. I looked up Wikipedia and found the following link if you are interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Supplemental_Route

The walk from the free parking lot at Fort Snelling is a much longer and harder walk than the park ranger at Science Museum in St Paul, MN indicated. It is at least a mile versus a football field in length and the small hill is not bad going down, but the mountain to go back up is a bitch.

Fort Scott, Kansas looks like an old wild west town I use to see on TV.

The state capital building in Des Moines, Iowa is an awesome building

I just like this picture it is on RT 62 just east of Tahlequah Oklahoma. It is also right around here that I figured out why the state of Kansas was a lighter shade of yellow than Missouri on the 2610. I had not loaded the detail maps west of Missouri into the unit. Now I know why I packed my laptop and a card reader. There are just some things more important than underwear. {g} It took quite awhile to load the detail maps into the unit at the motel that night.

The sand dunes in Michigan are huge

The sunset on Lake Michigan is every bit as good as the sunset in Key West

How could you not want to see this once in your life time. Better hurray since it is going the way of the Old Man in the Mountain and the Arches in Utah through nature's doing. Nope we aren't the ones destroying these.

It is easy to go fast on the roads in the Midwest. 90 mph is nothing.

I think the Great Lakes has as many if not more lighthouses than New England

When you tell a park ranger that you will find a place to stay in Ontonagon, Michigan and they smile at you, you might want to ask them why they smiled. They just might know something, but are being polite and don't want to ruin your plans.

This historic just makes you think of the Wild West. Yup this is the place where the riders took the mail west.

The least populated place I have been too. I think it might be the fastest growing or the fastest shrinking town in the US.

I might chase all the old US Routes after I have finished visiting all the National Parks, so I started taking pictures of them to document the ones I have been to.

These guys are all over the place causing trouble.

I passed this sign and just had to turn around and see what this place was all about. Very effective advertising.

There some unbelievable water falls out there.

How could I not resist stopping for this.

For you car nuts out there, the Walter P Chrysler Museum is a great place. GM has a pitiful display of their heritage and Ford Museum is huge and I will return to Detroit. Observation, in Detroit there are many many new office building with huge parking lots. Many of the parking lots have only the front rows filled up with cars. A sign of the times in Detroit, but I am convinced Detroit will have a come back, but the Lions will still suck .

The GM Renaissance building is pretty impressive

My trip was international. I got my passport at the beginning of the season and I was just dying to use (so that I think I got some value out of the money I dropped) so I headed over the top of Lake Ontario to New York

Niagara Falls are impressive but...

the hydroelectric plant down stream is even more impressive. It controls the water over the falls, which can be shut off the falls if they want.

Outside of Buffalo I had trash for dinner and slop for breakfast. Trash was much better than slop, but slop is pretty good too.

This is trash

This is slop

And of course I found a diner, which served the slop

Last stop was Saratoga Springs, NY picking up the last of the INK

Stay tuned for more pictures of those special places that I visited