Strange to think that we can have surprisingly good cell phone coverage on a mountain in Africa…and then have almost non-existent coverage in one of our own Canadian provinces. So far, I haven’t found anything to suggest that we’ll have wireless/cell coverage (through Rogers or partners) while we are on the west coast of Newfoundland…even in the local towns. That’s crazy!
Having said that, the whole idea of a vacation is to get away from it all. Right? But, that means that blog postings may not be what you might have seen during our other travels. All is not lost. We have a plan!
Maybe there is a bit of unwarranted optimism…but it’s a plan nonetheless. In all fairness, our plan has less to do with blog posts and more to do with safety should we run into any difficulty while hiking. So, what’s the plan? Using satellite service and GPS messenging.
We considered renting a satellite phone, but they are a little more bulky and we really are trying to pare things down to the essentials as much as possible. And, it would get pretty time consuming and possibly pricey to be sending blog posts via satellite phone.
Really, we just want to let friends/family know we’re OK, to possibly track our progress (if they are so inclined) and also have a way for us to get emergency assistance should the need arise.
Well…technology is an amazing thing.
Enter SPOT! This is SPOT:
This is a incredibly small device that we can clip to our pack, our belt loop, or even wear it attached to an arm band…and after activating it and subscribing to the tracking service, we are ready to go…at least our tests show it’s working.
So, instead of blog posts with lots of detail about what we are seeing, doing…experiencing (that will come after the hike) we are hoping that the device will activate a blog post each time we trigger it to send a message.
It might look something like this:
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RutsUp
Latitude: (latitude information here)
Longitude:(longitude information here)
GPS location Date/Time:08/24/2010 13:45:16 EDT
Message:We're OK. Just checkin' in!
Click the link below to see where I am located (a link will be shown that will take you to SPOT’s google map page)
If the above link does not work, try this link: (a second link will be shown that will take you directly to google map page)
RutsUp
You have received this message because RutsUp has added you to their SPOT contact list.
Posted by RutsUp at 1:45 PM
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Cool, eh?!
Three things:
1. Feel free to leave comments on the blog, but know that we likely won’t see them until we are finished the hike and can log onto the computer at the hotel. But, would love to hear from you. So please do leave comments
2. The SPOT messages are ‘pre-programmed’ before we even leave on the trip…right now, it’s scheduled to say “We’re OK. Just checkin’ in!” each time we press a particular button on the SPOT. So, if the message seems to get a bit repetitive…you know why. But, at least you know…we’re OK (assume we’re having a blast!!).
3. Finally, once we turn on the tracking portion of the device (which we plan on doing), you’ll be able to check in and see our movements throughout each day…even if we go off course a bit! ;) I’ll post a link here once I’ve completed the set-up page.
See you in the backcountry!
