12/15/2023 0 Comments Quotes on moments to remember![]() ![]() I'd trade the current route's many routes for one good route. I imagine that creating a good route involves weeding possibilities out as well as finding those possibilities. And the purchased maps don't come with this kind of information. It didn't seem as though one took a higher altitude, went closer to gas, etc. We had no way of knowing which was the better way, why a person would choose one over the other, etc. There were maybe six (rough guess) places where the route split for maybe 10-50 miles. (For the record, donating on ridebdr is way easier than giving the Oregon folks money (in person or via check/mail).ĥ. I imagine the $145 cost for the Oregon maps would be appreciated as a donation to the BDR community. IIRC, downloading WABDR map from the BDR site was quick and easy. And we didn't use the paper maps (because motorcycles and books don't mix well). I had to wait for them to come in the mail and then request/hope the GPX maps be emailed. But personally, I didn't want the paper maps. Inconveniently, when you hold the map/book horizontally, flipping down/south takes you to the segment that is further north, but that's workable. Color-printed, bound with plastic spines. It seems like I payed mostly for the paper maps. FWIW, I've read other complaints about communication from these folks.Ĥ. (In retrospect, if he'd just said his GPX files are junky, I'd probably have chosen a different state, which would have been nice.) Ultimately, my wife ordered the paper maps and we just hoped we could get GPX files later. He ghosted me after I kept asking him to confirm we'd get the GPX files (if we ordered the maps) despite his warnings that idiots use GPS files to get into trouble. Communication with Leonard (the Oregon-route guy) was difficult. ![]() The map was just ugly and led to confusion a few times, plus many hours wasted trying to figure out a solution.ģ. If you like I can dig up some of the many screenshots I took when I was frustrated. I tried Basecamp, several mobile apps, and even borrowed a good Garmin GPS, but nothing worked better than Osmand and just trying to ignore the many, many lines criss-crossing my screen. I forget the numbers, but I think there were hundreds of separate routes, and I found no way to organize them into one. No mapping software I tried could show a single, coherent route. For the Oregon route, the route was a jumble of points. Clearly the route was made by people who know their stuff. For the WABDR, the route worked perfectly using a phone and Osmand. But overall, it has been fan-freaking-tastic. ![]() The WABDR, on the other hand, was fantastic. I estimate we spent about half our riding time troubleshooting around map errors. It seems to me like the Oregon folks have just been selling the same maps for years without maintaining them, and I didn't find any way to report problems that might help improve the route (see "communication was difficult"). Because we travel the route, report problems, etc. If it were run by the BDR community, most of these mistakes would have been fixed (e.g., "route updates" on ). Actually, this is my core complaint about the Oregon route. But I'm perfectly capable of making my own mistakes and being blocked by fires, having to remove fallen trees from the road, etc., and don't need dozens of errors in the route itself. To be fair, backtracking is part of the BDR game. During three days, these errors resulted in hours of backtracking. In other cases, the route is permanently closed to motorized traffic or closed to four-wheeled street-legal vehicles (marked accordingly, and blocked to prevent them from entering). In one case, the road was closed and marked with signs that looked years old. There are places where the road has been closed, apparently for several years, and the closures aren't integrated into the maps. ![]() I've been meaning to do a thorough review, but it's been almost six months, so I'm just getting it done right now.ġ. We encountered some issues with the organizer when buying the maps, some issues with the map files, and some issues with the route itself, as outlined below. We set out with two motorcycles (WR250R and XT250) and a modified Jeep Grand Cherokee (WK) from the Seattle area via Walla Walla to California via routes 5.4, 5.3, 4, and 3. With 2/3 of our group originally from Oregon, the Oregon route seemed like a good idea. Loved the route, the maps, the community, etc. But this is all just my opinion from my own single experience, and your results will vary.īackground: I've done the WABDR 1.5 times and loved it. Would love if the BDR community could supplant the existing route. Tl dr: Regretted investing time and money on the Oregon route, should have supported the BDR community (donate!) and done another route instead. ![]()
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