Doug Lloyd wrote: > The SPOT device is a promising alternative (see the review in SK Mag's > latest August issue) to PLB's with GPS, but only time will tell the > ultimate value and usefullness in extremis where there exists a public > mindset demanding that every answer - every solution - be avaliable, > at the push of a button. The answer is still in somewhere in the push > - and pull - of the paddle. Never less in the colds waters of Alaska. Oh, I dunno.... right now I'm "watching" Bob participate in an all-night adventure race at Lake Meade. I haven't talked to him since about 10:00 this morning when he was driving up there but right now I can see that he's been in the water (or maybe it's mud since it's Lake Meade) for about three hours (kayaking?... swimming?... slogging?), hiked up an elevated area (I'm looking at the satellite image and I can't tell if it's a hill or a mountain), sigzagged back and fourth across the top (did you forget to sign in at the check-in point, Bob?), and now headed south over some rough terrain... in the dark in the desert. I have no idea where the finish is ('Finish' is not noted on the satellite image) and if SPOT stops transmitting (which does happen), I'll go back to sanding the ceiling in the kitchen. I couldn't be there but I'm actually getting a better view via the continually updated images :-) There are some fun aspects to it. A couple of centuries ago, families sat at home waiting for letters that might arrive before the traveler returned home which described their adventures. Now we see it live (sort of). Bob set up a tracker while we cruised Alaska and you can actually go to the website which displays the route and either post an image or look at other images posted by travelers to the area and read information specific to that area (which is really cool when you want to know more about a glacier and why it was named after Dr. So&So or why any particular town is located where it is when it has no roads coming or going). It's kind of fun. Or maybe that was some other tracking tech-mabob he's got. I can't keep up with all his tech toys. Jackie *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Jul 19 2008 - 22:39:01 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:30 PDT