After the 10'000 miles trip in the USofA (I wrote about it here), the rig took a 9 weeks trip across the oceans. From Port Oakland, Calif. to Bremerhaven, Ger., then trucked inland to Switzerland. It is now hibernating in my garage. I sold my car, bought a real small one (Volkswagen Up), now both vehicles stand back to back in my parking spot. Right after arrival back in October, I couldn't resist to do small tours in the neighbourhood, although illegal without registration, but who cares?.
The roads are narrower here, or the rig wider than thought. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to ride it this spring/summer.
While my rig is hibernating (we've got snow, and bike/side car is not licenced/checked in Switzerland yet) and while generating a travel book, I now and then go on Google Earth to check some spots or to have the accumulated GPS data simulating part of the route. Incidentially I stumbled across a satellite image with a date when I was in the corresponding region.
copy/paste this into google maps or google earth and satellite view:
38°31'12.27"N 109°29'21.54"W
At the imaging date June 11 2012 I was there. You see a black triangle-like thing next to trees. It is the rig parked next to the tree whereunder I pitched my tent (in Okay RV Park, Moab, Utah).
The black spots are both the rig and its shadow on the floor giving it a funny shape. The bike was parked head on north, side car to the right. The dimensions are right, date is right, time of day is right (11 a.m). It was a very hot day I chose not to ride during daytime, only in the evening to the Arches NP. When the satellite took the picture, I was likely in the air conditioned center drinking a cool coke.
Well, the picture is not that great, one would not think of a sidecar without knowing more. But, after 5000 miles from Florida on the road, the satellite spotted me and left a trace of my trip on google maps for the next couple of years to come.
Perhaps somebody of you knows a way to enhance the quality of the foto (software), or a site where I could commercially purchase a good picture.
Google Earth Pro was no help, same resolution.
Regards
Hi Lorenz, glad that you and your rig are back together, and all is well, enjoy your hibernation, and your summer riding. I would love to ride in Switzerland, it is such a beautiful country, have driven in the Alps with a Volkswagon beetle, but never on 2 or 3 wheels. Good to hear from you again, let us know how things are going.
Hi, Lorenz! Thanks for that interesting information, I really enjoyed reading it. Wish I could have met you when you were here in the states.
A friend of mine from the midwest called me a while back, I'm out west. He's never been here where I live and it's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, remote. He got to asking questions about where I live and we chatted back & forth. Then he asked more questions but not like open questions, more as if he wanted me to verify his information. I was getting sort of confused what he was talking about because he was describing details of the property correctly, though I hadn't ever described them to him. He also described correct features, but the way it had been several years ago, not presently, and how the heck could he know what it used to look like without me telling him?
After several minutes of this he suggested I check my email and go to the link. I did and what do you know, he had pinpointed my property dead center from about 2,000 miles away: Google Maps! I'd never seen this before, wasn't even aware of it really. The part about him describing the property as it was years ago was quickly known. This satellite image was dated maybe 2002-2003 or earlier and things had changed a lot around here since then.
In another case I got a phone call one day from an old friend from 20 years ago. We had lost touch, hadn't communicated since '91. Instantly recognized his voice and asked how the heck he ever found me? "Aw, that's easy, man: my computer told me where you were." He described how he had searched me out and I was simply amazed. Regardless, no sense trying to hide in today's world!
Glad you were able to get your trusty sidecar rig back home again. Hope all the best to you in your further travels there, thanks again for the posting!
Thank you for sharing your call from the past. Google maps/earth are great tools indeed. As we all know however, no matter how good one studies maps/satellite views before a trip, reality often surprises. This charm of travelling occurred to me constantly.
Make sure ya save that photo from Google maps before they change it . I cant find yer rig in the campsite
That's a fun discovery. When Bing Maps first came out with it's oblique "bird's eye view" I zoomed into the place where I was working and there I was in my Chevy convertible just pulling into the parking lot! Funny!
