I called and reminded MM to check in, he will do so whenever he gets off his hay cutter/baler this afternoon/evening.

I am flexible -- Dave and Stew are the ones with work restrictions so I think they should call the shots for days and times.

I will be riding in on the Barcalounger, which is filled with gas, oiled, and sits ready to go.   I am now rustling cables and phones and such so I can have a constantly charging phone to act as a navigation aid.

MM had some minor issues getting his phone to constantly charge off his bike's electrical system and was leaving his phone in airplane mode all the time (ie turned off) which is why nobody could see him on Life360 on the start of the last trip.

I'm with Dave on the food.  Since I am trucking it, I will have snacks with me and happy to share.  I am not a big breakfast eater so a bar or snack is good for me until lunch.  I probably won't have anything that requires ice just for convenience of not having to fool with it but can bring a cooler, if needed, for anyone biking in that requires one for medicine or anything such as that.

I've got it on my calendar to start Wednesday (weather permitting) .   Right now I'm in the middle of Hay Season and battling weather and break-downs.   It will be the first trip for the guzzi !  

That Life 360 eats phone batteries at a fast rate , so I've got it on the third option on the list that I can't find again now ???

MMRanch wrote on 05/24/18 at 21:47:01:



Mike, you need a charger cable to run from your USB plug on your Guzzi box to your phone up on your handle bars to be able to constantly charge your phone because you will leave it on and running all the time for Life360 to work.   I also have a pouch on my bike that can hold a phone that simply needs a good charging which can happen easily while we ride around.

When you get to Two Wheels of Suches I will show you how to teach your phone to hold a stored Google map in its guts so you don't have to eat up data all the time.

Just have the cable and the holder (or the pouch) all set up and ready to go .....

Life360 uses the Android location "ping" data that we all constantly send to Google -- the Life360 servers use your ping to spot both you and the other riders.    Yes, this is some light ping data use, some of which that happens anyway.  And it is constant low level ping type use when on a trip, so your phone needs charging more often.  

This is all shown up on a Google Maps skeleton, so you are using some Google Maps data too.  And some more battery is being used keeping your Google Maps moving properly.

So you got two things to deal with, total data use and battery use.

On an Android phone I can minimize this total data use by using the saved maps feature in Google Maps (I always use saved maps now since they can be really quite large and useful now, the saved map I am using now is called Suches, and it covers every inch of our trip, so I can navigate using it, run around the GA mountains, track all of you and then go home all off the same locally saved map in the guts of my phone).   I am never without a locally saved map now-a-days, but I have to be under wifi to start up a "navigate to" event (the Google servers do all the route calculations for me) -- I told my phone to only use wifi for these functions so as to have the thing NOT be able to run me up any big data bill under any circumstances.

Life360 was developed so parents could track kids by their cell phones, so it isn't a bad data hog per se since it is ALWAYS on and running.  Always been that way.   It isn't data use free, but it isn't bad either.   The large mass of people using it have worked out all the money saving tricks and Life360 incorporated all of the good ones ......

Google Maps can eat some data if you don't use the saved local maps feature -- imagine sucking down a fresh map every few minutes while using cell tower data support as you roll around -- ouch !!   Using local saved maps, no issue.   Telling it not to do any new navigations apart from being on wifi support cuts out practically all the remaining cell data use.  Yes, it means hunting up a McDonalds periodically when you need to crank up a new navigation, but they are scattered all over the place and you needed a senior drink and a pee anyway.

All use of the Life360 App can be very simply ended at the end of a trip by deleting the app, then it is GONE gone gone.

Is it bad?   I judge it by my 3 gig total memory size throw away $29 free forever phone that sits up on my handlebars.  This phone only has a 3 gig per month "forever freebee" data plan.  As long as I give it constant cable plugged in charging power and a saved map I can stay under the tiny data cap that is "free forever" on my phone.

And yes, I carry a second phone for backup, in case of "aw shite" events or if I do run my little freebee data cap into the ground.

MM, you need to speak more plainly.  

I think I hear you say your hay bail effort got rained on some and "mechanical break downs did happen".

You are cutting down your arrival to Weds & later and you are acting a bit iffy about that.   That's OK and that's real -- your hay harvests are what feeds your cows and that is important too.

Tell us what's going on and what you need for days -- I think we are getting better info from Stewart now and Dave is speaking plainly about not liking the afternoon thunderstorm forecast right now.

We are staying at:

Two Wheels of Suches
1915 HWY 60, Suches, GA

Here is a link to their website:
http://twowheelsofsuches.com/history/

"My bags are packed, I'm ready to go .....
Really only one thing that's needed to know ......

Weeeeeee Neeeed a Forecast,       a simple Forecast

Weeeeeee Neeeed a Forecast,       a truthful Forecast

Weeeeeee Neeeed a Forecast,       an accurate Forecast

Where ever shall we go ????    

However shall we know ????