To Plan or Not To Plan

Originally Published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, March 2017

For an activity that is based in freedom, there seems to be one thing that we as motorcyclists can’t break free: debates. I’m not going to open the door to such things like which oil to use, what cleans what better and with less effort, or what brand is better.  While, I’m well aware there are lots of riders out there that just hop in the saddle, go, get lost, and finally make it back home; others of us like to have a destination, and planned a route to get there and back.

I spent the bulk of five decades in Indiana, so I could just fire up the engine and run. The sun and moss growing on the trees were my compass. Most of the Hoosier cornfields are divided by numbered county roads that with a little logic, will get you where you need to be. I knew where I was about ninety percent of the time, if not from experience, then from the markers I just mentioned. I also had times that I had a specific destination, or a stretch of road that I wanted to enjoy. To make sure I made it, and more importantly made it back home, I would plan out my excursions.

I’m going to guess that a lot fellow bikers are like me, and can do both. This can make debate more difficult when you can fall on both sides of the argument. About a year and half ago, I moved six hundred miles, which adjusted my thinking more to the planning side of the debate. So as I begin my second riding season in a new state, I prefer to lay out my routes before I crank up the V-Twin Engine.

But lets back up for a moment. Back in my early days of riding on the street, the trips were often short, and on roads I knew well. The motorcycles would get larger and more comfortable, and as I learned more roads, the trips got longer. Around the same time I joined Cruiser Club, USA, and I also took my first motorcycle trip. For argument’s sake, I distinguish a ride from a trip by at least one overnight stay.

A lot of planning software has come, gotten revised, and
then was discontinued since I started planning rides.

Those days when the turn of the millennium was upon us, more people were concerned with airplanes falling from the skies than the convenience of riding a planned route on a motorcycle. Global Positioning Satellite was still young in the consumer market, and expensive. The Internet was still pretty static, but interactive tools, specifically trip planning, like MapQuest were available. There was no Google Maps, I don’t even think there there was Google, let alone data anywhere on a phone.

While these technologies and others were useful for planning, the only way to take the information with you was in the form of printed maps. The accessory market was ready for this, as there was a pretty good selection of tank bags or similar that sported map pockets. There was even some places you could buy laminated maps to make them mostly waterproof. You could mark your path with a dry erase marker.

The printed maps and map pockets worked well, except the need to stop and change pages frequently. I had a nifty map pocket that was clear on both sides, so all I need to do was flip it over for another page. The next set of instructions would require a stop to re-arrange the remaining pages. My brother and I tried many other ways of formatting the instructions, so we didn’t have to stop and shuffle papers as much, but we both longed for something better.

One of the ways we would start was with a program that was installed on a computer, and made by Microsoft. I think the first version of Streets & Trips my brother and I used was for 1999. We found out about the mapping application from then Indianapolis Cruiser Club President, “Shooter” Jim.

You know how you get hooked on the first thing you use, and then change seems hard? That is the way I was with Streets & Trips. With good reason, as it was a useful tool, even though I didn’t agree with all their “upgrades”.

First off, all the roads were installed on your computer, so you didn’t need an Internet Connection. Back in the day, connecting online often meant interrupting your phone service. Streets & Trips was also loaded with a huge database of points of interest, and you could plan timed breaks to get gas, take a butt break, or even overnight.

Microsoft offered an updated version for every year, but I usually purchased it about every three years. I never did understand why they didn’t make it a subscription software. The restaurants under the points of interest was pretty awesome. It found me a lot of great mom and pop eateries that were off the beaten path.

It wasn't just software that came, got updated, and then left
behind. I have gone from a basic Magellan, to Garmin, to
using my phone with the Sygic App.

As I mentioned earlier, my frequent two wheel travel partner, my brother, and I were looking for a better navigation.  That meant going electronic. My first choice was a Magellan GPS, while my brother went with a Garmin Unit. Both were a chore to program, even though they had computer based applications to create route files. Because of this, we both continued to use Streets & Trips to initially lay out our rides.

After a few long trips, and many shorter ones leading our chapter on rides, I was tired of the limitations of my device, and also moved to the Garmin. The first model where we both matched was the Streetpilot III. It was also one of the first GPS Units to offer a color screen.

The map scrolling along with our travel meant no stopping to flip map pockets, or re-arrange pages. On one trip, I realized how lucky we were to never hit a bad rain storm that would have blurred our printed maps. I stuck it out with that Streetpilot until on the way back on trip from Florida, Kasey and I got caught in a pretty heavy downpour that finally drowned it. Fortunately, we were close enough to Indiana that I knew the rest of the way home.

While we were moving through all of these variations of travel assistance, the cell phone was going through an evolution that would leave the phone part nearly an afterthought for most devices. Along with the introduction of the smartphone, came applications, which included navigation programs. So once again,  I re-worked the “dashboard” on my bike, and started testing apps on my phone. I quickly found out that I like to ride a lot places that data service is not available. Having an application where the maps are all downloaded and stored on the phone was a must. I went through several programs, finally settling on what I use today, Sygic GPS.

It offers the ability to download all the maps that I need, so signal or not, the road is always available.

Another necessity is the ability to import multiple point routes. Sygic was not perfect, and still isn’t, but I have been impressed with the improvements they have made since I have started using it. Many of those advancements have come directly from users.

So you can see that my journey of planning, which is far from over, has been a real trip all by itself. Sadly, in 2014, Microsoft made their last version of Streets & Trips. It will remain a good tool for a few more years. Eventually, the roads will be out of date, as well as the locations of many of those mom and pop eateries.

I also have picked up a utility called ITN Convertor. The main purpose of this program is to import and export just about any kind of navigational file. In addition to being able to plan on Streets & Trips, then import into ITN Convertor, and export to Sygic, it has a really cool feature that will open your route in Google Maps in your browser. This makes for a great way to share your routes all over the internet. The trip editor is simple, but still usable to plan routes.

So whether you just like to free wheel it, or follow a line on a screen, it’s your option. If your choice is to plan, then I hope I have helped you out of some headaches, and into more riding time. So, now I’m curious, what do you use to plan your routes?

To read more of my motorcycle stories, you can check out my Motorcycle Blog at www.Blogspot.RodneysMCBlog.com

For more Information:
Sygic GPS Application: www.sygic.com
ITN Converter, with Planning Editor: www.benichou-software.com
Garmin: www.garmin.com