Maps
I purchased all the recommended Forest Service
Maps and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) maps, but
with my mapping GPS unit I did not need any of the
extra maps.
I did use the Route maps provided by Adventure
Cycling extensively. I had a handle bar map holder
that was very handy and convenient.
To purchase the Forest Service and the BLM maps
you need to contact each ranger district
individually to order their maps. I organized the
info on to a printer friendly PDF file,
Map
and Park Phone Numbers.pdf.
Flying
I flew Air Canada from San Diego, CA, US to
Calgary Canada. My ticket prices was about $150 and
$50 for my bike. I was able to carry two additional
pieces of luggage up to 50 pounds at no additional
charge. But there were size restrictions that I
barely made.
I packed the bike in a regular cardboard bike box
that I picked up free from the local bike shop. I
used foam pipe insulation, purchased from Home
Depot, to protect the frame.
My BOB trailer was packed in its original
shipping box, but to avoid an over size penalty I
had to shave an inch off the box.
Taxi
Once in Calgary I used the Airporter shuttle van
service. It is a shared taxi service that takes
people from the airport to Banff in a van. The
shuttle cost $50 and they put my bike and gear in a trailer
they towed behind the van.
Mail Drops
I relied heavily on mail drops. While on the
trail, finding specialty foods was impossible. So I
shipped my specialty food supplies, replacement parts, maps, and
warmer cloths to the post office's free
USPS General Delivery
Service.
- TIP:
Call a head to the post office to make sure it
is ok and ask for more time if you need. Some
post office locations would only hold packages
for up to 10 days while others would hold them
up to 60 days.
Updating Garmin GPS 60CSx
GPS updates were done at hotels on the guest
computers in their lobby's. Library computers are
locked to prevent the loading of software drivers,
so those were not helpful.
I carried the software programs and GPS drivers
on my camera's 4 gig memory card and used a USB
memory card reader to upload the info to the
computer to install. (Computers with Windows XP
required no software to see the memory card. But
still needed the GPS unit software.) After
installing the GPS software I could update my GPS unit.
The hotel owners were happy to get the free software
loaded because then they could be more attractive to
other riders with GPS units.
End of the Ride
In my case, my wife picked me up in Silver City.
There are people who will pick up bikers at the
border, but it is super expensive. Call Gila Bikes in
Silver City, NM. for more info on rides.
Silver City, NM is the most logical place to
terminate the ride. It is the last full size city
with Greyhound. |
