alexm

Ok. So here's what I'm in for so far, aside from the stuff I need for myself: one makeshift table (2 x 4 ft. plywood/work bench contraption) an extra folding chair or two double burner coleman propane stove a whole lot of split, mixed harwood refurbished set of 'jewels' for Don to take pot-shots at [:0] Doesn't sound like I'll need to bring beer as it seems everyone else has that area covered quite well []. How many people plan on being there for the Friday night thing? I'm kinda thinking about a Friday night food thing also (fee-free). Last time's "last minute jambalaya" was very good, so I'm thinking about emptying the freezer of various and sundry "recently departed creatures" and seeing what I can come up with. Campfire deer & sausage jambalaya stuffed pheasant, anyone? []

It looks like we've officially hit the weatherguesser.com 10 day forecast for the event. Looks like highs in the mid to upper 70s and lows in the upper 50s with a slight chance of rain Friday. If the lows drop below 50, I may drag a gumbo up there for Friday night. I couldn't find the Hootercast for the previous week, so I guess Jamie's on his own there. ... alex

quote:gpx is really xml code which could be executed (by a browser). Since html/xml viruses do exist, they could be present in a gpx file. Now that's enough to scare the hell out of you. Someone injects some (javascript/vbscript/activex/etc...) code into a cache page. When you open with something like Watcher or browse on your local hard drive, you're running untrusted code in the "local" zone (or whatever IE calls it). Hmm.. Now to figure out how to sneak a script into a cache page and make it self replicating...

I just counted up the number of positive responses from the cache page and this thread to get a ballpark head count. So far it looks like about 2 dozen + "Several Texans." First come, first served on the camp sites, right?

quote:You people make me take another Louisiana roadtrip the following week, _AND_ pay for it? The humanity. If it's any consolation, the towing charge for the last few hundred feet to the campsite is once again free. Once you reach more than about a mile out, the price increases dramatically. alex

quote:Originally posted by pizzachef:I plan to make my way up there Friday night...is there a fire wood place nearby that we can pick up a truckload? When I get there, we can take the top off my truck and lay the seats down and I oughtta be able to fit a modest sized truck load. That way we won't have to unload an already-full truck to go fill it up again. I really wonder what the people at "the gate" are gonna be thinking.. "Hmm.. Guy with GPS, truck full of wood... Hmm... Another guy with GPS, truck full of wood... Hmm.. Guy with GPS, chocolate lab, and pig in passenger seat.. " So if anybody asks, let's all give the same story. We play a game where we hide logs in the woods, mark them with the GPS, and send others out to find them. Naah.. They'd believe something as crazy as that...

quote:Originally posted by sledgehampster:Only problem is that it is VERY tedious and labor intensive. Anyone know of a program to do this for me? If it's anything like XMap HH Street Atlas USA or XMap HH for Topo USA... GPSBabel will do the trick (and a few dozen others). It sounds like you're dealing with the Topo USA strain (GPSBabel refers to this one as "xmap" format and the other as "xmapwpt"). This Thread may also help a bit... ... alex

quote:Originally posted by Jamie Z:I'll give some thought to bringing my canoe, but I hadn't intended to drive my truck this time, as popular as it was during the last camp. And here I was thinking you were paddling down for the weekend? Really though, I plan on dragging my fishin' boat along if I can get there early enough on Friday (or late enough on Thursday I'd suppose...). I figure I might be able to get a bit of fishing before the real event kicks off and try to add a few of our finned friends to the fire. alex

quote:Originally posted by TotemLake:Good info. Thanks! I should have realized the same had I taken the real time to figure it out. I just accepted that it is a problem and was content with the workaround. It drove me nuts for about a week before I figured it out. Then when I was all happy that I had a detailed bug report for Magellan, my bubble was burst by the silent firmware upgrade fix. I think though, that this is the first time I've mentioned it out loud.

quote:Originally posted by TotemLake:I think Embra hit it. I've seen this same issue when waypoints are too close to each other. Removing some or moving them farther apart seems to fix it. Sometimes the fix doesn't happen at random times and requires a clean slate to start over. A few months ago I found a few problems with the magellan protocol implementation on the Meridian and probably a few other models. Under certain conditions, sending waypoint messages to the unit that were longer than... 80 characters... I think... would cause the unit to possibly corrupt memory and/or waypoints. And if I recall correctly, SD card waypoint writes would write out a max of 80 characters, silently trimming any data from the end of the waypoint message (like the icon). This would happen most often loading waypoints from the SD card (I rarely use serial), however I'd imagine that the "parse a waypoint message and stuff it in the waypoint list" routine wouldn't differ between SD-text and serial. The net result would be waypoints that appeared not to to download into the unit, as well as being unable to retrieve waypoints via serial. In these cases, the waypoint that showed the symptom was not the problem (it was getting clobbered by a different "bad" waypoint -- a classic 'buffer overrun' bug). Magellan apparently silently fixed this somewhere between firmware 3.12 and 4.06. The moral of the story? If you're having waypoint transfer problems and are not running the latest firmware, you probably should be. However, as updating the firmware will erase the unit's memory, you'll never know if that was the fix or not. Go figure. ... alex

quote:ok lets try to get a rough head count on folks that want to participate in the Cochon de lait. I will need to know an approximate number so that I'll know how large of a roasting pig to get, and so i can roughly figure a per head cost. You can count me in for one piglet-plate and one truckload of wood. I just had a chat with the local cajun wood guy and he says, "Oh, you doin a cochon de lait? I got da special wood jus fo dat cher. You take you some hickry and wall-nut and soak dat, you get you fire goin an...." At least I don't have to cut it myself. Chances are, Katie'll be ducking this one. It's UL's last home game that weekend and I seriously doubt she'd miss it. alex

quote:Originally posted by BR Jenkinson:If we can get a good location like the coordinates Don posted, and can get a comittment of a couple truckloads of some good hardwood firewood, im all for Planning to do a Cochon de lait for the campout. Hardwood = Oak, Cedar, and/or what else? I'm going to see if I can scrape some up. Maybe we'll get lucky and another hurricane will blow through here and uproot some more trees and the pre-cut oak will once again line the streets. quote:Originally posted by NutBusterPS Alex when are you and Katie planning to be down this way camping, perhaps me and Kerry can catch up with you all and visit for a few hours if nothing else? We were considering this Saturday as a possibility. We've been wanting to check that place out for a while now. No set-in-stone plans yet. We'll probably be doing it on-the-fly. If not this weekend, then Nov. 1st at the earliest. Or Nov. 8th at the latest. quote:Originally posted by papajohnnow i've gotta remember all the stuff that i forgot to pack last time... Coffee? Maria? To leave the law at the door? Now.. Where the heck is Phil? ... alex

quote:Originally posted by Jamie Z:So, the Indian Creek link didn't seem to work for me. Where is this place? It's near Woodworth, LA. It's about 6-7 miles SE of the posted coordinates. Given the proximity of the new locaation to major roads (I49), it's probably a quicker drive than the other location regardless of which direction you're coming from. Unless, of course, you're coming from the other location. Funny thing is.. Katie and I were planning on doing some camping up there in the next few weeks anyway. Will give me some time to check the place out and see if the fishing is any good... alex

I'm all for the Indian Creek area also. It clears up some of the "problems" of the other area, and adds the on-the-water factor. I've never actually camped there, but I've seen video and it looks nice. My only concern would be whether we could have nearly exclusive use of the area. I wouldn't want any muggles to be too close by as they might complain to the rangers about Buck8Point's snoring . I'm really looking forward to it all. I came back yesterday from getting all but skunked fishing in Vermillion Bay. With all the little inside jokes getting pitched around in this thread, I was literally laughing out loud in a way that I haven't laughed since the last campout. I can't wait to do it all again... Except for maybe the log-to-groin thing. If I ever have a son (read: am still capable of...) I'm naming him Don. Anybody contact Phil yet? ... alex

quote:I can't get PIE to open up the page. Do I have to have GPX files of a later date than august? I have an Ipaq 3955. Similar problems here, but I haven't nailed them down yet. For the record, here's what it looks like: 1. App starts, I pick a GPX. little "busy" ticker ticks on. 2. App switches to "list". ticker speeds up. 3. I get bored, tap screen and get "filters" screen with "busy" ticker going on. 4. Click "Apply" and get partial GPX listing with "busy" still ticking. 5. Click on cache. Get no IE page, but URL reference appears proper. 6. Close GPXSonar. Get assertion failed (Wincore.cpp line 332). 7. Get PPC BSOD (exception 0xc0000005 @ 97644). I've got one GPX that will load right every time. The other 3 give various pieces of the above problem, sometimes without the "filters" screen, and sometimes with. Sometimes a total lock-up, sometimes not. Hmph. I can offer to run it inside the MS PPC Dev Kit 2002 debugger if that would help any (have to install it again... are the debugging symbols stripped from the EXE?) I'll offer up GPX files or whatever if it will help any. From what I've seen of it working, this thing is the Bee's Knees, man.. alex (edit) Oh yeah, iPAQ 3835, PPC 2002 w/all service packs, GPX and EXE in Flash ROM (not memory card).

quote:Alex, do you want to try placing a call to the ranger station up there to find out what it takes to make use of the resources? I tried today. Got a really wishy-washy answer from someone who didn't know exactly what I was talking about. Q: I'm looking for someone who can give me information on camping at the Evangeline Camp. A: Valentine Lake is closed. Camping is available at Kincaid Lake for $12 a night. It has electricity and running water. Q: I'm talking about the Evangeline Camp, it's sorta near Kincaid Lake off the Wild Azalea trail. Do I need a permit or anything to camp there? A: As long as you're so-many feet off the trail, you're OK. Q: But do I need a permit? A: No, you don't need a camping permit. Q: Can I drive into the Evangeline Camp? A: No, you cannot drive on the Wild Azalea trail. Q: There's a small dirt road leading to Evangeline Camp. The camp is in a big open clearing. Boy Scouts camp there sometimes. Can I drive in or do I need a permit for that? A: You shouldn't have a problem with that. Me: Thank you very much for your time. (sigh) I'm going to see if I can find a different number to call. I'd really like a face-to-face with an actual figure of authority, but don't think I can get near there during standard office hours to chat. I really don't mind carrying the stuff in, I'd just like to know where we stand (or park) on that issue. It helps decide how much stuff to drag along. I'll keep trying.. alex

quote:Originally posted by JamesJM:Yeah, I knew I had to convert the file beforehand but I can't find any format that Mapconverter will accept....not even with Babel. I don't recall exactly when mapconverter was added to GPSBabel, but it's definitely in the latest beta release. You can download it directly by clicking one of the download links here. If you use "Babelfront", the windows GUI, it's in the list as "Mapopolis.com Mapconverter CSV". If you're doing the command line, it's as I entered it above. Talk about fun, eh?

quote:When I input the file for conversion and run it I get this message: "No map record: <?sml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?> You're using Mapconverter and not GPX2Maplet. Mapconverter doesn't convert from a GPX file. Instead, you'd need to convert your GPX into something that mapconverter can handle, and then run it through mapconverter. The quickest (and probably only) route to get this done is to get GPSBabel. Use GPSBabel to convert from GPX to "mapconverter" format. Then feed GPSBabel's output through the mapconverter program to create your mapconverter map. Then copy the mapconverter map to your PDA. If you're using a PocketPC, mapconverter will make a map with a ".pdb" extension. You'll need to change that to a ".mlp" extension in order for PocketPC Mapopolis to see it. From a command line, the syntax is: gpsbabel -i gpx -f yourfile.gpx -o mapconverter -F yourfile.txt Using the "babelfront" gui should be self explanatory (input type GPX, input file, output type mapconverter, output file). The simplest solution is probably to get Mapopolis Version 4 and use GPX2Maplet.

quote:It had me backtracking several times as though it didn't recognize that there were off ramps that would have gotten me there quicker. I've never done a side-by-side compare, but I've seen the same differences that you are. Version 3 Mapopolis suggests a different route from my home to work than version 4 does. Version 4 also thinks I work a block or so further up the road and suggests I pass up a convenient U-turn to go up to the next major intersection and turn around. quote:What this really boils down to is that on a few caches Mapopolis tacked on an extra mile or two to my route. Not a huge drawback I suppose. I really don't think much of minor setbacks like the ones I've mentioned above. 90% of the time that I'm "trusting" Mapopolis (or any other driving directions), I'm in a place where I have no clue know how to get from A to B anyway. An extra couple of blocks of decent directions is better than driving in circles for an hour looking for a road that isn't there. alex

quote:I haven't been able to get this new utility they sent me to work, however. Most likely I'm doing something foolish, I'm good at that. - JamesJM Try this: Go to "Tools -> Choose Map" and select your maplet. If you don't have it selected, the little icons won't show on the map, but locations will still show in the "Maplet -> Show Locations" and other "find" style lists. This "keep it in the list regardless of whether it's selected" feature is actually a peeve of mine I was pondering a few minutes ago when I realized that it was more than likely your problem. (or something to take a stab at, anyway). Let us know if it works.

quote:The plan is to have the campout November 1, 2003, in the standard Louisiana geocaching campout coordinates. I'm all for being outside with good food and good company, so you can pretty much count Katie and I in pending any major malfunctions. I wouldn't mind seeing a different location chosen, but like last time... don't have any better suggestions that would accommodate both the the "number" and "needs" of the masses. I've got a cache near there I need to check on anyway. Any ideas as how to avoid the "roads vs. resources" issues? Perhaps a call to the ranger station for clarification/permits? Lookin' forward to it! alex

quote:Just wondering if anyone has seen the same problem and if they figured out a workaround..... Thunderhawk is a pretty slick web browser that seems to tame the GC.com pages pretty well. I've never posted a cache with it, but it seems to handle the forms quite well. I'd imagine it'll probably work until the "new" site sets in with all it's javascript mumbo jumbo (like the forums are now). ... alex

quote:Originally posted by Geek-Qualizer:4.24 ?? Where? Link? I see 4.23 From the download page. It says 4.23, but I downloaded 4.24 over the weekend (help -> tech support in the app says 4.24). I also found This forum post of someone perhaps describing a problem that may be similar to Jolly's original query. ... alex [This message was edited by alexm on September 11, 2003 at 11:22 AM.]

quote:I tried uninstalling mapopolis and reinstalling it. Same behavior. Then I tried deleting ALL the maps on the Pocket PC and reinstalling EVERYTHING (minus my maplets). Same thing. Is there any chance that maybe somewhere in between you installed some new software or copied some stuff over and have run your PDA nearly out of free memory? One thing I've noticed about mapopolis (any version) is that it will tend to use up as much memory as it can. Another thing possibly worth mentioning here.. There's a 4.24 version on their website that was released about a week ago. You might want to upgrade if you haven't already. The only oddity I've seen in version 4 that I don't think was in version 3 is that mapopolis includes all maplet points in the maplet and landmark searches regardless of whether they are selected under "choose map." Makes for cluttered up searches when you have subsets of the same points in several distinct maplets. ??? alex

quote:3. Some way to turn off landmarks without turning off the pushpins on your maplet. I'd like to see maximum street level detail WITH my cache pushpins but Landmark clutter mucks it all up so I can't distinguish caches from landmarks. This isn't the answer to your request, but it may help. Select a different icon in GPXToMaplet that will stand out from the others. For instance, I chose the "$" icon (geocash?). At far out zoom levels, caches are green dots as opposed to the yellow-orange dots that seem to be used for everything else. ... alex