Soller Deia Binisalem by donoso@bendnet.com at Garmin Connect - Details

Soller Deia Binisalem by donoso@bendnet.com at Garmin Connect - Details
This is more a blog about new technology than where we went yesterday. The first year I came to Mallorca I bought a prepaid phone card so I could call home. Though I do speak Spanish it was difficult to navigate through all the different voice menus and make a call to the USA. Kathy, on the other side of the world had a new cell phone, but she was at a workshop in San Diego and the hotel where she was staying was out of range for her cell phone carrier. The result being we didn't communicate for over 10 days. Today I use Skype, I can see her face live over the Internet and it is easy to get hold of her and for some reason it is free.
Maps, that is another thing that has changed. The first year we all had maps, but we had to guess which were the best roads, now they have a special cycling map with the best routes already picked out. Of course there is the Garmin. John Riley, my friend from Wisconsin, just wrote to me and announced he and Margaret are going to be in Mallorca next week, not knowing I was already here. He wanted to know if I had some good suggestions for routes, in case the Trek Travel routes were too tame. All I had to do was send him my Garmin downloads, just like the one on this blog. He can then download them to his Garmin and not have to worry about where to go. It is amazing how quickly things have changed. Though it is fun to make fun of all these gadgets, and how people are obsessed with cell phones, GPSs and computers they have made my traveling easier. It doesn't make the riding more fun, but it does make finding routes a little less stressful and I like to share my experiences with you at home and that is simple in this new world.
Thanks for reading,
Don