2013 Iron Butt Rally - The Inside View

[BMWBarb]

I hate to say it but I would guess that the spot tracker in Hershey is probably Larry Meeker's bike.
That was my guess, as well.

The one by Flint is interesting though. Zoom in on that view and it shows sitting on the freeway right in front of a rest area.

It's been there pretty much all day. I'm thinking the SPOT batteries died or the SPOT tracking timed out after 24 hours.

How accrurate are those things? No idea on what the cause could be but just odd that it shows sitting on the FREEWAY and not IN the rest area. Guess we'll just have to wait for the next official update.

I'm looking forward to seeing the bonus list to see if the couple I picked up on are correct.

The SPOT units are fairly accurate. Units left on while bikes parked in a parking lot will show a very tight scatter of tracking points. those using Google Lattitude, I've noticed, sometimes show up sitting in a field many yards away from a road, so I'm guessing that Lattitude is not as accurate.

The rider whose SPOT appears to have stopped tracking up near Flint may not have even pulled into that rest area. That just happened to be where his/her SPOT unit sent it's last tracking location before the battery died or it timed out.

 

[BMWBarb]

...and.....
Since it looks like he's on his way, and there's no way for anyone else to make that bonus and still get to the hotel in time...I guess it's ok to talk about it...

It looks like there was a bonus of a masted sailing ship in Erie that one rider just managed to get. I think he'll have just enough time to make it back.

It's actually a REALLY cool aerial shot of the ship when you zoom in on the satellite view!

Once I get my personal life all settled and can take some vacations, there are some things I've seen in the bonus lists that I think would be fun to visit that I might never have known about except for following the Iron Butt.

That does look like a cool place to visit! I've never been into Erie itself...only whizzed past it on the interstate a few times.

 

[Twigg]

I hate to say it but I would guess that the spot tracker in Hershey is probably Larry Meeker's bike.
That was my guess, as well.

The one by Flint is interesting though. Zoom in on that view and it shows sitting on the freeway right in front of a rest area.

It's been there pretty much all day. I'm thinking the SPOT batteries died or the SPOT tracking timed out after 24 hours.

How accrurate are those things? No idea on what the cause could be but just odd that it shows sitting on the FREEWAY and not IN the rest area. Guess we'll just have to wait for the next official update.

I'm looking forward to seeing the bonus list to see if the couple I picked up on are correct.

The SPOT units are fairly accurate. Units left on while bikes parked in a parking lot will show a very tight scatter of tracking points. those using Google Lattitude, I've noticed, sometimes show up sitting in a field many yards away from a road, so I'm guessing that Lattitude is not as accurate.

The rider whose SPOT appears to have stopped tracking up near Flint may not have even pulled into that rest area. That just happened to be where his/her SPOT unit sent it's last tracking location before the battery died or it timed out.

Depends which GPS chip is in the phone. Most are very accurate indeed, but Latitude sometimes triangulates cell towers, so not as accurate. If my phone is moving, and cell triangulation disabled, you really can't tell a SPOT track from a phone track. :Latitude suffers most when the data signal is lost, which is far too often to be more than a back-up system, at the moment.

 

[Niehart]

I know it's not #139 but I think it's cool that if you go south on 75 at full micro view, you can see a bike on the highway.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Or the spot device fell off and is sitting on the side of the highway?

 

[RebeccaV]

Tick tock. Doesn't look like everyone's in, but I hope all riders are safe.

Looking forward to some stories.....

 

[Wolf_in_Cheapclothing]

I know it's not #139 but I think it's cool that if you go south on 75 at full micro view, you can see a bike on the highway.

139 must have hauled ass, he is on final approach to Cranberry.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Well, my fear happened. I've had the spotwalla page time out a few times while I was sitting watching it. If it times out then the autorefresh doesn't work. Of course the page timed out right as leg 1 was ending...I presume viewership was pretty high at that time. Here's what I got for Leg 1.

Spotwalla Leg 1

 

[Niehart]

Well, my fear happened. I've had the spotwalla page time out a few times while I was sitting watching it. If it times out then the autorefresh doesn't work. Of course the page timed out right as leg 1 was ending...I presume viewership was pretty high at that time. Here's what I got for Leg 1.

That was very interesting. Thanks!
And, yes, I will admit that I put on full screen and loop and watched it quite awhile.

 

[Texas T]

Very cool to watch. Thanks Jason!

 

[chivvalry]

Very cool. Thanks much.

 

[Fairlaner]

Nice job dude......keep it up.

R

 

[Bugnatr]

Thanks Jason, that was too cool!

 

[BikerGeek99]

Sooze and I are back from the Checkpoint. It was neat to me to be there as the riders rolled in.

Speaking of that, when we rolled in, we spotted a certain familiar Canadian FJR and someone who resembled Huron52, but it couldn't have been - he never gets to go anywhere.

The Canadian Pit Crew was swapping tires on Perry's '07 FJR when we headed for home.

And we just missed Iggy - as we were sitting at a stoplight waiting to turn left, I saw that ugly-assed FJR of Iggy's across the street. I gave him the bird. He gave a limp-wristed wave. Yep - that was Iggy, alright.

 

[Myke Ramsey]

Thanks Jason for putting this together. I've been geeking out all week on the spot page. I guess we'll find out if key west is still a sucker bonus.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Um...

Your welcome.

Your welcome.

Your welcome.

Your welcome.

Your welcome.

 

[Tyler]

Omg stupid phone. Sorry.

I thought you were just really really really really really thankful... :lol:

 

[Fairlaner]

hehe

R

 

[redtail]

I wasn't going to say anything! ( I slept good last night!)

 

[Tyler]

Additional update to today's update (If you've already read the first part, scroll down to the second part! ):

https://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2013/Day4.pdf