After a GPS adventure along Old Route 66, bMighty's "Tech On The Go" correspondent finds a way to print his tax documents and create a photo book of his cross-country escapades.
Our "Tech On the Go" correspondent Scott Koegler will be filing his column from the road this summer as he crosses the country with his family over the next six weeks. Though there's bound to be some "vacationing" along the way, Scott will continue to operate his small business from the road. Throughout this adventure, he'll share tips, tricks, and insights about how to keep a business running smoothly when you're on the move while maintaining a virtual connection to his office network, server, desktop computer, and video surveillance system.
Scott and his wife, Donna Marie, are traveling in a Ford E-350 van, pulling a travel trailer, accompanied by their dogs, Cody and Mac. They left their home in Wilkesboro, N.C., on June 16 bound for the Rocky Mountains. After crossing the Continental Divide, they'll stop off in Las Vegas, peek into the Grand Canyon, and visit family in New Mexico before heading for home along Route 66 (and more modern byways).
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Between Albuquerque, N.M., and Amarillo, Texas -- On Interstate 40, the drive from Albuquerque to Amarillo takes about 3.5 hours, but we knew it would take us longer because we wanted to drive some of the way on old Route 66. DeLorme's Street Atlas running on my laptop, perched beside my driver's seat, was a great help in finding the portions of Route 66 that are still intact. But, like any map, it's up to the map reader to actually read the notations, to make it a successful trip.
One feature of Street Atlas is the ability to create customized, annotated map files and share them. I found one such file that contained a detailed list of Route 66, including notations about buildings, scenic views, missing bridges, and dead ends. As we approached a likely side route, I pulled off I-40, across the overpass, and then on to what was obviously part of the original old highway. I assumed that it would eventually lead us back to an entrance to I-40, as most of these old sections run parallel to the Interstate. After about 3 miles, the annotation on Street Atlas on the laptop's display read "Old 66 Dead Ends Here."
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Not yet in a panic, I reasoned there must be some pull-off or driveway that I would be able to use to maneuver my 18 feet of van and 32 feet of camper into a U-turn. There was no such driveway for another 2 miles, and the "dead end" marker was coming closer on my display. Then the actual road sign came into view. Fortunately, the sign was a "T" rather than a dead end sign. I was able to turn right, into a culvert just barely large enough to accommodate the van, then back up onto the dirt road that led off to the left, and complete a U-turn. Then, back the 5 miles to the entrance to I-40. So much for unplanned adventure tours.
During the last week, I've had need to print ... actually put ink onto paper. That's something I seldom do when traveling. However, I wanted to print some photos to leave with our family, I had to print some tax forms that needed to be signed and mailed, and I wanted to send a photo book to my publisher as a proof of concept. Fortunately, I was able to assemble all the parts I needed in short order.
I carry my Epson PictureMate Dash photo printer with me because it takes up very little room, and prints great 4-by-6-inch color prints quickly. The printer includes an LCD, making it possible to print directly from a USB-attached camera, or from a media card inserted directly into the printer. But because I had already loaded my images on to my laptop and done a little editing in Photoshop, I decided to connect the printer to the laptop and simply print from Photoshop. I was able to print two copies each of about 20 images in just a few minutes, then slip the printer back into its carry bag and into its hiding place under the camper's bed.
My tax forms required full 8.5-by 11 pages, and because they were sent to my eFax account by my accountant, they were not color prints. Rather than carry my laptop into the campground office and deal with printer drivers, cable connections, and timing issues, I printed the fax to a PDF file. I copied the PDF to a USB memory stick and carried that into the office, where the folks behind the desk were happy to print directly from the USB memory.
The photo book is a bit more complex, but also a lot more interesting. I'm creating a photo essay of interesting places along our route and assembling them into a photo essay. My publisher wanted to get an idea how the project is coming along, but I didn't want to simply send a bunch of JPG images and leave the rest to his imagination.
I used RocketLife, a combination online/local composition and print service to collect and assemble my images into a nicely formatted book. I've used RocketLife before to print calendars, mugs, and even another book. For those projects, I let RocketLife's automated formatting handle the initial layout and presentation, then made some adjustments to make the layout just the way I wanted it.
For the book project, I selected my images, selected a layout from RocketLife's list of formats, then dragged and dropped my images to the locations I wanted them. I then added text annotations where they needed to be. Once completed, I reviewed a page-by-page proof and sent the book off to print. The previous book I printed via RocketLife came to me in less than a week, and the quality was impressive. I received 40 pages of glossy, coated stock, complete with my selected image on the cover and on a separate slipcover.
When I ordered the book, I specified shipping directly to my publisher, so I didn't have to coordinate dates and addresses along my route, possibly missing the delivery. Not to mention having to reship the book to my publisher after I retrieved it. Hopefully, the sample meets my publisher's expectations.
See you on the road!
See more "Tech on the Go" columns by Scott Koegler
