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Borrego Springs, CA

Saturday, January 17, 2015

I’ve got a GPS question

With the fun and excitement of my visitors for the first half of the week, the last couple of days had to be devoted to chores.  Stuff like laundry, generator exercising, and checking several things off of a list I had created.  I tend to be a procrastinator where disliked chores are concerned, and a list  gets me  through them.  It helps me to check things off and move on to the next task.

Several of the items on the list involved phone calls, which is a challenge when you have no AT&T coverage.  That meant I had to do them on the land line in the VC.  I tried while I was working on Monday, but had no success.  Yesterday, I packed all my paperwork up and camped out in a back office of the VC to try again.

I closed the window to the VC and the door because I knew I was going to get a little hot under the collar.  Why is it that it takes forever to get to talk to a live person?  The Geek Squad at Best Buy was more than frustrating.  “Your call is important to us… please stay on the line.”  Yeah, right!  After a half an hour, I finally checked that off.  Then it was on to CVS Caremark.  My Medicare mail order prescription service had changed as of the first of the year.  Talk about having to jump through hoops.  I had talked to them several times over the last two weeks, and during my call yesterday they said they had no record of me.  Don’t you just wish you could reach through the phone lines some times and choke someone?  Ugh!  It went on and on, but after two hours, all was straightened out… I think… I hope.

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I’ve put out a couple of orange halves and stick them on the mesquite tree at the corner of my site.  Mostly they attract bees.  Sad smile  I’ve been hoping the verdin would come back to visit, but I haven’t seen it in a couple of weeks.

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The gila woodpeckers like the oranges though, as well as the mockingbirds.  The peckers aren’t intimidated at all by the bees, and chase them off.  I’m not sure, but I think they might even eat them.  That would be a good thing in my opinion if they do.

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After a frustrating afternoon getting a cauliflower ear on the phone, Emma and I planned to have a peaceful evening outside as the sun slowly set last night.  All was calm until the almost nightly serenade began.

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Yep, the coyotes were nearby, and Emma just can’t help joining in on their howls and yips.  What a performance it was!  ‘The Call of the Wild’, I guess.  What a hoot!

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The sunset wasn’t spectacular, but it was pretty.  My thoughts turned to possibly attending the Blogger Fest meeting in Quartzsite next Saturday.  I thought I might do a day trip up there for the two hour gathering of bloggers in the afternoon.  GPS coordinates of the location are going to be known on Jan. 20.  Here’s my problem, and my question.  I messed around with my Garmin Nuvi Trucker’s GPS, and for the life of me I can’t figure out how to put in GPS coordinates to find the meeting place.  Can any of you readers tell me how I’m supposed to find the place?

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For ‘The End’ tonight, I leave you with this great egret heading to roost last night.  It’s a sunset over the Chocolate Mountains. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

33 comments:

  1. Love the picture of Emma joining in the nightly songfest.

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  2. Just a suggestion. Put the coordinates in google maps on your computer.

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    1. This is exactly what I was going to suggest. I know nothing about about GPS units but Google Maps works well for me.

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  3. What a wonderful shot of Emma - she's putting everything she's got into that howl, looks like. What kind of bees do you have? I thought bees were becoming an endangered species, or is it just honeybees?

    Great picture of the woodpecker. I love those birds, destructive as they can be, but they are fascinating all the same.

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  4. Emma is a hoot!

    Spectacular sunset indeed! Hope to see you at the Bogger Fest!

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  5. Okay - I don't do coordinates but the place will be easy to find. As soon as we get the spot picked I'll give you regular directions to get there. Love Emma's dance.

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  6. Emma made me smile! I'm having terrible things in my life right now some appreciated a smile greatly!

    Good luck on a trip to the Q!

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  7. I also wanted to tell you how sorry I am you have CVS-Caremark. That's what we have and their mail service is horrible. They don't understand that we move around the country. Even when we call them and tell them where to send the drugs, they don't get it right. So frustrating. Hope you have better luck.

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  8. Love Emma doing the "call of the wild" too funny!

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  9. I use a hand-held when I want to load coordinates onto a GPS (not our street pilot)... but like David Davis' suggestion... I use Google Maps a lot for stuff like that. Love the shot of Emma... that's great!

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  10. Love the picture of Emma howling with the coyotes. You should make a video.

    I've entered coordinates before in other GPS, but I think each one is different. Try on the home page, tap Where To and scroll down to the bottom. Is there a coordinates icon there? If so, that's where you enter it. Our current one doesn't have one, but we do have a garmin Dezl truckers gps in the car. Let me know if this works if not I'll look at the Dezl gps.

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  11. Especially like those 2 photos of Emma.

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  12. Boy that looks like a mighty fine sunset to me. The photos of Emma are wonderful! So serene with the beautiful sky and then rip roarin' to howl. She's going to miss her howlin' buddies when you move on. LOL! I wish I could have put our frustration with hours on the phone and the stupid insurance changes as well as you did. Days of cauliflower ear not just hours here. At least I'm glad you didn't have it that bad.

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  13. I love the shot of Emma imitating a coyote!! All those dang Garmins are horribly different, every time I lay hands on ours I have the most uncontrollable urge to throw the thing as far as I can! With that said, Google "how do I enter GPS coordinates into a Garmin NUVI Trucker GPS" and I bet you will find some help.

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  14. Interesting Woodpecker! I wouldn't like those huge bees. There is much to be said for snow..no bugs:) I wonder what Emma is saying to the Coyotes? Hope you get all your troubles straightened out, I just hate it when I am on hold with the recording your call is important to us...ya ya ya then answer already! Customer Service sucks in the country. :)

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  15. Hope you make it to the Blogger Fest!
    On our Garmin you just hit Where To? and on the second page is Cooridinates. Bet yours has something similar.

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    1. Expanding on what Jim said:

      1. Power up your Garmin, then and touch "Where To?" to view the destination options.
      2. Press the down arrow key and touch "Coordinates." If you do not see Coordinates, touch "Categories" first and then select "Coordinates."
      3. Enter the coordinates in the Latitude and Longitude boxes. If the coordinates do not match what you have, touch the "Format" button, select the matching coordinate format.
      4. Touch "View on Map" to preview the coordinates on a map.
      5. Touch "Next" when you are finished then touch "Go" for directions to the meeting place.


      Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_5776617_enter-coordinates-garmin-gps.html

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  16. I'm still hopeful we'll make the blogger fest. I would think it would be easier just to figure out how far out the road they will be.

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  17. I think Emma is saying, "bring it on big boy, my momma's here to protect me." LOL!

    Literally LOL about reaching through the phone, choking someone. . .yes indeed. . . and of course, the sunset with the Chocolate Mountains in the background is divine. . .glad you are enjoying this venue.

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  18. Was Emma sing harmony or the melody? Either way, she's one talented canine. That's coming from someone who can't carry a tune in a bucket. :cD

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  19. LOVE the picture of Emma on her back legs howling in the wind......
    Also, love the peckers!

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  20. The word that came to my mind was "strangle." Little different take on "choke." Soooooooo frustrating, esp for those of us with little patience! :- )

    I liked the sweet "before" picture of Emma, the Wild Child, before she erupted like Mt Vesuvius!

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  21. I really loved hearing about your frustrating phone calls to get things done! I am glad that you didn't use up your cell phone minutes on those nuisance calls. I might like to go to the blogger fest on Saturday...I hadn't heard about it! Emma, you need to come and Roo with my babies!

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  22. When I get into a phone tree I always try pushing zero. That often gets me a live person without all the wait.

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  23. Emma really gets into it!
    Love the pictures.

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  24. Hope you get to go to the blogger fest. That would be fun! Looks like there are good directions on how to get coordinates into your GPS..hope it works for you! Love all the photos, especially the bird and of course Emma!

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  25. I like the idea of putting the coordinates on a map program on the computer. I know my Garmin Street Pilot doesn't have the ability to accept coordinates. I couldn't figure out how to do it, so I sent them an e-mail, and they replied that mine doesn't do that.

    Plomosa Road is easy to find, though, and if they have more detailed directions, as Sandi said above, it will be easy. And there will be balloons to guide us. I hope you're there - we will finally meet! :)

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  26. I'd love to see a movie of Emma singing. My lab would join in from time to time and I thought it was funny.

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  27. I love you guys visit Singapore country and made film about their Food and culture.. You can apply visa here singapore permanent resident status

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  28. Just put the GPS coordinates directly into google maps (e.g. On your phone). It'll drop a pin at the exact spot and you can just start navigating from there.
    Nina

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  29. Just had to add to the appreciation of Emma -- since I have a chocolate lab named Emma, too!

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