Some of my favorite towns are in this app. I guess that means I like ghost towns? How about you?

http://www.allstays.com/go/apps.php?goto=Apple/ghosttowns

“We listened to customers so we took the database of our larger Camp & RV app, which has over 20,400 campgrounds and RV parks, and narrowed it down to just those that say they accept tents,” says Adam Longfellow, the president of AllStays LLC. “This is currently over 14,000 locations. Most of these places will accept RVs and truck campers as well. There are well less than a thousand campgrounds that are completely tent only.”

Like it’s popular sister app Camp and RV, the new Camp and Tent app plots points on a map view around the user and then updates on the fly as the user scrolls or they can enter a city and state to quickly research far away places. With just a touch, the map can be filtered for certain types of campgrounds. Maybe a user only wants to see National and State Forests, State Parks, public lands, privately owned campgrounds or even Military camps. There are many more campground types along with a selection of hundreds of outdoor sporting goods stores for that last minute item you need.

Each detail views includes a long list of amenities along with buttons for the phone number, driving directions, links to the campgrounds official website and a photo search.

Adam Longfellow adds “After a few too many times of finding myself in the middle of dense forests where none of my gadgets worked, I knew it had to be done differently. So even without any internet service, a camper can look up locations by city and state and still get all the location and amenity details.”

I also added some more amenities details to parks and some more campgrounds were added as I recheck for all county and city parks. It is already the top ranked camping related app but I will never rest in making it better and taking in every user suggestion and report. I want this app to be the best one out there for all your trips this spring and summer.

The camping app is available on iPhone, iPad,  iPod, Android and Intel’s App Up for PCs. You can get more info here.

Random travelers now have a choice of getting xray images taken of them without their clothes on or being intimately felt up for several minutes by a stranger. The back of the hand for a few seconds is gone. That is now a fable for the grand kids. It is now front-of-hand for minutes. Neither option effectively detects what they are looking for and cargo still isn’t screened but it makes for great profits and population scare tactics. The companies with government connections get overpaid for equipment. Citizens get reminded every time they fly that they must do as they are told in the name of security.

Never mind that dogs are far more effective at finding explosives. The corporate profits, the lobbying kickbacks and the power quotient just isn’t as high with canines.

Solution

Take a drug. A big pharmaceutical company is working on the antidote. “Feeling violated? Ask about Securilex and you won’t care about what just happened to you. Start your vacation from reality before you get to the airport.”

A rush of perverted feelings

I can see the job applications starting now. Every closet child molester and pervert is going to line up for these jobs. They get to choose who they get to feel up for several minutes. Kids, women, men, anyone they have a fetish for at the moment. Eight year old boys? Got them. Small children with medical conditions? Pay extra attention to those. Strip search them. Airport travelers are going to get much uglier. Literally.

You too can get paid to do things to people that are illegal anywhere else. What’s wrong with cameras in dressing rooms? Or under bathroom stalls? Or up in the landlords attic? Don’t those places need to be secure too? Maybe everyone should get felt up as they leave the local Gap store.

Wait you say. Didn’t they already make a change for 12 and under? Yes, they did. It’s okay to feel your 13 year old daughters breast and genitals but not the undeveloped ones. And how exactly does one determine the age of a child when drivers licenses are still years away? Is anyone at a airport really going to listen to you when you say the age of your child? Birth certificates? Add another way to make identity theft easier as those get stolen and lost at airports. For the time being, a lot of teenagers are suddenly going to be under 12 for the sake of travel….At least until the next level of personal ID comes along for all of us to solve this new problem.

Skewed and false sense of security

At this point in time, prevention is up to passengers who are in the air. If there is a will, there is a way. Why wouldn’t a bad guy just get a job in security or the travel industry ahead of time? Are we sure that every single scrap of food and merchandise is secure in the shops on the other side of security? Not much can stop a sleeper yet we ignore that it can be done. Instead we have companies that profit from instilling fear to every day functions to drive another darker purpose under the surface. The same people who want to deny most people of health care are not really concerned about others security and well-being.

People still have pretty decent freedom to drive on roads. And a large percentage of them will die because it is one of the most dangerous things we do all the time. Now we even get sold little devices and apps that make it even easier to end your time on Earth and take others with you. Even if we lost a few airplanes a year, flying would still be safer than driving. But the cost to corporations and the power hungry would be higher.

I missed out on WWII, where can I stand in line now?

Just buy a ticket and join the fun. Once you’re in line though, you can’t leave. You can’t change your mind or you may be detained, fined and arrested. You have to keep moving forward into the chamber no matter what may happen to you. You even get to pay higher prices to do so as ticket prices are going up again. Government expenditures are going up as well. Where are the voices about spending on this one? Oh that’s right. Debt doesn’t count when it is for wars, security, military,  corporations, rich people, invasion of privacy, removing personal rights or anything that impacts ones own life. Debt only counts as a matter for protest and concern when someone tries to help the average citizen other then themselves.

Maybe the TSA could hire nightclub artists to feel everyone up. Dim the airports lights, put on some music and just do what some people pay for elsewhere. If they made it a tipping profession like a waitress, they could avoid minimum wage requirements and save money. Maybe even have a booth and charge a currency exchange rate on one dollar bills.

Survey says

The media is plastering the news with surveys that say people are fine with  the new security measures. The problem is that the survey is asking people who don’t fly, haven’t flown recently or can’t afford to fly in the first place. People sitting at home in their recliner with a IV of propaganda flowing into them as they wait for the phone to ring are not the proper people to ask.

It’s not about security. It’s not about freedom. That is so yesterday.

As of just before the Thanksgiving holiday, there are 385 advanced imaging technology machines located at 68 airports nationwide. Airports that have the technology include the following.

Airports that currently have imaging technology:

• Albuquerque International Sunport Airport
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
• Boston Logan International
• Bush Houston Interncontinental Airport
• Boise Airport
• Bradley International Airport
• Brownsville
• Buffalo Niagara International Airport
• Charlotte Douglas International
• Chicago O’Hare International
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International
• Cleveland International Airport
• Corpus Christie Airport
• Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
• Denver International Airport
• Detroit Metro Airport
• Dulles International Airport
• El Paso International Airport
• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
• Fort Wayne International Airport
• Fresno Airport
• Gulfport International Airport
• Grand Rapids Airport
• Harrisburg International Airport
• Harlingen/Valley International Airport
• Honolulu International Airport
• Indianapolis International Airport
• Jacksonville International Airport
• John F. Kennedy International Airport
• Kansas City International
• LaGuardia International Airport
• Lambert/St. Louis International Airport
• Laredo International Airport
• Lihue Airport
• Los Angeles International
• Luis Munoz Marin International Airport
• McAllen Miller Airport
• McCarran International Airport
• Memphis International Airport
• Miami International Airport
• General Mitchell Milwaukee International Airport
• Mineta San José International
• Minneapolis/St.Paul International Airport
• Nashville International Airport
• Newark Liberty International Airport
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
• Oakland International Airport
• Omaha Eppley Field Airport
• Orlando International Airport
• Palm Beach International Airport
• Philadelphia International Airport
• Phoenix International Airport
• Pittsburgh International Airport
• Port Columbus International
• Raleigh-Durham International Airport
• Richmond International Airport
• Rochester International Airport
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
• Salt Lake City International Airport
• San Antonio International Airport
• San Diego International Airport
• San Francisco International Airport
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
• Spokane International Airport
• T.F. Green Airport
• Tampa International Airport
• Tulsa International Airport

Airports adding imaging technology soon:

• Chicago Midway International Airport
• Houston William P. Hobby Airport
• Saipan International Airport

It has nothing to do with security. It’s the same old story. You need to follow the money.

Who is the chief lobbying guru behind the company that has the airport screening machine contract? Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and buddy of ex-President G.W. Bush, along with Chad Sweet, former Director of Operations for the CIA. The Chertoff Group’s leadership team is comprised of former high-level employees of the DHS, CIA, NSA, and FEMA. The same people that create the threats that create the market for such a machine to then be sold to the government. Would that kind of deal happen to the ordinary American company out there with a idea?

What private company traveled with President Obama on a recent trip to India and very little is said about it? Yes, that same one (more on that bit of information here).

What do you think?

Using much of the data I have with this website, it puts it into a more usable format on the road. It locates you and shows you what is around you. You can filter by what you are looking for or search way on ahead in other areas of your trip.

The app has two modes. One that uses GPS location services and finds you and then plots everything on a map near you. The other is the manual lookup. Data is stored locally so you can look up your interstate or highway choice and view the data. Maps and directions still require internet access from there of course.

*13,850 campgrounds. KOA, Private, State Parks, National Parks, BLM, National Forest, Army Corps of Engineers. Even primitive hike-in/boat-in spots. Expanded details for most of them.

*Walmart (with Parking and No Parking noted, along with comments from those like you.)

*Overnight Parking like casinos and other options.

*2,800 Truck Stops with amenities, if RVs are welcome, and what else is nearby.

*Outdoor Supply Stores (Camping World, Cabelas, Gander Mountain, Dicks, Bass Pro Shops)

*750 RV dealers and service places (adding some more in the next couple weeks to be more complete)

*2,455 Rest Areas, Welcome centers, turn outs, service plazas, and scenic vistas broken down by heading. Only heading northbound and don’t want to see southbound rest stops that you can’t use? You can filter Rest Areas and Turnouts by the direction you are heading. A detail view lists each rest stops amenities like restrooms, picnic tables, vending machines, pet-friendly, RV dump, handicap accessible, security and even wi-fi. (Changing with budget cuts)

I accept and listen to all requests to make the app better. What kind of data or options do you want?

Here are some screen shots of the app and a few words about each.

The main map view, zoom buttons or pinch. Select lower left Find button to filter or search. Select each point to bring up detailed view.

The detail view for each point in the app includes map, more information and amenities for most, buttons to dial phone number and for directions with Google maps.

Filter points on the map view. This is handy when you want to see only public lands, Wal-marts, rest areas in one direction or whatever. You can zoom out to view up to 150 points on a single view.

Select favorites to move them up in your list on the view screen.

Select favorites to move them up in your list on the view screen.

Get “Camp & RV” now

I have finished a update of all Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds in the USA. Overall I added a couple hundred campgrounds I didn’t have before because I took these down to even the ones with only a few primitive sites. They are now here.

I’ve added pretty detailed GPS coordinates to each one along with directions when I have them. At least as well as I could find. Most are right down to the remote location while some are just to the nearby main road. It is probably due to budget woes, but much of the official information is outdated and hasn’t been updated in quite some time. A few have neglected their sites for a couple of years now.

There are very few Army Corps sites in the northeast and the deserts of the west. Army Corps camping is based around water so you can figure that out. You can find the main page here and then go to wherever you are traveling.

Campground and RV Parks

Each state now has a special map just for public campgrounds. You can see the Arizona example here.

Public Campgrounds in Arizona

As with most things here on AllStays, it started years ago with my idea to help my own travel quirks. Whether I am driving fast from one place to another or enjoying the road, I like to make the most out of my time and stops. I like to lump gas and food stops together when I am trying to get somewhere fast. Yet I don’t want to settle for something that I don’t really like if I can help it. I don’t want to get on and off the open road more times than I need to.

My old Garmin GPS has lots of information. I can search for restaurants, hotels and other shopping. But I often have to run multiple searches. I can’t just go lookup an exit two hours down the road. I have to find the location or city and then try to search around it. Not as easy as I would like. You can also spend $50, $80, even $100 for some other big name GPS brand apps. Those are great for all kinds of uses as well but they are not specifically designed for interstate travel and don’t have my own quirks in them.

So I created my online interstate guide a few years ago at http://www.allstays.com/Special/interstate-exits.htm. What started like a plain cheese pizza is now a stuffed deep dish. So it has recently been upgraded quite a bit if you haven’t checked it out lately. Yes, the online version provides all the information the app iExit does. I’m not saying otherwise and I’ll continue to always update any free information on AllStays. But the iExit iphone app allows you to access your position and see things much faster and easier. It determines what interstate you are on and which way you are heading. That takes all of a few seconds. You can select your favorites and a then only look for those down the road. You can see all of your favorites coming up or you can look up just one and see where all the In-N-Out Burgers are or Wingate Inns. And in most cases, you can click to call them. I am currently filling the ones I don’t have. That is one reason why you don’t see any great travel apps from the big box sites. They don’t want to provide you with phone numbers to bypass their locked down systems. They don’t get a commission if you just call the front desk but that’s what you need to do on a road trip with eyes about to close shut.

Some Features

iExit has all the brand hotels you see on AllStays. It has all the major truck stops, rest areas, gas stations, restaurants and even shopping. Whether your looking for Walmart or Whole Foods, it’s in there. And much more is being added in the next couple weeks. The number of places will double again on the next update.

This latest version added mapping for all points, even ones that are not right at the exit. It also added mileage and direction indicators so you know that a place is 0.25 miles or 1 mile away.

iExit works when you may not have phone service. It downloads the data to your phone upon install. You won’t be dropped for 20-50 miles at a time like other apps that access the internet all the time. I don’t know about you, but my cell service isn’t constant as I drive for hours. An app searching for data doesn’t do me much good when my gas and stomach are running on fumes.

If you don’t have service or want to plan way ahead like I do, iExit also supports an offline mode where users can look up exits manually. Search hours down the road or even into tomorrow if you’d like. Pick any interstate in the country and look it up fast.

The app is smart enough to know when you’re not on the interstate. It shows the next upcoming 50 exits versus other apps showing 15 exits. That’s not much for road warriors.

Data

Another advantage is that if you look at AllStays.com, you know data is not just a part time or annual project. iExit data is updated regularly on a full time basis as it is the same data used on this 10 year old travel website. It’s not a book that gets updated once a year and is already somewhat outdated when the ink is drying. It’s not a data service that goes out to other companies and therefore only comes out once or twice a year. My Garmin was great, but they made it so difficult to keep track of licenses and upgrade hassles, that I often left it alone and didn’t update it. iExit will be updated often. The only slow down is the Apple approval process. That just means that when you submit a correction, it will show up on the next update. You can count the days, not weeks and months for it to show.

You Have The Power

Most of what went into version 1.1 was suggested or reinforced by users suggestions. Like with Allstays.com, I take just about every suggestion and try to implement it. I don’t have to put it in front of stockholders and have umpteen meetings to get it started. I can take an idea, decide the priority and get it going immediately.

iExit is reduced in price for a limited time and we request your feedback to make it even better.

You can also find more details at www.iexitapp.com

We arrived at the terrific 600-foot drop of Dunn’s River Falls and were led down to the bottom by our guide. Donning bathing attire and special water shoes, we stood on the beach and stared at the daunting ascent. We began the climb holding hands in a chain, which wasn’t easy, and at times the chain broke as we used our hands to scramble up huge boulders against the rushing waters. As we struggled, at times waist deep in water, we broke into peals of laughter – whether of hysteria or merriment I cannot now be sure, but the experience was great.

More sensible souls walked up the path at the side of the falls, pausing at the viewing platforms to watch others struggle up the waterfall and taking photographs. Kids loved it, but the drenching was not for everyone! It is certainly a challenging climb in places and took an hour do the whole ascent, although there were opt-out points. Once the top was scaled we had an enormous feeling of achievement as we dripped off to get changed. A happy half-hour was spent recovering as we browsed the local craft market, buying some delicious smelling Blue Mountain coffee beans to take home as a memento of this crazy day.

Definitely a beautiful location and a memorable experience, but next time I will stick to the footpath and be the one taking the photographs!

By Gillian Birch