"... With the comments from George and Keith, I think I have the picture. ..."

So to speak.

I haven't done much journal-writing from my phone yet but the day is coming.  And, related to a separate discussion we've had, I'll probably be mixing photos taken with my phone and photos imported to my phone from my camera.

The imported photos end up in a different folder than those taken with the phone.

In either case, however, you are right: the capture order is liable to differ from the presentation order.  What I expect to happen will be that I'll write a bit, select and insert the photo(s) that go with that bit of writing, then write a bit more, select more photos, and so on.  I may make multiple passes: write, insert placeholder text to remind me which photo(s) should be inserted, keep writing... then go back and insert the photos and captions.  In either scenario I'll probably do the photo insertions in a piecemeal fashion rather than as a large batch.

I'd vastly prefer to have a "real" computer for the entire process but I'm unwilling to deal with the weight and volume of even a lightweight, small laptop.  In fact, I'm reconsidering whether I even want to bring and use my tablet; I tried it on my Florida training week and found it not much superior to writing directly on the phone.  Leaving it behind reduces weight, volume, risk of damage to the device, and the number of things I have to try to keep charged, so it's looking like it's going to get left behind.

Yeah but, how do the photos travel from camera to iPad?

The write, insert, write procedure is what I prefer . But now the photos are on the phone and the writing happens on the tablet. That forces the photos to go to Cycleblaze from the phone first, and then the tablet chimes in with the written story.

We are carrying the now mostly dead 3-4 pound real computer as dead weight for the next 3,500 km! 

Or, you can write on the tablet, leave references in the text for the photos you want, then do the final editing and photo insertion from the phone.  Not quite the process you want but perhaps more streamlined?

Can you ship the dead laptop ahead and collect it at the end?  Or ship it home and deal with it from there?

It’s very simple, but it takes an adapter that’s an SD card reader at one end and fits the charging slot on an iPad at the other.  I don’t know where you would find one over here, but if you ask around or find a good electronics store that sells Apple products I’m sure you could find one.  If you’re stuck, we could probably ship you one of ours because we carry three.

Oh, wait: It’s available on Amazon.

Thanks Scott. We are not Apple people, but could maybe rig an SD adapter that our Android tablet would recognize, assuming the camera would work do produce an SD full of photos!  In that event, actually, the camera efficiently throws up a network that is access by an app we have that sucks the photos from the camera!

Until the camera is fixed, the procedure remains Android phone takes the photos and Cycleblaze sucks the photos from the phone. Then the Android tablet makes the text, using a bluetooth keyboard.

I could not get my tablet to recognize my SD card reader.  My phone does but the tablet (Samsung 8") gives it the cold shoulder.  Before you inve$t in an external reader (once you have  functioning camera once again) you may want to check whether your tablet acknowledges it.

I'm indebted to you for telling me about the app to xfer pics from my camera over the camera's wi-fi feature- that reduces the number of little things that Ihave to carry and manage.

On the flip side, it looks like I'll be adding a folding bluetooth keyboard, and reinstating the tablet as something that comes along for the ride.  I got the keyboard yesterday (using it now) and find it vastly superior to the "soft" keyboard of the tablet.

Hi Keith,

I’m sure you’ll like the tablet and keypad approach. The tour-lite we just finished is the first one I’ve done live with our tablet (iPad Pro with keyboard). It was far better  in every respect than the small laptop we used to use.

On the pic transfer via wifi item, you might want to have a look at the camera battery usage involved.  I know every camera / app / tablet is different, so what I’m about to recount might be different for your situation. On this most recent trip I installed an app that allowed me to transfer files to the tablet via wifi thinking that it would cut down on accessories and be more convenient. It worked well and the transfer time was OK (about 10 seconds per ~10mb file).  However it really drained the battery in my camera. Fortunately I do have a functional SD card reader that plugs into the iPad (and I brought it along), and with this the file transfers were blisteringly fast (~1-2 sec per pic) and there was no drain on the camera battery (I got my normal 200 - 300 pictures per charge rather than ~100 when I used the wifi) The SD reader was hands down better for me than the wifi. But if you can’t get a working SD card reader it’s a moot point!

Thanks Lyle 

As a CPAP user I can't go more than two or three nights in succession without a plug in to recharge those batteries.  

I will be carrying two batteries for the camera plus the charger for them, along with an adapter that has three standard outlets plus three USB ports, so I will have plenty of recharge capacity any time a single electric socket is available.  

My CPAP batteries also have USB ports that will change small devices, so keeping the camera operating should be pretty easy.  I hope.