T-Minus 4 days ... and counting

I wanted to get the blog up and running, and the address posted for those that wanted to keep up. I'll post a few things before the trip to warm up a bit, so to speak. Although, since the first day is through Phoenix, warming up shouldn't be my primary concern.

I started packing last week, but as always, it's one of those paridoxical things, where you pack about half way the first day, a quarter the second day, and so on, until you really don't actually finish until moments before you leave. (And then half an hour later, somewhere near Benson, you realize what you should have packed.)

I think I've got the basics covered, such as rain suit, underwear, jacket, etc. I've been debating about some of the more esoteric things, like a laptop, but am probably going to not take one. If you read my October blog (http://sv2reddingoct08.blogspot.com/), you might have an idea why.... (Hint: They don't bounce very well at 75 mph.)

Okay, I just want to say that I have no particular illusions about this being fun, in the usual sense. If I end up with "memorable," I'll be happy.. Don't think this should be a problem. "Fun" would be a bonus, though.

General Agenda: 17 days of motorcycle riding from AZ to Canada, and back, averaging perhaps 400 some miles, give or take 50, each day. General pattern will be three (or 4) days on the road, with one day recovery, then rinse, and repeat. Temperatures seem to be ranging from nearly 100 during the day in Phoenix, depending on the day, to something in the high thirties in the more northern areas. I'd be remis if I didn't give credit where credit is due. I'm leveraging a friend's (who I will call "Dave") efforts. This was the original "Plan A", (the plan before he got some sense, and decided to fly most of the way there). Due to time constraints, he'll be joining the program in progress, in Canada, for the northern legs. I thought about taking this path, but decided this was more about seeing if I could do it, than making it easy. Well, that, and the fact that I'm generally a cheap son of a gun, and have a lot of time and money invested in my bike. Oh, and plan B involved renting Harleys. Not that there's anything wrong with that!