Prelude

Ok, it's just over a day until the next adventure begins. This summer's big event is a three week ride to the New England area and Nova Scotia. Gary and I are doing it again, leaving on July 22 and returning on or around August 13.

The general plan is one week from home to Bar Harbor, Maine; one week in Nova Scotia, and one week through eastern Canada and back home. Gary's wife is flying to Nova Scotia to join us there and spend a week in that area.

Gary and I just returned from two consecutive weekend trips on the bikes; the first weekend was for the Road Runner Weekend tour in the mountainous part of northwestern Maryland (yes, Maryland has good mountains!). We returned just yesterday from the BMW MOA International Rally in Johnson City, Tennessee. Both weekends were fun; the first one involved a 400 mile ride to the location and group rides two days. Last weekend was much shorter to the site and involved a 30 mile commute from our motel to the rally site daily.

I haven't had to do much to prepare for this trip. I've learned to pack much more lightly than I did on earlier rides. I now pack 3 sets of things like socks, underwear, tee shirts, convertible pants, etc. I can then wash dirty things every third night and be okay. I've also bought mostly polypropylene things; moisture wicking to keep me drier and to dry overnight in motel rooms. Much better than cotton.

I did buy one new outfit while at the BMW Rally for the ride. I saw an Olympia Stealth one-piece mesh outfit that I liked. It's grey with neon yellow stripes on the sides and sides of sleeves and yolk on the back. Also has reflective strips in good places, all to make me more visible. Today I sprayed all of the yellow with Scotchguard treatment to keep the yellow bright. Hopefully that treatment will pay off in the long run.

For the bike, not much. I bought some new foam grips for the handlebars and installed them. Should reduce wear on the factory grips. Also installed a new mount for the Sirius radio. The old one was not secure enough to hold it in place. And, I rerouted the GPS cables on the dashboard to make the front a little less messy. Finally, I installed new bulbs in the Motolights; 50W bulbs to make the bike more conspicuous. All in all, not much preparation.

Tomorrow I'll finish packing, get money, and be ready to start on Wednesday morning. It should be a good adventure.