What's Up?

Last night I dropped the K75 off with my trusted mechanic Jim. I was struck by how nervous I was looking at the bike in his drive. Primarily, I was dropping it off to have new tires put on it. Secondarily, it was there for a “once over”. For the 8 years I’ve owned this bike I’ve put about 5K a year on it. I’ll be putting 8-9K on it in 5 weeks. I’m not mechanically inclined. If I have my Clymer’s manual out I can do routine maintenance but I don’t know what I don’t know! So, I hand my bike off to Jim and hope for the best. Then I’m off to re-read MOA posts about K bikes with 200-300k trouble free miles on them and I not so jokingly talk about buying a new bike along the way if this one gives up the ghost. If it were just me out there, I don’t think I’d be nervous. But I have an important responsibility riding with me…and mechanical failure could be more than just an inconvenience. No sense dwelling on it.

With route planning done, I’ve begun making reservations in areas that may be booked solid during the summer. I was happy to land a hotel, tour and dinner at Yellowstone on 4th of July. The Glacier motel is booked. Online riding friends have generously extended offers of lodging; we’ll be taking them up in Ontario, Oregon & the DC area.

Last weekend I tested out our packing. Both Lisa and I layed out all that we’d take be taking with us. And guess what? It all fit in the luggage! Yeah! The riding boots I bought Lisa don’t fit her well. I decided to substitute them with new hiking boots. She’ll need them for our National Park stops.

Due to bad weather, we’ve still not had a chance to test ride our gear. I’ll run a mock test (gear but no kiddo) on my ride this weekend to NY. Wednesday I’m doing track day in Loudon. Stay tuned for report!