Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Tomorrow is final exam day for my class, and the end of the first summer term.  That gives us Friday to pack the bike, turn in very early - 6:00 or 7:00 pm. and then pull out around 3 or 4:00 am. in hopes of avoiding the afternoon heat. . .or at least gaining a few more degrees of latitude, getting well up into Kansas. It's 105F here right now, 4:00pm and it looks as though it will be hot until we hit the Rockies in northern Montana, almost two weeks from now!  We are not adverse to doing a motel with AC and a pool, but have hoped to save those nights for the return across the desert SW. 

Have about everything on the list collected and laid out.  Now the fun of seeing how tight and compact we can get it all.  We have the old-fashioned leather saddle-bags on the Heritage Softail Harley, and then the strangely shaped roadbox I fabricated a few years ago of fiberglass that, when the rolled sleeping pads are attached to the front, becomes Jody's backrest.  Then we tie a roll on top of each saddlebag, one containing the tent, and the other cooking gear.  Just before Jody climbs on, in the past - we tied a pair of bicycle panniers on top of the box.  I'm hoping this trip we may be able to do without the panniers.  Once we are secured, Jody rides back there like the Queen of Sheba!. . . . . . Back to work!

Father's Day - Only two weeks to go.  Making "to do" lists.  Wrapping up classwork and projects on this end.  Finalizing contacts with folks we plan to see on the road.  Probably more specific people than any previous trip.  Will be great to see family and friends, but it does call for a pretty definite schedule.  Is the desire to renew ties a part of the aging process?  Jody got me a GoPro Hero2 camera.  Pretty neat little unit that can be helmet mounted, or almost anywhere else, to take stills at intervals or continuous video.  Changed fluids on the bike and had new tires mounted, rear brakes redone.  The bike is ready!  Now if we can just get our own acts together.

Twelve Weeks Out

April 20.  Weather great except for the welcome spring showers.  Riding daily to work, etc.  Ordered tires from American Motorcycle Tire.  Metzeler Me880 MT90B-16 M/C 72H (wide white) for the front and Metzeler ME880 MT90B-16 M/ 74H (wide white) for the rear.  You might notice the ride  pictured at the top of the blog has blackwalls.  It's what I've always run on it, but it's a black Heritage and deserves some non-black space.  After I've scrubbed them a couple of dozen times, I'm sure my tune will change!  An indy shop is asking $375 for a 30,000 mile oil change and checkup.  Of course, most of the 36 items on the checklist are "inspections" I could probably do myself.   Aside from the tires, the only new parts are the engine oil and filter, the primary chaincase oil, transmission fluid, and the sparkplugs.  On the other hand, zipping down the mountain highway at 70 with Jody and a couple of hundred pounds of gear piled on behind, I like to think that someone with greater expertise than I have turned a screw and tightened a nut here or there.  Son Donald or friend Brandon would both do the whole thing themselves.  Maybe I'm just a big wimp!


Here's the current packing list:

Chaco Summer Packing List

Cycle Gear

Big Black Box

2 panniers, 2 duffles

Bungee Cords

Ear Plugs

Gloves

Helmets

Radios

Jackets

Chaps

Cable Lock

Rain Gear

Saddlebags

Airhawks & Sheepskins

Tool Kit

Wrenches

Fuses

Spare Key

Charger?

Personal Gear

Hair Brush

Comb

Contacts,  etc.

Floss

BOderant

Meds

Glasses

Shampoo

Shaving Kit

Sunglasses

Tooth B&P

Towels

Washcloth

First Aid Box

Chapstick

Bandaids

Bug repel

Sun screen

Aspirin

Ibuprophen

Tums

Neosporin

Zip lock bags

Clothing

Bras

Hats

Jeans

Swim suits

T-shirts

Flip-flops

Underwear

Laundry bag

Long sleeves

Shorts

Socks

Vests (down)

Boots

Laundry detergent

Information

GPS

Binoculars

Books

Cameras,  acc.

Cell phones

Chargers & Batts.

Driver’s Lic.

Registration

Insurance papers

Canadian too

Maps

Memberships

Paper & Trip log

Passports

Pens & stamps

Pencils

Phone & address list

Registrations

MP3

I Touch

Tickets/Passes

Travel info

Camping

Walking  sticks

Chairs

Table

Compass

Cord

Ground cloth

Sleep bags

Sleep pads

Pack straps

Matches

Lighter

Tent

T-paper

Broom & pan

Sun Shower

Flash & Headlights

Cooking

Stoves

Fuel

Water carrier

Pots & pans

Cups

Dish soap

Dish Pad

Dish towel

Trash bags

Utensils

Paper towels

Swiss knife

Water bottles

Food staples

Margarita Mix

tequila

Bacon

Canned meat

Coffee

Cream

Sugar

Crackers

Eggs & carrier

Granola bars

Ole –squeeze

Mayo – squeeze

Mustard

Pasta

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Spices

Fun

Watercolors

Sketchbook

Books

Crosswords

Cards

Cribbage bd.

Jody's birthday, April 13th, fell on Friday this year.  In spite of the day, I think she had a nice time, squeezed as she was between Orthodox holyday observances . . .while every other Christian denomination had finished Easter the week before and moved on!  Son Donald had warned me against limiting my gift-giving to vacuum cleaners and motorcycle gear . . .but I did manage to squeeze in her new helmet and the new Sena radios.  I still haven't gotten mine past the cauliflower ear stage, but the phone connection w/pandora sounds good. . .almost audible over the stubby pipes. 

When you pack everything on the bike . . . you're 1,000 miles from home . . .each item, from the compressible down pillow, the miniature shaving kit, the home-built tent-table, to the radio/helmets; all of these become the world in which you live.  This is the early planning stage when you have the leisure to debate whether to take the camera that needs the charger. . .or the one that works on AA batteries you can find anywhere.   Is it a rule that every electronic device must have its own charger?  On the highway, at speed, the inside of that helmet is your entire world - it becomes much like the interior of your car.  If your leathered-up, you can almost feel as removed from the world until you slow down, come to a stop and put a boot on the ground.  Suddenly you're out of doors again.  Nice way to travel!

Proposed Route

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Wichita+Falls,+TX&daddr=Minneapolis,+MN+to:Beach,+ND+to:Glacier+National+Park,+MT+to:49.53531,-115.03322+to:49.95168,-119.38627+to:49.34141,-123.15107+to:48.82521,-123.71826+to:Tillamook,+OR+to:Yosemite+National+Park,+CA+to:37.36423,-118.39537+to:36.58636,-117.17128+to:Las+Vegas,+NV+to:Zion+National+Park,+Hurricane,+UT+to:North+Rim,+AZ+to:Monument+Valley,+Oljato-Monument+Valley,+UT+to:Chaco+Culture,+Nageezi,+NM+87037+to:Taos,+NM+to:36.30536,-104.19304+to:Amarillo,+TX+to:Wichita+Falls,+TX&hl=en&ll=40.313043,-106.523437&spn=23.674422,47.241211&sll=42.0067,-108.59995&sspn=23.089074,47.241211&geocode=FWx7BQIdNRwh-in12mJwkiBThjEAUurvy_oGHQ%3BFSZkrgIdEt1w-im9u3eTkDOzUjEH7novhMmfkw%3BFbXpywId6wTN-SmfRJTtW8klUzEscB1gIfBxyA%3BFYUX5AIdSbE0-SHsXcUVIrwWrw%3BFU7Z8wIdfLsk-SlfYYvIYGllUzFHuy9qvv5PvA%3BFcAz-gIdYk_i-Cl7Osecne19UzHKWC46zTElfw%3BFeLj8AIdIt2o-CkzdgMGOW6GVDFgIrsYAREyWw%3BFXoD6QIdjDWg-CmPWlvZW06PVDG8gBo6EgVe6g%3BFVibtQIdUkqe-Cll_aCgBdWUVDHTT02YSzQoNA%3BFeXqPwId52rf-CmvY_I4_vGWgDFu4slULj8hGQ%3BFQYiOgIdFm7x-Cn3t_qE_z2-gDHRS-4EtVwrDQ%3BFXhDLgIdsBsE-SnnYmQOXK3AgDFiURiRW29Iig%3BFdYQJwIdMJoi-SnRffWkgre-gDGjebPV5tXMOg%3BFf3BNwIdkwdE-SH1VjaqFToufA%3BFWqHKAIdoBRS-Sk3BYEqcG4zhzEKxcXAAl3LqA%3BFVvUNAIdk3hu-SFPqURR26CaSg%3BFeUWJgIdiLGP-SEINvOoJEdNjA%3BFdCHKwIdNhW1-Smx_BF_2mQXhzGCt6lhg5HqkA%3BFdD5KQId8CPK-SmfywZ2d4YahzHnbtQ5Al5a1w%3BFe1xGQIdfy3u-SkDz0Wy1EgBhzGv0jZoHNHz0A%3BFWx7BQIdNRwh-in12mJwkiBThjEAUurvy_oGHQ&via=4,5,6,7,10,11,18&t=m&z=5

Takeover and Treadwear

 A couple of interesting developments this week.  Son Donald's company was bought by a much larger outfit.  At last report, he knew neither what that meant for his own position with the company, nor what effect it could have on his summer schedule with regard to the Chaco trip.  Perhaps he'll know more soon.  We started planning this one before he got involved, but he and Lacey have surely become a part of my continuing daydreams about our trail across the Southwest.

A couple of items arrived by mail, but have "birthday" written all over them, I can't write anything until April 15th.  It looks like it will be tire time before we leave.  Being a Softail Heritage, I've always thought it should have whitewalls.  Looks like by buying them online and having someone here install them I can save $100 or so.  Not everyone knows that motorcycles take a different tire on the front than on the rear.  I'm looking at  a Metzeler MT90B - 16 ($154) for the front and a 150/80 HB16 ($190)  for the rear.  The Harley folks want $140 to mount them.  Other folks will undoubtedly be less.

One last item worth mentioning is that a major piece of my summer work came together this week.  I've contracted to do several thousand dollars worth of display work.  I'll have full time after commencement on May 12 through the 29th when I begin a class that will meet from 8:00 am. until 10:00 am. MTWand Th.  For fivc weeks, it will be 10:30am. or so before I get out to the unairconditioned warehouse.  It's usually pushing 100F by then but, in these times, we are most grateful for the work.  These are displays I designed and fabricated some years back.  In some cases, 30 years.

We've been using the Air Hawk seat cushions whenever we leave town.  We agree that they will ease the ride this summer.  On the last trip up into Canada, we went with a couple of pieces of sheep fleece which worked quite well.

March 2012 - The Bestmade Plans

Jody and I live in Texas.  It's a great place to spend the school year. . .but a good place to leave in the summer.  In 2009 we struck out west for Taos, turned north and kept going 300 miles above the Canadian border to the Columbia Ice Fields.  We turned around and headed down through family country in North Dakota, on down to the Sturgis rally, and home for a total of 6500 miles.  Last summer we used the same kit to camp through seventeen European countries in a Renault Wind.  That 2011 trip is  covered in parispqgreece.blogspot.blog.

This trip proposes to take only only the second half of the summer to ride the scooter from here, Wichita Falls, TX, up to Minneapolis to visit family, then up to Fargo, ND, west to Bismarck and Beach, ND. to see more family. Then up across Montana to Great Falls to see our old friend Eunice Neely, then up across the 'Going to the Sun' highway through Glacier and up into BC.  New country will be seen on the way west to Vancouver, onto the ferries and down to Port Angeles, WA. and then on down the coast to Tillamook, OR. to see my younger sis and her family.  Then south to Crater Lake and into the California redwoods where we should pick up son, Donald and his girl, Lacey.  We'll ride together down 101 to S.F. staying a couple of days and then start east to Yosemite.  Donald plans to return Lacey to S.F. and a plane back to their home in Austin, TX.  He'll catch up with us and go on to Zion, the North Rim, Monument Valley, Chaco Canyon, Taos, and home.  It looks like about 6,000 miles

Our equipment is all in pretty good shape from last summer's workout.  Of the 72 nights we were in Europe, we camped with our outfit 71 nights.  The '07 Harley Heritage Softail has about 27,000 miles on it and shows no appreciable wear.  I was looking tonight at tires.  It will be time for a new set before the trip.  We're getting Jody a new helmet - just like my HJC, with the tip-up faceshield so she can adjust her glasses, and take a drink on the road.  We'd used a pair of Scala headsets, in fact gave Donald and Lacey a pair like ours.  Both sets failed after the warranty period.  The Scala people have no interest in repairs beyond that point, so we've both switched to Sena SMH10B units.  I gave Jody an Air-Hawk cushion for Christmas and got one for myself as well.  Our tushes should be comfy the whole way!  I cut a new footprint for our Mutha-Hubba tent upon our return this summer, but haven't field-tested the wole rig just yet.