Day Zero (Monday, August 2, 2010)

I have packed ALL day. Packed, unpacked, packed again. I think that's probably normal for a big trip. I was feeling the pressure, because I thought I was ready, but still had lots of stuff to do. I decided that you can never been completely ready, and you just have to do the best you can. The bike was heavy. Possibly too heavy. So, I kept going back an eliminating things. Against the advice of a few long-distance friends, I removed a LOT of my tools. Things that I felt could be represented by other tools elsewhere. They say that its not the underwear you pack but the the tools that you bring with you that will get you home. They're right, but tools weight a LOT and underwear doesn't (and besides, I only had about a weeks worth of underwear anyway). I know that I am skipping a lot of stuff concerning the preparation for this trip and there may be some of you who want to know more, but trust me when I tell you that those stories would likely take far longer to type out than the trip itself. Maybe I'll come back to those stories some other time.

Ok, so the Trophy is packed and ready to go. The tires have ZERO miles on them. It is 8:30pm and I have not ridden it with this load yet. I also want to put a few miles on it with my radiator filter in place, just to see if it will be content with the reduced airflow, or if it will immediately overheat. It is not my intent to leave that filter there the whole trip, but I want to know now. Not 5000 miles North.

I hop on. Man, it's heavy. Hit the starter button, and it cranks over real slooow. It's weak. Not enough to get it to start. Then I realize that it's been maybe three weeks or so since I've started it last. With vacation and other things, I've simply not ridden it. It has been parked in my garage, where I've been packing, swapping out wheels, organizing gear, testing electronics (two GPS units, camera battery chargers, 12V tire pump, and other electronics), keys on, keys off, etc etc. It wasn't dead, but just didn't have enough juice to get it going. I hop off and start removing my duffel bag in order to get to the battery under the seat. My wife pops her head out the door and says something to me. I don't recall her exact words, but it was something about being an idiot for taking that thing or something like that. I remove the seat, and toss a trickle charger on the battery. 30 minutes later, it starts. It is now past 9pm and starting to get dark. I still need a quick test run. So off I went. 64,435 on the odometer. I went for a 15-mile ride. 64,450 is my official start mileage.