Launch Date Planned

Today I got word that I will be able to leave town on Thursday June 17 to embark on the journey! Yippee! I am so excited that I can hardly contain it…or maybe I'm afraid...I'm not sure. My mom used to tell me that fear and excitement often feel the same in the stomach, so it is best to assume it is excitement. I'll go with that, in spite of the overwhelming number of worst case scenario scenes that keep flashing through my busy head. I will be polite and not share them with you unless they happen. (Everyone cross your fingers.)

All preparations that can be made at this point have been; camping supplies collected, a final tuneup on the bike, a trip to the store for small size odds and ends, and finding the first meeting (I'll keep you in suspense as to where, but it rhymes with the incorrect plural of several dead swine…). Over the next two days I will work on packing the bike, getting all the home things squared away (bills, etc.), and the biggest challenge of all, attempting to get my mind ready to leave. I have a certain amount of anxiety about leaving Mandy and all of my friends. 60 days is a long time to be gone from home, and I am getting a little afraid of what I will miss. I already know that I am going to miss Mandy tremendously. She continues to assure me that this is the right thing to be doing and that she and I will both be just fine, but that doesn't change the fact that I will not get to see her every night, something that I have become quite accustomed to and happy about. I also understand intellectually that my fear of loneliness on this adventure is a little unfounded since I will be going to a meeting every day, but I still wonder how frightening it will be to be alone in my mind for all those miles in-between meetings. More will be revealed, I suppose, and my job now is to prepare the 'cabin' for departure.

So there you have it, come the 17th I will be headed out onto the road to see what will happen, work on honing my look-for-strange-things skills, and get to the next meeting.

Source of Panic Discovered

Well, it turns out that the panic I was feeling about the trip had little to do with the trip. On Monday I received an email to do some work and instantly felt better. Although I knew that the work was still there, I was having a hard time allowing my mind to believe it, and that sent me into panic-mode. Silly, I know, but that seems to be how my brain works. Despite lots of evidence to the contrary I still go into worst case scenario first, or at least a close second. It makes me wonder if that is a part of the human condition, or something that is unique to me and a lot of people I know. Are there people out there that always assume the best without thought about how bad it could get? That seems such a foreign concept to me that I would find it uncomfortable to think that way...maybe.

So, as for the trip, it is looking like it may be a little postponed due to work, but I suppose that if I have to make a little more money prior to departure, then I will take it. The bike still does not have shocks, but they tell me that they will be in the mail soon. Sooner would be better, because we have had a nice little stretch of good weather, and it would be nice to be out in it on the bike. Things rarely happen in my time frame...

I bought a giant map of the U.S.:

Look at all those roads! I still maintain that there will be little planning that occurs prior to departure, but I bought the map to see if I find places that I want to go. More to come!

Panic Ensues

Well, the departure date approaches (estimated to be June 7th), and there is a bit of panic in my mind. The bike is still apart in the garage awaiting the arrival of new shocks from Works Performance in CA. All the work I can do to the bike for the time being has been done, and I am anxious to ride some more. On top of not being able to ride I am beginning to panic about being able to leave on time because of work, and also because of money and just being on the road. I have reached a point in Blue Highways where William is beginning to crack from being on the road and think about heading home, and I fear that point in my trip. My mind has a wonderful ability to run away with itself and go to the darkest places (mental meltdown on the road, no money on the road, stuck in the middle of nowhere, etc) and I am trying to fight that as best I can and remember that things have always worked the way they are supposed to in the past. But I'll be damned if it doesn't just keep talking... I suspect that all of this is normal for something like this, but it actually kept me awake for a bit the other night and I cannot remember the last time I lost sleep over something. Part of my brain just wants me to give this up and get a job and go back to work and be secure, but the other part of me knows that if I do that I will regret it forever. So for now the plan remains; leave in early to mid-June for 60 days of meetings...

Hmmmm

Well, I guess this is as good a time to start as any...

Thus far this trip is only an idea, but the idea is this: Get on my motorcycle and ride around the country for sixty days and get to a meeting every day (those of you in the know will know what I am talking about). Although an official launch date has not been decided it will likely be sometime in early June (I have a project for work that I need to get finished before I go, and my sister will be in town in late May and if I miss that I will be shot).

As of today I have started some of the preparations of the bike, a 2002 BMW R1150RT, including general tuneup and maintenance, and attempting to get rid of the dreaded R-bike surge. After several throttle body syncs and other minor tweaks I decided to remove the throttle bodies and clean them thoroughly. After cleaning they were put back on the bike and I used the zero=zero method for setup. This means that the throttle position sensor (TPS) is reset such that when the butterflies on the throttle bodies are fully closed the TPS accurately reads as much. After that it was a standard throttle body sync with a mercury manometer, and re-tweaking cables, etc. Now the bike runs great! I can't wait to get out on the road.

Along with the tuneups I am working my way through things like replacing the speedometer after it ate itself in New Mexico last year [Now the bike has 17 miles on it ;-)], replacing fork seals because one blew up in Idaho last year [Thanks, Dennis], replacing shocks because they are over 40,000 miles old, etc. Also on the list; thermometer and altimeter/barometer. I have grand plans to use them for predicting weather on the trip, but it is also likely that they will just be fun to look at. I installed custom seats and bar risers last year, so I do not need to do that. Tires may be in order prior to departure, but they might also just get replaced along the way. I am also still considering a GPS installation rather than having my Garmin Nuvi in mapholder on the tank bag, but that might be a little too much. There is something about navigating by a map that I really enjoy.

So I guess that's about it for now...more to come!