After walking around Cycle Gear and watching some of their motorcycle videos it dawned on me that we should document this ride as best as we can. I’m already bringing camera gear along but thought it would be nice to watch a video when we got back or at least able to share with our family members. I purchased the new GoPro HD Hero, yah… it was an impulse buy!
We took a ride to Cycle Gear in Sactown today so Lorraine could update her riding gear. She had to get everything since her old gear would just hang on her and cause problems on the road.
Tonight Lorraine and I checked out our existing gear and made sure everything still fit. This was sort of unique since we’re checking to see if the gear is too baggy not too tight!
I’m good with my rain gear but Lorraine will need to get a set so tomorrow we’ll be heading over to Cycle Gear in Sacramento to check out their selection.
Getting close to launch time, the route has been mapped out several times and all we can do is hope for decent weather and just roll with it.
I had the oil filter and oil changed. Used mixed synth with dyno oil. All the fluids good to go and actually had the bike inspected for a brake recall. Everything is a go!
Just for record sake, I had 78,747 miles on the Wing when I took it in for an oil change. I’ll have to get another oil change when we return from our trip two weeks from now.
So now I have the basic route mapped out and all plugged in the mapping software which happens to be Garmin Base Camp. After it is all said and done we’ll have ridden over 6100 miles and covering about 16 states. It’s going to be a haul but also a chance of a lifetime to check something off my bucket list.
I’d like to again thank my wife Lorraine for making this possible and being my travel partner through the whole journey. It’s a lot to ask of anyone and she’s doing so knowing it would make me happy.
Alright, it didn’t work out that I was able to wash the Goldwing yesterday so this morning (my birthday) I was able to get it done! I didn’t find any loose or broken parts. I’ll put on some wax before we go in anticipation for the rainy weather we will be encountering.
I plan on getting up early to wash the Goldwing. This is the best time to look for loose or worn parts on the motorcycle. I can recall many times I noticed a non-working bulb or cracked lens cover while giving the bike a once over.
I setup this blog spot so we can easily update our ride across the United States. Since this is on my own server I don’t have to worry about the photos I upload and the words I say.
For this trip I purchased a used Garmin Nuvi 265WT. This particular model is fairly old by today’s standard. It was released around 2008 but I knew I would be able to update the firmware and purchase the latest 2013 maps for it. It also has live traffic updates and bluetooth, not sure if I will be using these features.
Originally this GPS was to be a backup unit for the existing GPS model I currently have mounted on the GL1800 (Goldwing) I decided to use this as the primary navigation system and ordered the appropriate mounting hardware. The parts should arrive next week, plenty of time to debug and figure out what else I need before we roll out.
I’m using the a couple applications from Apples App Store called Garmin’s Base Camp and POI Loader both are used to plan routes and download into the GPS unit for later use. I think between using AAA’s service and Garmin’s software we’ll be able to come up with a route that will optimize the time we have and the places we want to visit.
