Getting into the swing of things...

We're down to T-Minus 365 and counting so the serious stuff starts now. I'm sure I'll have lots to do just in the next few months, and I'm hoping that I can wrap up all the details and just play the waiting game when we're about 60 days out. But I'm realistic, so I'm pretty sure that won't happen.

I put up another poll (quite funny, I thought. And apparently, only *I* thought so). You should give it a whirl. After all, you read this far.

Had a few little issues with Cheeto on my last little trip. Like a big dummy, I went and left my driving lights on for about 2 hours and completely drained the battery. So now I own yet another set of jumper cables. Yay. That makes three sets. I also noticed my temperature light started flickering on when sitting at a light for more than a few minutes (after prolonged riding at highway speeds). Went off when I started moving again, so I wasn't too worried. I'm hoping I solved it with topping off the coolant and topping off the oil. That's kind of embarrassing: I'm such a maintenace freak and here I let the oil level drop down nearly 3/4 of a quart. In any case, I'm not completely sure I fixed the problem, but the next ride over 45 minutes oughta tell me right away.

And I've learned yet another valuable lesson (this time from witnessing other people): carry some basic tools like screwdrivers, pliers and a spark plug wrench. I've got all that covered except the spark plug wrench (and I might actually have that in the manufacturer's toolkit stored on the bike. I don't ever even open it up but I will now!).

Since this is a blog about the Vancouver trip, I won't go into detail about the Boogie, Abate of Indiana's annual party. Let's just say it was fun and it taught me that I can carry an awful lot of stuff on the bike for long distances without any issues. Good training for the trip, I guess. If you know me at all, you know I have pictures (about 350 of them), so just ask me and maybe I'll let you look (that just sounds wrong!).