Count-Down

I leave in a little more than a week!  Starting to get really excited that the trip is just around the corner.  I really haven't been riding much, but I'm not too worried, I know I'll be fine and adapt once I get on the road.

Friday rode Critical Mass, got in around 18 miles.  Check this site for a description: http://sandiegocriticalmass.org/  Cut it short (the mass usually completes the route back at Balboa) because friends wanted to hang out in OB afterward, which was fun.

We showed up at the Balboa fountain around 15 minutes late, so had to do a lot of catching up, which was a great workout and fun in itself.  Especially when we couldn't find the group, only to ride on University and look down and see them on the 163  freeway.  So we climbed down a hill, across an off-ramp, and joined the fun.  This time was a little different, instead of going through the terminal at Lindbergh and along N Harbor drive, the mass stayed North along the PCH.  There was a Fedex 737 that taxied into position and took off right as we were riding by...very cool.

The following morning I had somebody come check out the motorcycle, test ride and decide to buy it. We filled out the papers and he gave me the cash.  The rest of the day I started organizing and going through stuff to get rid of for the move this weekend.

Yesterday I had to drive the motorcycle to Chula Vista, so I decided to make a trip out of it and went with my roommate Alex down the coast from Oceanside to Del Mar.  I stopped at REI in Encinitas and scored a nice, basic rain jacket.  Now I have decent rain gear, so hopefully I'll be more comfortable in those rains I'm sure to hit at some point on the ride.

I'm still waiting to receive my front panniers and rack, which should arrive Wednesday.  I'm cutting it close with that stuff, but had to go through reviews of several different designs as well as finding the most reasonably priced (a lot of this stuff can be very expensive).  I'm going to go back to the bike store probably tomorrow night and get a few other items I'm still missing.  I think I'm going to pack everything up Thursday or Friday and do a small ride and just try to think of anything I still might want or be missing.

I spoke to several different shipping companies (the big three), and it turns out I really have no way of shipping the fuel canisters I have.  It looks like I'll have to purchase some when I arrive in Seattle, which is a bummer because I have a bag of canisters that I scored free from a maintenance worker at a hotel when I was in Flagstaff last fall.