And Then There Were Three

Days left. I've not had quite the fluster and anticipation level as last time, probably because so many of the formerly unknowns are now known. I packed tonight, and it seemed scarily easy....the kind of thing where you know there must be some glaring error, because it went so smoothly. Tomorrow is an oil change and last minute lubing. Plus, the pup gets shipped off to Grandma's house for the duration (esniff, esniff).

The two things I decided on my last trip that were 'must have' items (heated grips/gloves and a modified seat) before the next trip have been secured. I went back and forth between getting heated gloves or heated grips, and ended up getting heated grips and a heated vest for about the same cost as the heated gloves, so I thought that was rather a bargain. I found a seat from a 2005 Ninja on ebay and had that shipped off to Spencer's Moto Care in Florida, where he modified the seat to be more comfortable for long distance travel, and was even able to raise the seat a bit.

He got the seat on Friday around lunch time, and had it ready to send to me by Monday afternoon! I missed his notification that it was complete due to email filters at work, and didn't get in touch with him until Wednesday morning (much to my chagrin). Once that was all ironed out, I had to go to a morning meeting, and when I came out of the meeting, there was a UPS box in my chair at work...he'd shipped the finished seat before he'd confirmed payment (or that I wasn't some deadbeat). That was true customer service, and the seat is amazing! I've got to relearn some of my riding posture on it, because having it raised changed the whole geometry of how I sit and lean on the bike. It will be interesting to see how it does on the long haul. I don't have any 700 mile days planned this time, but there will be some long hours on the slower state roads.

The last minute list has grown to include a balaclava...I keep finding cold spots when I'm riding lately. Cold at 61 degrees is apt to be miserable at 42. I might also have a companion part of my first day...rumor has it anyway. We'll see if that pans out.