Just a few more days

before I leave and I have already tried to finish my packing

    Ducati in parking lot from lunch last Sunday

I am a bit superstitious so before I take a trip on my bike I generally don't ride the last few days before I leave.   Even if we were flying somewhere I would just use my car.   I don't need to temp fate if something should go wrong and I have an unplanned mishap which would prevent me from taking my trip, as planned

It's just as well anyway as being a member of a car club there are many events to occupy my time this weekend

During the past few weeks we have gone to Show & Shines, then last week we drove to our monthly Corvette club meeting and today we had to attend a Celebration of Life for a club member who had an unexpected heart attack last week.    He was only 57, which was too young but then life is fragile and we never know what the future may hold.   This was one of the reasons that I wanted to do something different this year, take more vacation time even though it meant that I had to also take unpaid leave so I could do something and go somewhere where I had never been before.

This trip is more about meeting some of you rather than cramming in all those famous motorcycle roads.  You will be able to check on my location anytime by clicking on my Spot2 link (on my right sidebar, just under the header and below my email link)   If I have a couple of days notice I can zig or zag a bit, perhaps 100 miles north or south of my route.   Speaking of route, I have none.   I am going to look at my maps each evening and make a plan for the next day so your guess is as good as mine where I may end up.

Those of you that know me, know that I am a planner and I usually have all my rooms booked for each night weeks in advance.   Presently I have nothing booked and I will take my chances that I will not be homeless for the night.   This is also the first trip where I plan to camp most of the time as long as I can find suitable facilities.    I did camp last year to see if it was something I would like.  I plan to retire soon and will be on a fixed income, therefore the only way to extend a trip is to cut down on accommodation expenses.

I have tried to keep things to a minimum but I have run out of space.  My plan was to bring minimal camping accessories (camp stove & fuel, cooking utensils, towels, soap) and a minimal wardrobe but when I packed everything up I couldn't fit in my cameras nor my shoes so I had to go to MEC to buy another dry bag.   This means that now I will have two  35L dry bags ROK strapped to my passenger seat.    One dry bag has my mattress, sleeping bag, liner, camp chair and Crocs© , the other will carry my tent, rain pants and jacket and a pair of sandals.  Half a side case will now be freed up to store my 4 cameras, various chargers and my Laptop

I wish to spend most of my time on the Atlantic coast and breeze through the Plains at a fast pace.  This was one of the reasons that I wanted to have a more highway capable machine, thus one of the reasons that I purchased my Nu2me, BMW R1200R

This is a trip of discovery, to meet some of you and to test my self reliance, thus the camping aspect.   I am not sure whether I would be back in your area anytime soon so unless you come to Vancouver then I will have missed an opportunity that will sadden me greatly.  I like to think that we are all friends whom have yet to meet.  If any of you ever come to Vancouver then you know that you have a friend here too

As mentioned, I am busy with car activities this weekend and then I have one more prep day of packing on Monday evening after work.

Tuesday is my birthday and the reason that I am leaving on Wednesday morning instead of today which would have given me a few more days on the road, but I didn't feel like spending my special day alone by myself.   I am funny that way.  So I go to work as usual and when I get home we will have a simple family dinner and send off for my trip.   They asked me what I wanted for dinner and I didn't want to go out anywhere so I just told them we could order takeout food and bring it home, thus make it simple

I won't have anymore time for blog updates until I leave, but then I plan to blog daily as long as I am able to find WiFi in the evenings, so hopefully you will hear from me starting Wednesday night.

    English Bay, Beach Avenue, Vancouver, BC

Here I am on the West Coast of British Columbia.    Tuesday is my 67th Birthday and for my Birthday Present this year I am heading for the Atlantic where the sun rises from the ocean.

Hope to see you "on the road"