Quick update

With a week and a half before we leave, I'm starting to question everything.

 Is my bike ready?

Am I crazy to take a 400cc dirt bike on a 2,000 mile road trip?

Am *I* ready for the physical demands?

The answer to all 3 questions is, "I think so".  :)

So with nerves building, the best way to get over those was ride the bike into work today.  Yeah, I'm trying to keep the miles down on my fresh oil change, but I had to get out on the bike to feel better.
It was in the upper 30's when I left my house this morning, and in my exuberance, I forgot to put my insulated pants on for the ride.  Frankly, for the 20 mile ride into work it really wasn't an issue.

Having received and installed the vibration-cancelling inserts into my handlebars yesterday, I can officially say when asked if they helped, "I have no clue".  I still feel vibration, but is it less?  Is the amplitude of them less?  Maybe.   This will be one of those things that I won't really answer until I have 100 miles under my belt.  Whatever it is, it is.  I did have my wrist-saver on the throttle, which I can tell will help for long road miles, but it can be a little cumbersome (meaning in the way!) in stop and go traffic.  I took it off and threw it in my bag when I got to work.  I'll use it on the trip though for sure.

The bike ran fine, reassuring me that it's up to the task.  The windshield and seat are AWESOME.  They will make this trip so much more do-able.  The phone mount and bluetooth headset are great.  I did have to re-glue the headset microphone into my helmet....the weak adhesive that the little velcro piece had on it is really inadequate.  Hope that holds.  If not, it's really not a game changer since I probably won't use it much to make or take phone calls.  GPS directions and streaming music are what I like about it.

I talked to a Harley rider and some dude in a jeep in traffic on my way home.  Everyone likes the thumper.  Haha.  I avoided the joy that is construction on I90 and took Higgins and Golf Rd home.  Good decision.  It was much more enjoyable.  This is the main reason I want to take secondary roads on our trip.  They're still mostly 55mph speed limits, which means we'll be doing about 60-65mph.  But we won't be doing 70+ and riding next to semis on straight, flat, boring slab.

So I vented some pent up concern by getting out on the bike.  That was good.  After checking the extended forecasts for the places we'll be and for the local weather here on the day we leave, one thing has become painfully apparent.  We WILL be riding in the rain.  Maybe in the mountains on twisty, unfamiliar roads.  Oh well.  Such is life.  I guess we'll get our money's worth out of the rain gear we bought.

Last night I re-did the map and directions for day 6, to include Grandfather Mountain State Park - Brian wanted to see this one stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway that's up near the state park, so we'll kill 2 birds with one stone.  It adds 22 miles to that day.  It's one of our shorter mileage days (intentionally), but it's the day before we head back home....and those last 2 days are brutal, so I wanted to be well rested.  The reality of it is, if we're still in the game at that point and not suffering too much, we'll be battle tested for the ride home.

In 11 days, the adventure begins......