Trip Prep
For me this was going to be a trial for what it would be like to really camp via motorcycle. I plan on taking longer, hopefully tougher trips, but I needed to know what works and what doesn’t. This would be a pavement-only ride but that would still be a ton of fun. I had picked up a nice two-man tent, self-inflating sleeping pad, some soft sidebags from a friend on Stromtrooper.com, and had my waterproof duffle bag to put stuff in. I bought a tire-repair kit and portable compressor in case of a blowout. I also bought a small extra fuel can that would slip inside my little tool tube on the left side of my bike. I had built a new rock shield for the bike out of diamond-plate aluminum which I had recently mounted, so the underside was protected. I changed the oil and filter and cleaned and oiled the chain. That was about all I did on the bike. I figured for a short trip this would be about all that was needed.
Departure
The decision was made that the guys in the south would ride north picking up the other guys along the way. My plan was to be in Newport to meet Tim for breakfast at 8am. So if Grant and Bill could meet me at my house by 7:30am we’d be fine. I should have known this was way too optimistic. Grant and Bill got to my place pretty much on time, but we gabbed too long before leaving. Then we had to pick up Kevin at Miller’s One-Stop. More gabbing. We finally roll into Newport around 8:30am. We’re finally together and get breakfast at a Michael’s Cafe on the main drag, parking our bikes at an angle like you see so many places.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
