Friday 6:30am
I managed to pack all of my gear for a solo camping trip with
climbing in one large duffel and my 52L Givi top box. Considering
how the bike was teetering on the center stand, I was really
wondering last night what I could leave behind. I was pretty good in
sticking to my basics list with the exception of a few books (one on
climbing & one on camping) and two knitting projects (one was a sock
and the other the beginning of a shawl). This morning I headed out
for work which is about 40 minutes away without traffic. It gave me
a good trial run. The only addition that wouldn’t be going with me later was my computer which I had strapped to my back in a small backpack. I continued to assess everything as I was riding...how the bike felt, anything flapping on my luggage, tires feel fine, etc. The
only glitch to my packing was that my park sticker came loose from
my windshield and started to slip down. Initially my instinct was to
grab for it but I held back considering I was moving at a good
clip...on an interstate (busy already)...and a crash didn’t equal out saving the park sticker. I decided to ignore it. If it was there when I got to work – awesome...if not, I would handle it then. I was
about 10 – 15 minutes from work when the sticker flew back and stuck
to my left mirror (I was moving so sadly it wasn’t at a light). I grabbed for it...and then realized that I was going to need to work the clutch shortly and I couldn’t do that with a sticker in my hand and giant heated gloves on. So, I did the first thing that came to mind....I opened my visor and stuffed the sticker between my teeth. Other than the factor that it made my visor fog a bit more at stops, I
managed to get to the office without incident although the sticker
was a bit crumpled and drooled upon at that point.
Eight hours or so to go before I head out. I brought my duffle bag
in to the office so I’ll need to re-strap that on to the bike but other than that (oh, and getting some gas), I’m ready to go.
9:30pm Fire started...due to helpful neighbor who wavered between hitting on
me and lecturing me.
