Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Today started out very very cold. We did wait until 9:00 am to leave but even then it was only 2^C. It seemed to be getting colder in Quesnel instead of warmer. (That was due to the fact that Quesnel was fogged in.) We stopped in Quesnel for some breakfast and to warm up a bit. By the time we left it was noticeably warmer. And by the time we got to Cache Creek we could take off a few layers of clothes. We stopped in Cach Creek for pie and to play some Keno. We didn't win anything while we were sitting there, but we haven't checked out tickets since. Maybe we'll get lucky.

We stopped at the Harley shop in Kamloops to do some shopping. We stopped there specifically because we knew they carried "purple slice", a new bike cleaner my mom discovered this season. My mom also bough me a seat pad. its called an Airhawk. I think I'll like it a lot once I get the air level right. We'll see what happens throughout the rest of the trip.

We are now at uncle Bill and aunt Shirley's hous in Salmon Arm. We got in at about 6:15 pm (late for dinner but they forgave us). We enjoyed a nece evening with them and now we are off to bed.

Start: 39,831 km - End: 40,481 km - Total Distance: 650 km

Mold - YUCK

So I was packing up all my stuff for my trip tomorrow, and I thought I'd make sure I've got everything I want in my saddle bags before I go. Its a good thing I did. I did not realized when I put every thing in my bag that my gloves were wet. Or if they weren't when they went in, they got wet while they were in there. To make a long story short, my electric gloves and vest were covered in mold. YUCK. I HATE MOLD. So to say "yuck" is being polite when it comes to mold. I did spray them down really well with lycol cleaning solution and washed them really well. They are now hanging to dry. I hope the electrical componants didn't get damaged. I'll be very upset if they are recked. Hopefully they will be dry for me to pack them for the trip tomorrow, but I highly doubt it. I think I'll be going without my heated gear this trip.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

So my mom and I are getting ready to head south tomorrow. One last road trip before we have to put the bikes away. :( So we had to do some shopping. My rain pants needed to be replaced desperately and I needed a decent pair of rain gloves as well. So that was pretty much my day. My mom was supposed to take her road test today, but that didn't happen. (and that's another story in and of itself). So she wanted to go for a ride. Its been raining all day, but my mom convinced me that I needed to try out my new gear. We didn't go very far, just around the outskirts of town. (long enough to get everything wet) But every thing seems to work well. My pants and hands stayed dry and warm enough anyway. So we're off tomorrow. I'll keep journalling on paper and post it when I get back.

Start: 39,801 km - End: 39,831 km - Total Distance: 30 km

Monday, August 25, 2008

Wow, so its been awhile since I've written here. That's because its been awhile since I've been on my bike. That's what happens when my riding partner leave town for almost a month. ;) Anyway, I didn't really get a ride in today either. The bike was more of a mode of transportation more than anything. My mom needed a ride home because she was dropping her bike off at Reg's for a service. Ryan had the car so I decided to take the bike. That's about all we did. It was threatening to rain so I just rode her home and came back into town right away. I did notice however (AFTER I got home) that I should really put gas in my bike. I'm glad I didn't run out on the road.

Start: 39,780 km - End: 39,801 km - Total Distance: 21 km

Monday, August 4, 2008

So Phil and I had plans to go for a ride today. We met up at Timmy's at about two and decided to pick up Nadine and take her with us.



By the time we finished that we didn't get out of town until about 3:00 pm. We headed to Quesnel for dinner. It was an awesome ride. The weather was very nice, and it was hard to decide whether or not to wear our jacket. (In actual fact, we either put them on or took them off at nearly every stop). We had a really nice ride out there and back.

There always seems to be one idiot though. So we're in a passing lane and we pass this one car, and a second car comes up behind us so I pulled back into the right lane and he passed me, but he ran out of passing lane (and I left too much space between Phil and I) and he got between us. So as I'm looking for another place to pass this car and get up with Phil, this car is riding Phil's butt BIG time. And the more I watch him, the closer he is getting. All of a sudden I realize that he's trying to pass Phil on the RIGHT. Phil realized what was going on and pulled over and let him go, but we were all pretty upset.

Once we got back into P.G. we decided we weren't quite done riding and decided to take the Old Cariboo Highway to Giscome Rd as a little detour. I think we all had a really great time. I know I did. I've been gone pretty much all day. I left the house at a little before 2:00 pm and didn't get back until almost 9:30 pm.

Start: 39,451 km - End: 39,780 km - Total Distance: 329 km

Cleaning :P

So I cleaned my bike yet again today. I'm still trying to get all the dirt from my last trip off of it. I have again failed at my task. My response yet again was "Well, its better". My dad always raved about S100 for easy cleaning. Its a spray on, spray off type of cleaner so I thought it would work great in all the little hard to reach areas. Unfortunately I was wrong. I was actually not very impressed with it at all. It seems that every time I clean the silly thing, more dirt leached out of places I have overlooked before. I was however really impressed with a cleaner that my mom brought over called Purple Slice. I had tried to clean my wheels a couple times already and could NOT get all the grime and bugs off of them. This stuff however did an awesome job. I guess there's nothing for it. I am just going to have to spend a good few hours going over every inch of the silly bike to get it really clean.

P.S. Does anyone know of a good paint cleaner/polish that will fix a hazy finish?

California 1999

So I kept a journal of my trip down to California in 1999. I had only been riding since the fall of the previous year, and I had only had my class 6 for about a month. I've decided to create a seperate blog and post my journal there. If you are at all interested in this blog, you might find my california trip an interesting read. Check it out at http://1000virago.blogspot.com/