Final Preparations

So it's the afternoon before departure day. As you can see Black Beauty is 90% packed and looking good. It's raining right now, which is probably what I'll see when I leave in the morning.



Usually for a long distance trip I would use my motorcycle luggage which is made for the bike, but since I will be doing quite a bit of hiking in Utah, I decided to just load up my backpack and side bags with essentials like: Three cameras, numerous lenses, flash, two tripods, computer, hiking clothes and boots, laptop, phone, GPS, chargers and other "stuff".

The trip starts with the odometer at 47599. It will read well over 50000 when I return; but the next step is to take a test ride to see how she rolls. Since I have a massage appointment this evening, for a little personal tune-up, this will be a good test of the stability of the load. As you can see in the latest picture, I've now covered the backpack with a rain cover. Since I'll most likely be starting out in the rain, tomorrow and I'll definitely be getting wet tonight.

Well, it's time for that test run. Wish me luck!


PS Thanks for the well wishes from those who will be following my trip...