Denver -- LAX

the usual hassles with overweight luggage at the Denver airport: 6.5 lbs over on 50 lbs on the bicycle case and 8 (!!!) on the suitcase, most of which latter was culinary goodies for Tim and Anna.

when i suggested to the agent

"how about i pay the overage on one and we forget the other?"

she very indignantly responded, "Sir, we don't negotiate here!"

well, that put me in my place....

after 10 minutes of waiting for a supervisor to approve letting the bike case go w/o additional payment, she finally arrived and the case was allowed on. only $50 for the overage on the suitcase...

and so on to LA

here's the only view of LA i like -- temporary arrival, with a rainbow following the wing.......




and the sunset ahead of the wing..
























I'm in Auckland right now, and will fill in later. Food first.

only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton

Packing, part 1: clothes

There are two schools of packing: one i call the take-it-just-in-case-and-i'll-find-somewhere-to-stuff-it school. My friend below, passing thru Boulder on his way home after a cross country ride to the BMW Nationals last year, is of that school. He's so prepared that he even carries TWO rolls of electrical tape -- the extra one in his jacket pocket just in case (of something). I think i counted 12 different carrying cases on his motorcycle......

Corrrection from my generous friend, below:

You missed 2 of the cases

One is the Camera case strapped to the outside of the tank bag.

 

The other is the bag on the other passenger footpeg.

 

So 14 in all if you do not count the bags in the bags, the BMW tool kit, 5 jacket pockets and 4 pants pockets.

 

click photos to enlarge

The other school, to which i proudly subscribe, is take less and if you really need it, you can buy it -- somewhere. The advantage of motorcycle travel is that people EXPECT you to be pungent and grungy, and you are sweaty much of time anyway in your riding gear, so any bit of tasteful attire once out of the shower and on the street seems tres elegant to the surprised locals.

this is my complete clothing allowance for a month-long trip:

and it all fits into this compressible drybag; the secret is the vent valve. Like a thermarest, squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag and tighten down the valve. Voila! It is geshrunken. Unfortunately, this trick does not reduce the weight..........


Oh, almost forgot a subset of the first school, above. Not sure what to call it, but i photographed this bizarrely packed vehicle at the Sturgis Motorcycle (read: Harley-Davidson) rally,

YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR NAME RIGHT HERE ON THIS PAGE!

enter the sort-of-official
NAME THE PACKING STYLE
COMPETITION.

YOUR COMMENTS WILL BE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED BY OUR PANEL OF LINGUISTICALLY AND HUMORACIOUSLY EXPERT
"EXPERTS" AND THEIR SELECTION WILL BE PLACED RIGHT BELOW THE PHOTOGRAPHY ABOVE.

ENTER AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT! NO RISK!
TRY IT ABSOLUTELY FREE IN THE PRIVACY OF YOUR OWN COMPUTER!
DID I SAY "ABSOLUTELY FREE!" ? YES, NO ENTRY FEE!

FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PRESENT TO WIN!!!

tomorrow: motorcycle clothes, gizmos, accessories, connectors, cute storage boxes, and other items from my cabinet of curiosities (probably won't be as interesting as this post -- but you never know).






If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton

Weather

According to my Tassie friend Tim,

there is a joke here that a "West Coast shower" takes about 3 days to pass over.

Looks like a visit to fabled and beautiful Strahan might be wet, but..............

I admit that I do love it when tourists in their house-sized SUVs ask me, in a very concerned tone,

what do you do when it rains????

well, i respond, either i stop, or -- i keep riding.

they always seem very disappointed with that response; not sure what answer would match their expectations: I melt?

Once, riding back from the Big Bend across Texas, it was raining so hard and for so long across that vast flatness that i took my own advice and stopped under an overpass; after 20 minutes i got tired of being splashed by the trucks roaring by and so rode into the nearest town... i pulled my motorcycle under the porch overhang of a restaurant and entered, squishing my way to a booth.... and then the owner came over and asked if he could put my soaked gloves into his oven to dry..............ah, Texas: your generosity always touches me.

it's only water, and through the past 20 years, my Aerostich riding gear has kept me completely dry in a lot of profoundly rainy and potentially miserable situations:

1997: on the Autobahn at 85mph thru a full day of solid walls of water on the way to muddy training at BMW's Hechlingen Enduro School

what seemed like endless days of rain in Alaska, 2000:

toward the Candian Rockies in 2006:

Thomas, does your red GS seem....ah.... tired?



photo by Thomas Feddersen

2006: Near Jasper, BC -- had these beasts charged, i figured the armor in my Aerostich would protect me, but i wasn't too sure if BMW warranties the GS against assault by horned ruminants:


photo by Thomas Feddersen

somewhere in the West, 2006, do these make me look like Mickey Mouse on acid?


photo by Thomas Feddersen


Heading to the Hyderseek rally in Alaska; David MacKenzie during a day of wet riding thru British Columbia's deep forests to Port Hardy -- up the length of Vancouver Island: May, 2008.


Snow in Idaho: June (!) 2008
photo by Danielle Sarandon

and in 2009 charming some very surprised ladies in Lake Superior on the way back from our Lake Superior Tour
( http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=498475 ) :

photo by Dan Cohen


While Tim lives on the north side of the island, there will be rain. I've been so used to living in Colorado's glorious dry climate (14% average humidity in the winter) that i have to keep in mind that there are places where wet is normal. Hmmmm.

You can see the weather here:

http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/tas/

it doesn't just SEEM i ride in the rain a lot -- i do.

back to packing.




If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton

Bicycle Packed

Ok,

With Chris' expert engineer's obsessive -- and very necessary -- aid, bicycle packed into shipping case, with as many extras as i had the courage to include. Since the weight limit is 50lbs, and the case alone weighs 30+, adding the bike (18? 19? lbs) didn't leave much extra, but i decided to squeeze in my riding shoes, helmet, gloves, water bottles and a few other bits. we'll see how far my charm takes me at the AA desk in Denver; i like to believe that since this isn't some overstuffed suitcase, but a serious bicycle rider's gear (!) the desk agent will be flexible over a few pounds, especially since i am traveling internationally.



In the far distant past (yes, incredulous reader, there actually was a time when flying did not require a full body search including cavity probes and minor shocks - just in case you had something to which you had not yet confessed) a frequent flier's shiny Gold Card would have been worth something for a bit of pull in such potential fiscal emergencies. However, the last time i attempted to use it, for an upgrade on a NZ flight, the agent's sneering glance melted the card into a pathetic mass of dull plastic. Yet, I was given a form which offered me the ULTIMATE Frequent Flier card, The Platinum; from the sign-up and annual fees, it must really be platinum. There is a "higher level" of frequent flier membership, but that one is so exalted that they don't even tell you about it: if you deserve it, you'll know. The fees can be paid only by direct courier service from your Swiss bank account vault (no paper currency accepted).

So, i approach the counter experience with credit card where it (as the motoring magazines used to say about sports car switches) falls readily to hand .

Today: motorcycle gear.


If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton

chronological confusion -- and gathering stuff

Yarghhhh! such derangement! i managed somehow to confuse my departure date with my return date. So, apologies to all who were anticipating photos of me wrestling with bloody-fanged Tassie Devils (or with Tim's veggies) soon after the 5th; you'll have to wait a few more days. It won't be until feb 9th until I am actually flung out into space above the darkening Pacific, chasing the sunset west -- and losing a day -- into feb 11th.

well, i promised to start gathering stuff, so here we go, clockwise from top:



ticket/passport/docs, Aerostich catalog, small dry bag for camera, eye drops, chapstick,
black glove liners with bear totem carved from AK elk antler, mini tripod, Leatherman tool, waterproof spf45 sunblock, small box with power adaptor for motorcycle, tiny pocketknife, eyeglasses cords, box with one of six sets of earplugs for riding motorcycle, red bicycle gloves, headlamp, ipod vehicle charging cord and other electronic connectors.






If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton

Where I'll be...........

View Tim in Tasmania in a larger map


PASTE THIS INTO YOUR BROWSER (sorry, not a live link)! file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/zigy/My%20Documents/TASMANIA/367%20Moriarty%20Rd,%20Moriarty%20TAS,%20Australia.kmz



If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton

you might be wondering.....

I couldn't blame you for wondering, what is this guy doing? So far, nothing about either motorcycles or Tasmania..... pretty boring.

Sorry, but not quite so boring here. At this moment, i have in front of me (in no particular order, just so they fall readily to hand):

a 500gb drive for backup of all files, plus an 80 gb drive for files i am taking to Tim and Anna -- and the music collections on each have to reconciled.

the giant folder with all my house mortgage stuff so i can finish setting up some changes.

a notepad with an astonishingly long list of names, phone numbers, account numbers and tasks to accomplish for each -- and more are crossed out every day. whew.

Small bottles of exotic Hawaiian sea salts ( black and red) and Vietnamese death paste for Anna, a small bottle of Cholula hot sauce for me, and my stainless-steel whiskey flask;

a collection of plugs, adapters, USB to various types of end connectors for my Aussie/Kiwi mobile phone, drives, camera, netbook, ipod, digital voice recorder. and a toaster.

TOASTER??? - yes, but just to remind myself to take it to recycling center. Yet, thinking about it..... I'm sure they have wonderful toasters in Tasmania, but as you who have broken the fast in England know only too well, there's barely reason to have toasters there since the Brits inexplicably prefer their toast cold -- so maybe i should take mine along?

Tim, reassure me!

and a large cat who, despite his relaxed feline look, is NOT pleased with all this activity; he's been with me long enough and seen me pack gear for many long trips. He knows something is going on -- and since whatever it is does not presently involve fish or liver for him, he pretends not to be concerned. Felines are terrific* at acting "casual".




Onward.

* i hardly ever use "terrific" but today it popped into my head and I had to use it as a small homage to J.D. Salinger.

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton