Tweaking........

As it says above I am busy tweaking at the moment. This means I am attempting to fine tune the plan and double check all those lists I started months ago. Mostly little things like buying mosquito face nets, a first aid kit , basically crossing the "I's" and dotting the "T's".....yeah, but there's one tweak I like better than all the rest, we are leaving one day earlier.
Friday May 31st will see us boarding the "Queen of Somewhere" to Horseshoe Bay, Vancouver at 5.20pm, a snack on board while crossing the Salish Sea followed by an hour or so ride to Pemberton B.C.
Best part: Day two starts with rolling out the hotel and straight onto one of my all-time favorite roads, The Duffey Lake Rd.. AKA highway 99 - this is a fantastic road.
Videos and ride reports on my website www.motorcyclingbc.com display my enthusiasm for this stretch of highway as it climbs through the mountains, past glaciers and into the high desert, all in the space of a couple of hours. If you haven't seen them please go take a look, comment, let me know what you think and if you haven't "done the Duffey", go do it.
As I write this, the sun is setting, its been shining all day, April 24th, really nice day and the view from here offers me an ocean glimpse along with snow capped mountains of the Coastal Mountain chain, all drawing my thoughts together into a palpable sense of excitement. I will be riding behind those same mountains in just 37 days time and I am getting impatient. Each evening as the peaks get bathed in the golden glow from the west takes us a day closer to setting off. Wifey comments on a daily basis now that its getting close and seems genuinely fired up for adventure.
In the 21st century its probably not a lot of peoples idea of adventure, a little tame, a little too easy, but I don't really give a damn what other people think, the Alaska Highway is part of my bucket list, I am going to tick that particular box.

The hotel we booked in Pemberton for our first night features this aptly named eating house so watch out in a few weeks for my revue of their food and beer.


I am going to make it a mission to ask in every bar "what do you think is the best local beer?" and try every one of their recommendations, shouldn't be too difficult a task, I may even extend it to trying their food specials also. Food Blog? Maybe get Wifey to takes pics on her IPhone featuring all the drinks and meals.

We will be taking lots of pics and video's along the way and will share what we have when we can find an interweb connection and obviously will update here on a daily basis so friends &  family (yeah that's you) can follow along and laugh when it rains, snows or we get lost. Pretty hard to get lost on one road eh.................

Thursday morning now and the forecast is for more sunshine and I can't see a hint of even the palest blue just a blanket of fog that hasn't kissed the ground yet. First day off in a while and I have promised myself to have a rest day, only item on the "Honey Do List" is cut the grass, even that can wait till tomorrow....so what's to do with the day? My Givi bellypan is in the mail and wont arrive till Monday so I will wait till then and do an oil change and quick service on the bike before bolting that on, so no mechanical maintenance today.

***note to self - don't forget your Jeep***   ***reply to self - it can wait till after the bike season***

So it was just a leisurely bimble through the back roads north to Parksville and up to a local viewpoint "Little Mountain". Only out for an hour or so but managing to get a good mix of roads in, before cruising back down the Inland Island Highway in time for lunch.

When I snapped this pic it just made me think about technology and what electronics we will use on the trip.

I have probably listed this before earlier but for the record:

1. Sony point and shoot cam
2. Samsung Galaxy S3 - Smart phone / music player
3. Apple I-phone 4S - Smart phone / music player
4. Scala Teamset Pro - Bluetooth helmet communications
5. Sony HandyCam - HD video / still / voice recording
6. Contour Roam - HD helmet cams x 2
7. Oxford heated grips
8. Garmin Nuvi - GPS / SatNav
9. Toshiba Tablet or Sony Laptop - to be decided
10. Everything else that I cant remember at the time of typing.

A little lightweight reading from the coffee  table which is taking on the appearance of a planning office in recent days, books, magazines & notebooks are scattered all around.

Maps of every size and scale you could imagine litter every flat surface in our actual office and that just makes me laugh....it's only one road!