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Happy Canada Day Eh!
Today's ride was fairly uneventful other than we turned over the 20,000 km mark! I can't quite believe I have still have feeling in my butt. Newport, Lincoln City, Cannon Beach and Seaside are all quaint little towns that we like to visit in the wintertime. We definitely dilly-dallyed along today, not wanting the trip to end. We also stopped for a couple of hours at the Lincoln Outlets. Surprise, I only bought workout gear. Oh dear.
As we start to wrap up this adventure and these blogs (last one will be tomorrow), we have been thinking about what we would do differently if we were to do the same trip this time next year. Here's what worked well and what didn't, starting with things that drove us crazy that we simply couldn't be without:
- GPS x 2. They were absolutely critical for calculating the mileage to the next destination, where fuel stops were, for finding hotels and restaurants (mostly McDonalds for internet) in town. It was totally frustrating because we had to keep changing the settings to suit the nature of the ride i.e. disable highways so that we could stay on
back roads. Granted, most of our frustrations were probably as a result of user error, as still after 9 weeks we don't know how to preset a route. Having said that, the GPS's weren't particularly user friendly. What can one expect - they've been soaked through more than once in thorough downpours, subjected to snow, wind, dust, oh and soaring heat. My screen is just about faded out, but I can still rely on her voice to get me where I need to go. Gotta give it to Garmin really, I don't think my cell phone would still work after suffering from all the abuse.
- Helmet intercoms. Frustrating as heck because of the sensitivity. You couldn't leave the microphone in the same place, because if your visor was open, wind noise interfered, so you'd move the microphone lower which subsequently impacted the reception quality on the other end. As well, if we were more than a couple of blocks apart, the signal was weakened considerably. At times, we both had to shout to be heard (not something we are accustomed to in general!).
- the iPad drove Ian nuts! In hindsight, we should have purchased a Samsung
tablet instead especially considering the iPad isn't even sync'd to my iphone. I need a lesson or three.
- The Canon SLR camera. Nice camera, however way too bulky and heavy for this trip. We should have had two compact digitals instead, one of them on a mount on the handlebars. I would have taken many many more photos when riding for sure.
- Helmets. We would both have composite helmets rather than full face that don't open, for ease of drinking, talking with fuel or hotel attendants, and each other. Would have eliminated taking the helmet off each time.
- I would get a bigger tank bag with map insert. However they don't lock onto the bikes, so it's still up for debate.
- I would have had my kickstand shortened in the first few days of the trip rather than having to put up with it until I got home (or to Sacramento in this case).
- Gear. Ian would have worn composite pants instead of Kevlar jeans for comfort. I was comfortable in mine, although they were very hot at times, so likely would go the same route as Ian and wear
something light underneath when necessary. I would have started the trip in my heavier duty larger waterproof bike boots, and shipped them home when the weather improved. I should have brought my jacket long sleeved liner which I removed prior to the trip in order to save space in the bags.
- Additional cellphone - Ian would buy a pay as you go in the U.S. rather than packing his around which he never used.
Things that did work:
- The Suzuki 650 VStroms! No mechanical breakdowns. They did the job. In all honesty, I would probably try the same trip on a different, less top heavy cruising bike.
- Givi 36 litre sidebags. Enough space for what we took. Any larger and they would have been awkward and heavy carrying into and out of hotels each day.
- Duct tape. Came in very handy many times.
- First aid kit, although we could have condensed it a little.
- Campstove. Excellent, a great investment.
- Sheepskin on my seat. Butt saver.
- Clothing supply quantity, and doing laundry every 4 days.
- Cables for iPad, mike chargers, cell charger,
battery charger, all kept in mesh bag.
So tomorrow will be our last blog as we approach home. Until then ...
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Road trippin
Great blogs. Thanks for sharing.