The Bikes

Here is a shot of the three bikes (and the guard dog Rylee) that will be making the trip to San Diego.

They are from left a 1982 Honda Goldwing Interstate. Next is a 1984 Honda Goldwing Aspencade. On the far right is a 2005 Yamaha FJR 1300.

We will probably be swithching off who is riding which throughout the trip, but the bikes are initially assigned as: the Interstate to Dan, the Aspencade to Chris, and the FJR to Ray.

There actually are two more bikes that figure into the story. In the garage is my 1997 Honda Valkyrie. If there had been a fourth rider for the trip, I had considered riding the Valk to CA with the crew and then hauling butt back to Grand Rapids by my self. Since we are less than three days from departure, it doesn't look like I'll be taking it.

The other bike is a 1980 Yamaha XS850. The 850 was actually the first bike purchased as the plan was developing. In it's day, an 850 was advertised by Yamaha as a 'touring' bike. But, comparing it to the Goldwings, it is pretty primative as far a 'creature comforts'. When Dan saw this bike, he said that it was exactly what he was looking for as his personal bike. So, we decided to pull it from the trip, and I hung on to it until Dan and Beth got settled in their new house.

Here is a picture of Dan, Me, the Aspencade and Dan's 850:

Dan and Beth had come up to Grand Rapids from Southfield for the weekend primarily to get some practice riding time in. Here in Michigan they say we have two seasons: winter and bad sledding season. So, you have to ride when you can. The temperature that day was around 48 degrees max. But the sun was out and the roads were dry. There still was some snow on the sides of the driveway and roads. We never got very far from the house, but had a great time riding anyway. With his limitted time on a bike, Dan is already a competent rider, and I have no concerns about his involvement in the trip.

Another set of posts will elaborate more of the acquisition of all of the bikes, but that is for another night. I've got a couple more nights to add content before we head out and I plan on taking my laptop, digital camera and card reader so I can add to the blog from the road.

At this time NOAA is predicting a 60 % chance of scattered rain for Michigan and Indiana for Saturday - our departure date. If we make it to Kentucky Saturday night, the rest of the trip should be dry.

Enough for now.