The countdown is on

With about four days before departure, I am getting a bit of jitters.  In reading entries from my previous journeys, I noticed that just as my daughter tends to put a lot of detail into the food she comes across in her journeys, I place a lot of my focus on geography and weather.

Embarking on this trip bring a lot of new weather and geography conditions into my landscape.  In previous years, as I always pointed my bike West, I was ready for vast, open landscapes, with many a desert in front of me.  Now, it feels like the vast expanse of the Gulf Coast, and of the Atlantic Coast, is something from another planet.  The picture is further muddled, after hurricane Irene has gone around the East Coast, pummeling and flooding communities.  Houston itself has been under another extreme weather grip, facing temperatures above 100 degrees on an almost daily basis, for as long as I can remember.  The forecast for the Gulf Coast, and Florida, starting this weekend, is one of rain from Saturday until next Wednesday.

So, what I thought, when I dreamed up this ride, would be a sunny, pleasant ride up the coast, is promising to be a series of days where the main characters in the alphabet soup will be question marks.  With that in mind, I will know to pack my rain suit at the top of my saddle bags, and make sure that the o-rings sealing the cases are working well enough to keep the content dry.  I am also happy that I did take the plunge to replace my ancient boots, with a new set of water-proof ones.  Seems like they will be tested.

N4S Paint Job

So, what else is going on with such few days before departure?  I am happy to report that funding is coming along, and that, by today, people have generously contributed to Not For Sale and Redeemed Ministries, to put me at 33% of my goal.  I am also happy to know that 3 good friends from City of Refuge Church in Houston will keep me company for a while, when I leave on Saturday morning.  Well, that is, if one gets the gas tank cap unstuck on his Triumph, so he can put more gas in it.  And, if it does not rain, so the rookie in the group can feel confident enough in riding his ‘new’ Suzuki SV-650.  The third, riding an R1200R beamer is pretty much assured to be there, so that is just too cool.

By this time, I have normally started staging all my stuff in the guest room of our house.  Piles of bungees, and tools, tent, sleeping bag, and so forth are usually strewn around the room.  Not this time, though, since we are staging our house.  So, to add more changes to the program, I will get that part of the deal going in a day or two, using the ‘Harry Potter’ room under our stairs.

Other preparations include the preprograming of the GPS for every day, getting a small computer ready for blogging on the road, getting camera kit ready, and lining up food.  I have also spent time repainting my saddle cases, and yesterday I got a large logo of NotForSale on one of them.

While I look forward to a new adventure, I do not want to loose sight of the purpose.  Riding to spread awareness on the plight of so many, oppressed by Modern Day Slavery.