Packed and ready to roll: T-Minus 11 hours and counting..

Bike is packed and ready for departure. Estimating time of arrival in California at 7:00pm PDT. Shooting for a night over in Redding or Shasta then continuing onto Modesto on Thursday. Laundry then first light to Reno with John on his very new BMW R1200GS. God willing I'll make the trip without a hitch. Bike has new oil and chain lubed.

Some additions to the load this time around are a camp chair (more like a stool) and a proper 30F sleeping bag and for the first time in my life a proper self-inflating sleeping matress! Since I will be camping for a bout 1 week off the bike I figured the extra expense and weight would pay off in better rest.

I'll see how that plays out in the real world of MC camping. One step closer to Baja!!!

Wednesday
I'm breaking the trip into three segments. The first will be the longest of the legs getting out of OR and WA and as far into CA as I possibly can. Tentative stopover near Shasta (picked Redding for lack of a better place to mark on the map). Will try to night-over at a KOA or something simlar, testing out my ability to camp.

Thursday
Next leg will be to Modesto. This should be an easy ride depending on how far I get on Wednesday. Goal here is to stay at my buddy John's place outside Modesto on Thursday afternoon/evening. Do some laundry (he does not konw *that* yet) refuel the body, bike, do some maint and get ready for the ride on Friday to Reno, the final leg of the trip to the races.

Friday
Plan is to get to Reno and meet up with our buddy Steve for the annual Reno Air Races heald at Stead Field just north of Reno (more about that in a previous post). Initially we could take I-80 and get there PDQ but looking over the maps I thought it might be better if we take a somewhat more scenic route into the Sierras and really give the bikes a good thrash.

Once arriving in Reno the plan is to camp Friday and Saturday night at the end of the main runway at Stead, soaking in the desert air mixed with the fumes of JET-A.

I hope that I'm able to get some sleep tonight. Probably should just start out now and ride till I'm tired, camp and continue onto Modesto on Thursday. Best part is that I've no ridgid plan other than departing from Motown on Friday morning.