We leave in two days!

Tonight is a bit of a kick off party at the B-street; it's gonna be awesome.

I'm mostly packed but I've stumbled upon a dilemma: have too much room (TONS of extra space) or exactly the right amount of luggage. Exactly the right amount sounds perfect, except it's not like staying in a hotel where you unpack over a couple days then you pack-up once. We'll be packing/unpacking every night. But having excess luggage is bad, too. First, it simply takes up too much room. Second, it makes it too easy to get lazy with packing and too easy to acquire stuff along the way.

I had a heck of a time deciding which camera stuff to pack:

I ended up packing both the D40 and XS with respectively an 18-135 and a 50 f/1.8 (my baby.) Chargers, filters/cables and a macro-tube (in case I meet sweet bugs) didn't take up much more space. In my pocket I'll keep my water/bombproof D10 point-and-shoot and a mini tripod for self/group shots.

Here's the initial setup:

All the best elements of summer

in one neat little package:

And so starts the packing...

About 9 days before we leave, the packing has begun. Let's see what we've learned over the years...

Nope:

Maybe:

Yes:

One Month Before Launch

Go West First! Then East!

OK, so this is a guest writer ... I have a few days off in June and have been trying to persuade Scott and Marc to travel west to Vancouver first, then head east. This way they'll go coast-to-coast, and I get to join them in a ride from Edm to Vanc to Calgary. I peel off to head home after 2 or 3 days of riding, and Marc and Scott keep going east. Those all in favour, send a message to Marc and Scott. Those not in favour, go fix your moped.

Love,
Marc's Dad

Re: When Will We Stop Seeing Snow?

When will we stop seeing snow? Well, just this last May long weekend (May 16-18) most certainly didn't turn out to the most mint weather.

It snowed yesterday. It was cold. Visibility on the way back was the scariest part (especially with lots of deer on the icy roads.) Due to the freezing temperatures and high rpms on the highway, I hit reserve (18.5L) at 290km. Right before I left, I put it 17.5L with 390km on the trip meter. So gas mileage suffered, must've had something to do with 150km/hr... I was too cold to stop on the way home (from Rocky Mountain House to Edmonton) that I rode all 230km without putting my foot down. Wet snow periodically would build up on my front fender and windshield, then it'd fly off and hit me in the foot/leg/face. Crazy times, I say. Crazy.







That's one frozen sucker right there.

When will we stop seeing snow in the weather forecast?

If the weather doesn't sort it's shit out our summer trip might look like this

Deep and Delicious

"I am learning, as I make my way through my first continent, that it is remarkably easy to do things, and much more frightening to contemplate them."
-Paul Simon in Jupiter's Travels

I have been reading the infamous "Jupiter's Travels." Despite being a little too "spiritual-find-myself" kind of journey, it's an excellent book. It even comes with the warning on the back:

Because of this book men and women have been known to leave their jobs and take to the road. In fifteen years it has changed many lives. It could change yours.

I highly recommend this book to anybody with either a travel or motorcycle bug. Is there an opposite to homesick?

Flin Flon?

View Larger Map
1058km first day. Wanna detour up to Flin Flon? Or go most of the way and breakfast in Flin Flon? It'd also make for some cool north-Manitoba riding.

Standing at the entrance to the tourist park, the 24 foot statue of Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, designed by cartoonist Al Capp, welcomes visitors to Flin Flon. Flinty was the hero of a science fiction novel found in the wilderness by gold prospectors in the early years of the century. When they found gold in 1914, they remembered the story and called their claim Flin Flon. The name stuck, and that's how the town got its name.

I've been rustling around this series of tubes seeing if there's any weird/unique/fun stops along the way that we otherwise might just pass by.

Also: Jet Boating in Montreal. It's awesome and totally worth it.

Average speed: 2km/h