Pricey, but good.

I totaled all the receipts on my Visa from vacation and the total came out to $495.31USD, not including parts for the bike leading up to it, and not including the $110CAN ($102.30USD) I got from the bank (of which I have $5CAN and change left). This also does not include the $50 for event registration. The Visa amount consists of all the gas, 2.5 nights in the hotel and a few meals. So we have a grand total of $647.61USD

Yes, I’m paying those Visa charges this month. No worries.

Vacation Photos Up

Picasa Web Albums – Kootenay Raid… I haven’t altered these at all. Usually I tweak the brightness and contrast but not this time. My new camera does a pretty good job. I’m not sure why, but this is one of my favorites:

As is this one, for more obvious reasons:

Random Vacation Observations

In no particular order…

• Two friends from two years ago, Julie and Dallas, made it back this year. YAY!
• Renelouis weighs probably one-third what I do and can beat the crap out of me and my bike, with all its modifications, on his stock America. I gotta lose weight.
• Met some online friends for the first time, Steve, his wife, and Trevor, saw many friends from previous events and made some new friends. One of those new friends is Marty, the former body builder from the Yukon, who has lived a very interesting life.
• The hotel clerk told me that there are six women for every man in Nelson. Of course, a large percentage of those women are insane (as Trevor found out) or hardcore hippy.
• The Mountain Hound Inn is a great little place to stay.
• On the road between Kalispell and Libby, while stopped at construction, I met a Rocket III rider from Seattle named Jim. Cool dude. He was headed home to Seattle after buying his bike in Reno. His bike had the blacked out engine with dark blue and white two-tone paint. Very classy ride.
• In relatively normal highway driving my bike can hang with the massive Rocket III. In aggressive driving on tight twisty roads, I can also keep up. In a straight line? Forgetaboutit.

More to come as I remember things. I also have pictures that I’ll post soon.

40 Year-Old (eBay Seller) Virgin

I’ve purchased countless items off eBay, but until now I’ve never listed anything for sale. In Nelson, BC, last weekend I won two things at the raffle, a British flag polar fleece “buff” and a Triumph Garrick Jacket that is WAY too small, so I listed it on eBay. I have dozens more items to list someday but this is a pretty simple item with which to lose my eBay seller virginity.

Is this how I die?

On Saturday a group of us decided to do the Kaslo-New Denver-Nakusp loop, and for some reason my friends decided that I should lead the group. That worked well, for about 25-30 miles.

Return from Paradise

Got back from Nelson about 10:30pm Sunday. I’m just beat and taking a day to recuperate. The trip was not …uneventful.

Mini Vacation

For the next few days I’ll be doing this on my motorcycle. The hotel I’m staying at has internet connectivity and a PC for guests, so I may or may not be checking e-mail and posting updates about the trip. Hopefully I’ll have some cool pics to share on my return.

This is the trip I’ve been laboring on my bike for and so far, knock on wood, everything has come together. I’ve put over 1000 miles on my bike since I got it running a few weeks ago. It’s running splendidly. Yesterday I fixed the saddlebag latch that broke a couple weeks ago (never again will I put old Harley crap on something that isn’t an old Harley). The tire pressure and oil level are checked. I washed the bike last night without creating any new issues. Everything is sorted out. The cell and iPod are charged. The bags are packed. The Canadian money is in my wallet (that reminds me, where’d I put my passport? oh yeah…).

Now all I have to do is relax. I can’t believe I made it.

California Dreamin’

Doing a little trip planning for this fall. Getting to Reno is a no-brainer. From there, well, I call this one the Wild Weasel. 871 miles, 2 days. I have three other routes planned out for this leg of the trip, including a coastal route along Pacific Coast Highway, but this is by far the longest and my favorite.