Roadtrip 2006 Countdown: 4 days "The Plan"

Each year I make a pilgrimage to pavement unseen and twisties uncarved and that time has come again and boy, am I ready. The goal is to get out, get away and meditate on the Om of the yellow dotted line and the synergy of man and machine. My personal iron-butt rally across backroads I know only as "that little grey line" on the map.

This year, I am going to L.A. to visit family and nearby Encinitas to visit a friend. I've made this trip down and back on the coast -101 and 1- a couple of times already so this time we'll change it up a little. Although ending up in the same place, I'll do a little 800 mile zig zag in California to visit the Sierra Nevada mountains that I have only seen from a great distance.

The route is not set in stone nor is it unscripted. In the past, I have greatly overestimated the amount of ground I cover in a day, in fact I don't believe I have ever spent the night at my planned waypoint. Not a big deal, although this time I would rather not sleep next to the bike in a vehicle turnout 50 yards from a highway. Or wake up at 3am to the sound of my licence plate number, name and address coming from a handheld radio. Fortunately that also came with the statement "no outstanding warrants."

Today is Monday - prep and pack a little, still have a few odds and ends to gather or pick up at the store. Tuesday - a rare day off, so I'll celebrate that with a little handgun practice with some buddies in the morning and a Tom Petty concert in the evening. The bike will be getting a spa treatment and rejuvenation therapy at Chez Ed's (my favorite bike shop in Spokane) the next day so I'll take off the hard bags and as much fairing as I can before I drop the bike off Tuesday evening. The lower cowling is a major b*tch to put back on, in fact when I change the oil, it takes longer to put this back on than taking it off, drain and fill the oil combined. I'd rather not pay my mechanic $60 an hour to do that. Wednesday - Last of the prep and pack, pick up the bike in the afternoon and go to work. Thursday - remove "new tire slime" from a pair of Michelin Pilot Roads. I put it up on the centerstand while it is running, drop it in 1st and grind off the shiny stuff with a brick. I only need to do the edges of the tread near the sidewall, I can do the rest on the road. The front tire isn't as easy. Go for a ride around the neighorhood or in a parking lot to take the rest of the slime off and load 'er up. After I clip on the now-full hardbags and strap the tent, sleeping bag and pad to the back seat I'll do 50 mile ride just to get used to the new center of balance and make sure everything feels right. Go to work packed, loaded and ready to roll. When I get off work at 5am Friday morning, I'll run home to take a shower, kiss the wife and grab a breakfast.

I have purposefully not mapped out my return trip to keep that "unscripted" element to it, but I also want to be flexible with how much time I spend down south. If I want to stay an extra day or two, I can always rocket up I-5 toward home. Or, I can do coastal California and then cut diagonnally across Oregon. Or I can go I-5 to Fresno or Bakersfield and cut over to east CA again. Or I can do whatever I want! As long as I make it home in time for supper.