3 weeks to go!

I can't believe, here it is the middle of May and we have snow showers on and off today! We leave 3 weeks from tomorrow and I sure as hell hope it warms up big time before and definitely by then! I bought some jeans of the stretchy kind that I can wear my tights under and not feel too constricted. Already thinking about layers of clothing to pack that will take up as little space as possible. 

We went to the sale at Royal Distributing last month and bought 2 new front tires and 2 Frog Tog jackets. Pat just saying today that although his back tire still has lots of wear, he would like to buy another to take with us. 

Hoping all works out with the weight/equipment we are bringing. Recently bought these cots to use in the tent. Getting older means you need a certain amount of comfort and using sleeping pads again this year was not something either of us wanted. Trouble was finding a mid-range ($) cot of decent quality and not too heavy. Pat found these at the Kitchener surplus store. They weigh 11 lbs each versus the approximately 5 lbs of a sleeping pad. He will carry them again atop his two side cases.

Pat will test out the cot for his first race weekend coming up at Shannonville on June 3-5 (yup! right before we leave....a track mishap could mean the end of our trip so he better be damn careful!!) He also recently sold his first race bike, bought in 2013. It was a 1976 Honda 550 that had some re-work done on it. Now he just has the 1968 Norton to use and that is fine with me (means less time on the racetrack!)

We spent a couple of hours reviewing our route and how we can lower the mileage the first few days so we are not wiped out by the time we arrive in Labrador for the long, demanding drives. Easy answer, leave a day early!! Ha! that means Pat arrives home Sunday evening from the racetrack and we leave Monday late morning. Everything has to be ready before he takes off the Friday before!

We haven't really tried out our new Bluetooth headset system yet, except in the house, on different levels, wearing our helmets. These helmets take in a bit more wind at the front and with virtually no windscreen on the bike, there is a lot of extra noise. The speakers are on both sides of the helmet so that should help with hearing. 

The helmet on the left is the one I used to use on my Honda 400, which was sold a few years back before I bought the 2010 KLR. The helmet on the right is the one I have now, bought 2 years ago for our trip to Cape Breton. It's a bit more beat up, especially after my crash on the Campbell in the Yukon last year. I bought a new windscreen for it, Pat glued the visor part back together and it looks pretty good now!

Here is a pic of the box that the Bluetooth headset came in. We bought it at the Toronto Motorcycle show last January in Toronto. 

The lists continue to grow of things that we need to take with us or complete in advance. I do notice that our Jack Russell Terrier Petey, who is 16 years old, is becoming a little more frail, unbalanced, even bit confused at times. I am so lucky to have a loving family for him to stay with while we are away. I could not travel with peace of mind thinking of him stuck in a kennel. Thank you Marsha, Jeff, Claire and Grace!