Prep

I picked up my son and traveling companion, Marty, from the airport last night. We stopped for dinner. He became a father last week and spent the last nine days in Oregon with Anna and baby Collette.  I laughed when he observed "The greatest sound is someone else's baby crying in a restaurant."  In addition to losing sleep, he also got a foretaste of what he and I will be seeing. They made a day trip to Crater Lake and his flight home via Phoenix passed directly over the Grand Canyon.  We practically buzzed with anticipation as we ate burgers and talked.

This week is about final preparations.  The plan is to pack up Friday night and depart early Saturday morning. My bike recently went in for tires, clutch and other maintenance.  Marty's bike should be ready to pick up from the dealer tonight.  Camping gear needs to be set up and then stowed again ... I don't want to learn about a missing tent pole at a campsite in New Mexico.  Saddle bags will be packed with clothing, tools, and rain gear.  Last, those bits of technology (camera, laptop, chargers, etc) need to be inventoried and stowed.

We will trailer the bikes to western Nebraska, then begin riding Saturday evening into Denver.  There are two good reasons for hauling bikes on a trailer for the first leg:  First, the plains are a tediously flat and straight ride.  We have a lot of great riding ahead of us and it seems reasonable to snip off twelve hours of saddle time.  Second, we can accomplish a few other nice deeds by accompanying my girlfriend Julie to Denver.  Julie's daughters live in Denver. Sunday is Mother's Day and Julie's birthday follows. Her nephew lives in Wichita, and she plans to visit him on her return trip.