Starting today I can say “we leave next month”. Are we ready? My first response is &*() no! But we’re probably closer to being ready than I realize. I re-packed my right pannier for about the 5th time last night and finally have everything fit and organized with a small amount of room to spare. The big pouch on the left is my grab bag for any sort of flat tire. It contains two innertubes, an electric air pump, a hand pump, two 45g CO2 cartridges, a patch kit and plug kit. I had some extra room so I added two tow ropes and my electrical repair kit. On the right side is my tool kit, medical kit and toiletries kit. On the upper right is my water purifier pump. You can see the reflective triangle, a requirement by law in some Central American countries. It seems like a lot of space dedicated to flat repairs but I’m covering for two motorcycles with four tires, two with tubes and two tubeless. After my last trip with five flats I’m back to being paranoid.
I spent way too much time yesterday researching medical evacuation insurance. What do I really want – evacuation to the nearest hospital or to a hospital of my choosing, which might be back in the US? Some plans pay for just one trip, others pay for two and I found one that would cover unlimited trips. I start thinking of worst case scenarios where I would need multiple airlifts…. am I just getting paranoid? I’ve been investigating health insurance for international travel which is probably another whole blog post in itself. Oh, and we need vehicle insurance for each country.
I’ve also been working on “technology”. I have my non-work e-mail working on my laptop, iPad and iPhone(s) (geesh) to separate my work stuff from important personal contacts. The new e-mail address is [email protected]. I’ll still be watching the work address but I get so many messages that things can get lost. I’m still working on adding content for this blog. I started updating the section on the bikes and hope to spend time on the “about us” and “gear” sections. I’m trying to figure out why the comments box doesn’t show below the blog post like it does on the other pages. If anyone want’s to comment you have to click on the little balloon thingy on the upper right corner. I’ve also updated the subscription widget, if you haven’t already, please subscribe so I can see how well it works. Don’t worry you can always unsubscribe if you don’t like my ramblings. Hopefully once we actually start riding there will be something interesting to post.
Today I’m riding my bike back to Ride West BMW for a new front tire. It looks like I’ll be giving my rain gear another test in typical Northwest December rain and wind.
Stay tuned.