The beginning

I have been riding motorcycles since 1971, and Sandy has been my co-rider since 1975. We were on Honda GoldWings for 22 years and then spent the last seven years riding Kawasaki Vulcan Nomads. In 1998, we discovered the Vulcan Riders & Owners Club (VROC). No dues, no leaders, no policies and (almost) no rules. Although VROC is an Internet based club running a private news server, the members decide to gather fairly regularly in many different places. Organization level is low and cameraderie is high. For the last few years, we have been attending as many VROC events as possible.

We spent 17 weeks on the road in 2004 and are planning an even more intense schedule this season. Last year, we sent Emails to friends and family on a daily basis. To simplify things and have a permanent record, I decided that we would try blogging this year.

The 2000 Nomad we ran for the last five seasons rolled over 82,000 miles last fall. Although the bike performed virtually flawlessly over its life, we decided we needed a little more power to haul a camper trailer (hotel costs were killing us) and a little more luxury. As a result, we decided to purchase a 2005 Honda GL1800 GoldWing and a Lees-ure Lite trailer.

The trailer has been ordered and paid for. It is physically in Omemee, Ontario although some accessories are still on order. We don't need it until late May. The bike, OTOH, is needed for a departure about April 1st and it is still languishing somewhere in a Honda warehouse. Rhonda, of J&R Cycle in Stayner, went looking for it Friday and tells me it should be in about the middle of this week. If it is and the weather holds, I should be able to get the 1,000 km's on it and the break-in service done before I have to leave. If I don't, things will get more interesting.

I was talking to Phil at ChromeToys in Calgary today to order some J&M accessories, primarily the headsets and filters. I also ordered a set of Kuryakyn Transformer passenger floorboards so Sandy could have her own cruising pegs. Phil is short one headset, but will tell me tomorrow if he can scrounge one for me in time. The alarming thing I found out from him was that the HJC modular CL-Max helmets we ordered from Rhonda have had a problem. Apparently the last two shipments he received did not have the recessed areas for the helmet speakers despite the fact this is supposed to be one of the features. Called Rhonda and she is looking into it.

So far we have no bike, no helmets, no headsets and we are supposed to be leaving in eleven days. But what is life without a few challenges:-))