Rainy mornings...

I decided not to ride my bike yesterday due to some heavy rain and weird Michigan weather conditions. Of course, it didn't rain, and was a beautiful night to ride. I love driving home in the morning on the bike. There's something very peaceful about how quiet it is, being the only vehicle on the road and puttering along at or below posted speed limits. Sure, I could speed home, but where's the joy in that?

That's the whole thing about riding. I don't know how to explain it, but there is this sense of euphoria that comes over me. Sure the jacket is hot and heavy, I always seem to have an itch on my face somewhere after I'm all buttoned up and driving and the helmet is secured to my noggin, but I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world. I'm just sorry I waited so long to get things rolling.

No sense in crying over spilt motorcycles. I am finding many very helpful people on the XJ list and to be honest, every day I learn something new about the bike, about the people who love the bike and their love of riding, and all of this experience has already helped me avoid several costly mistakes.

The pics here are of my gas tank, the one I plan on re-doing this winter. While the dents and dings are not functionally limiting, cosmetically, they cause me no small amount of concern. The first thing people look at when they see your bike, usually, is the gas tank. Thus, all the little dents and dings, scratches and blemish jump out and steal the bike's thunder.

My plan is to ride to Canada and hang out with the fella's from the list on the weekend of the 30th of Sept. It's about 268miles, will take approximately 4.5 hours to get their, but the trip itself will be fantastic. This will be the longest I have ever been on the bike. Perusing some of the pics from the last get together the guys had, it looks to be a great time. Plus, any problem you may be having with your bike, someone from the list invariably has dealt with at some point, and they seem more than happy to help out with getting your bike tip top.

I am going to start planning the trip now, including what to bring (hopefully fitting everything into the sadllebags and a small duffel on the back). There are several resources to help out with this, people that have been there, done that.

I'm not sure what I would do without the help of the people on the XJ list. Well, actually, I would probably learn, but there would be a lot of trial and error, a lot of fumbling about until I came across the right sequence.

Off to ride...