Devils Tower preparations

We're planning to leave on Sunday, July 25th, spend a night in Torrington, WY and then arrive at Devils Tower on Monday. We've booked a chalet in Hulett, WY for three nights. Ahhhhh...... I can't wait!

My lovely hubby is working on getting my side cases mounted. He purchased some cases similar to Pelican cases, on eBay a while back. Between those and my trunk case, and his Silverwing luggage we should have more than enough space for packing. And I also have my tank bag and tank saddle bags and he has a large tank bag too. We could easily over pack for this trip. :-) But, we haven't even started thinking about what we're packing yet. We are still focused on getting the bikes ready.

His GL has a new ignition switch. Hooray! I will need an oil change next week and also need to check my tires. I'm not sure how many miles I should get on these stock tires. They look fine but have almost 7,000 miles on them. I'll have Mike's Motorcycle give me his professional opinion when I take it there next week. I bought some Grab-On Grip Covers there yesterday. Those should help with the vibration and hopefully keep my hands from falling asleep.

I'm going to visit MotoGear Outlet this weekend too. I think we really need to have those TechNich Evaporative Cooling Vests for this trip. It's been so hot this week I have considered not riding a couple of days. But a wet shirt under the mesh keeps me cool and thinking clearly on the ride home. Definitely need the cooling vests.

We won't be camping so we don't have to worry about packing all of that gear. For our first long road trip, I think it will be great to not have to worry about building a tent and cooking after riding 4 hours or so.

Since we'll be staying for three days in the chalet, we'll probably take a day trip out to see Mount Rushmore as well. It's so close. How can we not?

The route home hasn't been planned yet. We'll probably just see how we feel and decide on that third day if we want to come home through South Dakota or go back the way we came.

Road Tripping

Yesterday was the first day of fitness boot camp so I packed a bag of workout clothes for the week. It's M-W-F. As I was loading up the bike, I realized, I had enough stuff packed and on the moto for a quick little get away. I had 4 sets of clothes (3 days of work out and what I was going to wear at work that day), two pairs of shoes, a yoga mat, a water bottle, and food for the week (32oz of yogurt, big bag of granola, 3 small packages of Fig Newtons, 2 granola bars, and a container of cashews. In addition to the stuff that's always on the bike like my rain gear, a few tools, flashlight, and various bungies. And it wasn't even packed super efficiently.
We have yet to do a road trip on the motos. I'm itching to do that and soon. The thought did cross my mind to just ride away. But, only briefly, since I do have to work and stuff. :-)

I drove to work today though. We're having some very unpredictable weather. There was rain at my house. I drove through some snow flurries. Reports of hail and lightning all around me but I didn't see any. And it is sunny and windy in Boulder. There are some scary looking dark clouds out there.