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With newfound purpose and vigor, I bound out of bed...more or less...impersonating a walker in the Walking Dead...still under the influence of the heavy dose of Nyquil I took the night before to ensure a solid 8 hours of slumber on a night when I was way too excited to sleep...now, if I can free...

I find myself adrift in the void...deep impenetrable blackness all about me...thick and confining...yet somehow comfortable...I'm just floating...no sense of time...no discernible shapes...no other inhabitants within the blackness. I wonder aloud...am I dead? Is this the afterlife? Shouldn't...

Hmmm...I guess I do owe you folks some answers...

Love it! I'll be following along for sure. I'm shopping for my next project vehicle right now so I'm stuck living vicariously through others. The more pics and details, the better.

High praise from the Sausage King of Chicago.

31 hours until departure...lawn mowed...car washed and waxed...bike washed and lubed...all of my gear loaded in the truck...one more day of work...some last minute packing...drop off the kids...pick up my father...and then the relative freedom of the open road and all the country fried steak I...

None of your novelty hippie socks for me.

OK folks...I think I'm close to having a complete packing list for this 12 day jaunt. I'm open to suggestions for things that I may be overlooking. No need to restate the obvious about my penchant for over-packing. It's a sickness. Is there any stronger love than that between a boy and...

I managed to stuff nearly all of my riding gear into this one big canvas duffel...a couple coats, riding pants, cold weather gloves, and some Merino compression socks from Duluth Trading Company that I'll be trying out for the first time. And for reasons that I cannot fully explain, I packed...

Only 10 days left... My designated departure date is closing fast and I'm focused on getting loose ends tied up before I go. I'm doing pretty well as there are only a few remaining items to address. Mr. LaDue and I have been comparing notes on a daily basis and my laminated MASTER INVENTORY...

I like the "Mr." It sets up the pretense of a mature, responsible adult...a professional educator...a pillar of society...a leader of men...a proud son of Iowa. That will make it way funnier when things go horribly awry and you are revealed as a depraved maniac later in the story. I'm...

Fanny packs are not masculine in Australia?!!??! Clearly things are much different on the opposite side of the earth. If I could accomplish one thing in life, I would like to develop and distribute a "sarcasm font". I would call it Bentz Type.

After rereading portions of my last story (over on that other forum), it occurrs to me that, for me, the most entertaining aspects of the story involved detailed accounts of my many neuroses and my nonstop verbal battery of my traveling companion. I had been reluctant to go in that direction on...

WHile I'm on the topic of backpacks, I noticed today while I was putting in my new maps, that mine is getting quite bulky. I'm starting to question the value of carrying spare tire tubes (front and rear) on daily expeditions. I'm thinking that I might leave the tire tubes at the hotel for...

Mr. LaDue and I have been engaged in daily communication over all sorts of important trip planning details. In some cases, heated exchange ensues over critical decisions that must be made... Today's debate centers on a topic that has been argued passionately by men of action throughout the...

More trip supplies arriving daily... I'm not really in charge of the routes on this trip, but I'm not big on following blindly...I like to at least know where I am in case I become seperated from the group or something terrible happens and I need to find help as quickly as possible. Things...

Ahhh! That's even better information! The next time, I will measure the unloaded/unpressurized ride height, pump the bags up to 30lbs (Firestone bags rated 5-35), load the bike, and then lower the pressure until I reach the unloaded height again. That sounds like it should work perfectly...

I did fail to mention that I strapped both wheels to the rack. If the bike does fall, it won't go very far...either hitting the back of the 4Runner or dragging on the road and ruining the left end of the handlebar. I think I'm going to wrap the right end of the handlebars in foam just in case I...

So I rolled down the rear window for fear of an errant handlebar collision during braking and I hit the streets for a little test and tune session. Surprisingly, the bike stayed somewhat motionless throughout the trip. There was some amount of movement as the suspension cycled over bumps or...

That's good information. I was planning to measure the unloaded height of the hitch, load the rack and the bike, and then air up until back at the original height. After reading your comment, I went back and consulted the instructions. It was pretty vague about what to do after installation, so...