New Bike

For a while now Rosi and I have thought about a GoldWing as a second bike for longer-distance cruising. Not for adventure travel - my VStrom will be perfect for that - but for week-end trips here in BC and maybe a cruise down the Oregon Coast etc.

A second bike is expensive though, especially to insure, so we had to come up with a viable game plan. What we settled on was finding a well maintained but at least 25 year old GL1100. This would serve three different but closely related purposes; allow us to try a Wing without breaking the bank, keep insurance low because of collector status and finally, expose me to riding a larger cruiser without stepping immediately up to a GL 1800.

After two months of searching the Internet and web-based research we found a bike as close to perfect for our needs as one could hope. In Sidney I found a 1981 GL1100 that's been owned by the second owner for 12 years. In that time he maintained the bike meticulously, has all the service records and kept the bike in showroom condition.

With Brad's help I bought it two weeks ago and the owner agreed to store it for me until I can get down in Oct to pick it up. I've already submitted for the collectors plates so I'll be able to insure it year round and once I get it here I'm going to arrange for heated storage until Spring. Wrapped or not, there's no way I'll leave it in the carport over the winter.

Say hello to Flurry II !

May she run straight and true and live up to the very high bar set by her namesake.

Cheers

Update and trip report

Hi Everyone

First, an apology for not keeping things current.

As friends and family will all know, Rosi was diagnosed with an inter cranial but non-cancerous and non-malignant tumour this spring and it gave us quite a scare. The good news is we paid for a private MRI, which really speeded up the diagnosis process and we've now been able to consult with a fantastic neurosurgeon at St. Paul's. The very good news is the preferred option at this point is to wait and see. It's small enough - and slow growing enough - that the risk of surgery outweighs the benefits. Why good news? Because he told us not to worry and to get out and live, and to NOT let this stop us from doing things.

So........Mexico this winter is now definitely on!

We're tentatively planning for four weeks on the bike from mid-January to mid-February with no real firm itinerary at this point other than hoping to get to Veracruz. Now comes the planning and preparation, something that takes a lot more work that just hopping on a plane and flying to a resort. We'll keep things current on this blog as we progress.

Now the trip report. Last week-end I did my first major high-mileage trip on the V-Strom. I left Penticton right after work and went as far as Omak. From there I continued on to Wenatchee, over the Stevens Pass and up I5 to Birch Bay. On Sunday I went back down I5 to highway 20, over the North Cascade Hwty to Winthrop and Omak and then up Hwy 97 to home. All in all I covered 1,190 klm over two days. The weather was perfect, the roads were perfect and the traffic was light.

Muy Bueno!