Air conditioned pants...

...just what I needed. While waiting for the dealer to service my scooter today I had 4-1/2 hours to browse the "accessories" section and I ended up purchasing cool gloves, warm gloves, a thing I can soak in water to cool my head, a helmet liner to warm my head, a new visor for my helmet so I can see and riding pants made of mesh.

I took them for a ride in the 95 degree heat and they were amazing. At around 45mph the air actually felt cool. Around 70-80mph however, most of the air flows completely around my legs and it gets warmer... I guess we'll have another incentive to slow down besides the scenery.

I could have used these last summer when we went to New Mexico and it hovered around 100 while crossing Texas. One really cool feature is that the legs unzip and they convert into shorts to wear while exploring. They are also armored, so my knees will get the same protection my elbows currently have. Marlene proved those pads really work when she fell off her bike last year. Hopefully I will never test them!

More Preparation

Anyone who's ever ridden a motorcycle in the rain or on a sticky hot day can appreciate how nice it is to have airflow under you. Well, rather than invest in custom woven beaded seat cover I chose to go the Walmart route and "customize" one of their $8.88 seatcovers. I simply used hot glue to seal off a row of beads where the "tail" that normally goes under the headrest of a car seat meets the "fat" part of the cover that goes on the backrest. I turned the whole thing around and mounted it to my backrest "upside down" so the triangular part that's normally on top now fits the shape of the motorcycle seat. See the value of looking at things upside down?

I also put a piece of diamond plate traction material (normally used on scaffolding) on the luggage rack to prevent my gear from sliding off... you see, I decided that the best material to make my rack from is High Density PolyEthylene, which is similar to what milk jugs are made of. Very strong stuff, can be loaded and overloaded without fear of fracture and will cushion my gear somewhat from road vibration. The problem I had is it's very slippery - anything I set on the rack would immediately slide off. Now the problem is solved and I have an additional 3/16" of soft material to cushion my luggage.

This is also a good view of the back of the MotorMates butt-bumper riser I added for this trip - which converts the standard Burgman butt-bumper into a backrest. It also makes a great place to strap additional luggage on the seat - it's actually possible to lift the seat and access the trunk space without unpacking what's sitting on the seat.

We leave in less than one month!

Old Photos

I haven't had much to add about our Alaska trip lately, I'm still getting my scooter ready with new tires and testing my gear. I'm finally able to sleep soundly through the night on my Cot (without the tent part) with my sleeping bag and matress. Soon I'll be totally comfortable sleeping on something only 2' wide and 6" longer than I am. I still have to get used to not being able to stretch completely out - my feet and hands can't stick off the end once I have the tent on the cot! A week or so before the trip I'll probably add the tent back on to get used to it.

My Nana sent me some old photos last week and I thought I'd share the ones with Motorcycles (and Van Sickles) in them. Mom and Dad, you'll have to help me with the story on these old ones - let me know in the comment section below...

The first is dated April 7, 1974. I didn't notice the little girls in the background on the right until I scanned it in the computer and adjusted the image!

The second is dated May 1978.

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The third one looks like it was taken in Santa Barbara

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The last one is from January 2009. It was a great day for a ride through the hill country, and we made a quick stop at my house to show the girls our borrowed bikes.