Inside the last week to prepare.

I am thinking constantly now about this trip and my mental preparations are in high gear. I want to have the bike ready and myself ready and I am wishing for good weather to begin the trip through New England to Toronto.

I changed the oil and found the used oil, Castrol 20W50 4 Stroke, to be looking pretty good as it drained into the pan. I had changed it on April 2, 2010 and only had 3170 mi. on it. Same weight and manufacturer were used for the refill.

Today I finally got around to changing out the rear drive gear oil using 75W90 Castrol Synthetic. (first time I have done this @ 14,980 mi.) Probably overdue, but was waiting on delivery of Honda Moly 60 grease to use on the drive spline. Talk about expensive and the package is not even gold coloured. I should have taken a close up of the small plastic tube I used with the manufacturers bottle nozzle, which made filling with 180 ml. of gear oil a snap.

This is not the side of the road but my back yard

I discovered something that is important to know before heading out on a long trip using Jesse Odessey II Luggage, with the muffler lowering option. I had to take the muffler off in order to remove the rear wheel, to actually do all the necessary steps in the gear oil replacement. Not a big deal, but it adds to the overall time for this maintenance task.

Six days days from now I mount up and head to Rye Harbor State Marina in New Hampshire, USA; to meet my son Nicholas and dip the rear wheels of our bikes into the Atlantic ocean. {Nicholas thought it would be more appropriate to put the tires, rather than our boots in the water; so he found a location with a boat ramp.} It is a 335 mile ride form my home in New Brunswick, Canada; then another three hour ride to his place in Vermont. From there we head north to Toronto and the riding north and west really begins! It would be great to have you follow along with us!