It just dawned on me that the end of this trip is less than half a year away. The beginning of the trip is clear on the horizon, and the trip’s end is only just beyond it.
Nick and I were chatting about vaccines this morning. The CDC has a nice website to look up recommended vaccines for travelers. Looks like we’ve already missed the boat for the full dose of the Hepatitis A vaccine, which is recommended along with the Typhoid vaccine. For Hep A, apparently you’re supposed to get the second treatment 6 months after the first. heh…we’ll be home by then. Still going to look into it and see if the first treatment will suffice for our purposes. Typhoid is a bit easier, with two options for treatment (injection or oral), both of which should be taken a couple weeks before traveling.
Other than the traveler’s vaccines, I should also probably locate some records of my other vaccinations to see what I may ought to come up to date on. Thinking about medical things, insurance also comes to mind and seeing if it will be anything but completely useless outside of the US. Other useful notes on adventure travel.
Wired up the auxiliary lights this evening. I'm going to need to re-route the wires running down the forks a bit, but that's an easy job.
I ordered the VisionX Solstice Solo lights (60˚/flood) via Amazon a couple weeks ago to fill in the dimmer areas of my headlight coverage. Should help, particularly on the irregular roads we can expect on various parts of the Panamerican Highway.
I was originally thinking of making and installing a bar just under the headlights, but then realized that the bolt that came with the Solstice mounts was the same size as the bolt used to hold my front fender in place. Certainly an easier and/or cheaper install since I wouldn't have to fabricate and/or purchase a mounting bar, and it will put them at a different angle to the road than the headlights, which may help combat odd shadows. I figured the wires could run down alongside the brake lines and opted for Anderson Power Poles to supplement the necessary connections. They're easy to use, and I'm thinking I may make some extension/conversion cables for various other uses that I could plug into this line if I don't feel I'll need the aux lights. There was an unused switch on the "dash" of the bike when I got it, so I cleaned up the contacts and -- after testing it for functionality -- used it for the aux lights.
The lights seem to throw a hefty bundle of lumens and make my beam satisfactorily robust. I've only tested them in the garage so far, though, and the pic doesn't really do it justice -- probably due to the camera's HDR compensating for the increased light. Still, you can see a slight difference. Also, importantly, the little red indicator is on in the image on the right (that's the switch for the aux lights), and the voltage meter shows a loss of 0.1 volts. I'm more interested in how it will change when running, and with heated gear, etc., but keeping an eye on it for every farkle* added.
I've got a couple USB ports to wire -- going to need to make a parts run to finish those -- before I can put the bike back together so that it's roadworthy again. Once I do, I'll be sure to test the whole system -- heated gear, aux lights, USB ports -- and report back.
*farkle -- biker-speak for gadgets and gizmos added to the motorcycle
Tragedy struck a couple months ago when I was on the road for work. I tossed my phone on the bed as is customary for me to do. This time, though, my computer happened to be sitting there. The phone struck the screen with enough force to put a nasty crack in it. Truth be told, this toss had a hint of anger behind it. The computer was still usable and only the surface glass was cracked, fortunately.
I found a tutorial on replacing the surface glass on a late-2011 model Macbook Pro, ordered the parts and a couple specific tools, and bided my time. This is how most of my projects go: initial surge of interest, parts ordered, preparations made, *SQUIRREL!!*, weeks or months later (or years...) I get back to actually working on the project.
Old glass removed (in background)
Anyway, last night was that night. I sat down with the tutorial, the computer, and the tools (which included a hair dryer, of all things), and set to work. Two and a half hours later (alright, alright, I may have had some Netflix on, too) I had a lovely, new-looking computer. While I was at it, I added some memory in hopes that my video software would be more compliant. Despite discovering someones palm print on the inside of the glass after I got it installed (I swear I didn't touch it!), I'm quite happy with the results so far.
Yesterday was such a lovely day that it was begging the motorcycle to come out. Thus, despite half of the pretty parts being on the floor of my garage (expecting auxiliary lights and a couple USB ports this week), I put the vitals back together and loaded up to get to ClaroKC (Spanish conversation group in KC). Part of my excitement for getting back on the bike was to test out my newly-installed First Gear heated riding gear. Yesterday evening around 6, it was a balmy 43°F here in KC, so heated gear wasn't necessary. I was just really hankering to see how it worked.
Unfortunately, when I first plugged it in: no dice. No indicator lights; no warmth. I was late, though, so headed in up to ClaroKC. After successful conversation, I looked the bike over and discovered that the in-line fuse that came with the heated gear wiring was blown. (Forgot that I had shorted it out right after the install.) Unfortunately, it is the only ATM (small blade) fuse, so I had no replacement. Due to the fuse block I just installed, this in-line fuse is redundant, so I found a scrap piece of wire and jumped it. I'll have to go back and remove it later...don't need to have superfluous things that can cause problems when we're far from civilization. That did the trick for the time being, though: the lights were on on the controller for the heated gear and my fingers had warmth, so I headed on up to Le Fou Frog to meet Sarah.
Later, I took the long way home, down I-35 to Hwy 69 and around 435. By then it was 35°F or so, so still not frigid, but more of a test of the system at highway speeds. It can definitely put out some heat! Seems a bit uneven, though, with sweltering hands and feet and warm torso and legs. I think this can be solved with more strategic layering, though. I was wearing a pair of normal pants over the heated pant liner and just the motorcycle jacket over the jacket liner, which then had a couple layers between it and my skin. For efficacious use, probably best to keep the heated gear close to the skin with thermal layers on top and a windproof layer last.
Yesterday was just an exploratory trial, though, and I'm pretty satisfied overall. The heated gear will keep me much warmer with much less bulk, both of which will be useful for the long trip ahead, during which we'll travel from frigid spring in Alaska, to sweltering summer in Mexico and Central America, to frigid winter in the mountains of far south South America.
Nick and I just finished certification with the NOLS* Wilderness First Aid course. Excellent! I've had various first aid courses over the years, though the last substantial study I had was in boot camp, I think. The NOLS folks have a whole different approach, starting first with exactly that: the approach. Before learning any specific first aid techniques, you consider the approach to the situation and sizing up. Ben, one of our instructors, guided us through taking out a can of calm and drinking it first when an injurious incident presents itself. From there, we thoroughly discussed the "grammar" of first aid: gathering all of the information before moving forward with any treatment. As dire and dramatic as many first aid situations seem, he emphasized several times throughout the course, there is not only time to gather intel, but it is necessary in order to be able to make appropriate decisions.
We spent most of the morning discussing and practicing the NOLS Patient Assessment System (PAS). A much more thorough treatment of assessment than I've seen in other first aid courses. Afterwards, we talked through various scenarios and potential issues that one might encounter in the backcountry, all the while keeping in mind the main question: stay and play or load and go.
Overall, 16 hours excellently spent. While these are skills we hope never to need, they're skills that are absolutely imperative when needed. They're also skills that need to be practiced, so feel free to ask me to assess you at any moment. I'd like to become fluent in this practice.
Ryan's teammates practice a passive shoulder dislocation reduction with cravats and water bottles.
One other quick note: the classmates. With 29 students, class size was just right. And an excellent room of folks, it was! The feeling being around these folks reminded me of being around the excellent MR340 crowd: a reminder that I should be spending more time farther from cities.
Well, when I felt the chilly temperature this morning (19°F), I got all excited about trying out my newly-wired heated gear. Snow started to fall shortly after 10, though, on the walk back to Sarah's place after getting coffee in the City Market. By the time I got on the road to head home, there was over a half inch of accumulation on the roads. I was still tentatively thinking about taking the bike out until I got to the south end of Hwy 71. The rest of the way home was slick enough on 4 wheels that I have no hankering to try it on 2.
Snow accumulation on my car after being home only 5 min.
The hill up to my house was barely passable for the VW. It's days like these that I miss the AWD on the ol' Subaru.
These are my main concerns with the sections of our trip in AK and southern South America. I've dealt with cold weather -- both camping and motorcycling -- but have had a major aversion to any ice or snow when motorcycling. And yet, I see videos of ADV riders out in it. Got to be some technique I'm missing...
My heated gear arrived back in early January. This consists of a jacket liner, pant liner, glove liners, and socks that have electrical elements in them that I can plug into the bike to stay toasty warm. Considering the temps we can expect in Alaska, Chile, and Argentina, heated gear will be a definite boon.
I'd been thinking about it for quite some time. Heated gear, of course, requires a decent chunk of power, and one downfall of the V-Strom is the weaker generator. With a max output of 350 watts at 5000 RPM, there aren't many watts to spare. To help things out, I swapped my OEM halogen headlights for LED headlights. This took me from 110 (low) to 120 (high) watts for the pair to 50 watts. I picked up a few more spare watts by swapping my OEM brake lights (21/5 watts x2) for LED lights. During my search for headlights, it seemed that most products were aimed at folks who wanted to increase brightness rather than save wattage, but I finally decided upon the Nighteye 8000 lumen LED bulbs. They've done a nice job, were super easy to install, and have cut way back on my wattage.
Here's the ride I did to test the new headlights out right after installing them:
I also stuck a voltage meter on the bike so I could keep track of how well things were running as I added components. As part of the project, I installed a relay -- a first for me -- so that the volt meter would only come on when the bike was on.
And that brings us back to this month, when I'm finally getting around to installing the heated gear. I elected to follow in the footsteps of other ADV riders and install a separate fuse block for the various accessory gear I'll be installing. After some hemming and hawing about loads and fuses, I elected to give it a 30 amp fuse overall and wired it with 10 gauge wire...a bit of overkill, I suppose. I pulled the relay from the volt meter (since it would now run through the fuse block) so that the whole fuse block would be switched. The relay is now tied into a single connector with the taillights and license plate light. Soldered all connections...good practice if nothing else...and got it all buttoned back up last night with the irreplaceable help of Sarah.
Here's a view looking down at the bike (seat off) from the handlebars. Battery toward the bottom of the pic. I'm holding onto the plug that will go to the heated gear, and you can see the new fuse block in the background:
The one accessory still running directly off of the battery is the 12v cigarette lighter-style plug. I'll be installing a new USB outlet that will be switched, but thought it might be useful to leave at least one accessory plug unswitched in case I wanted to charge my phone with the bike off or something.
So, that's all back together. Still a bit more figuring to do for the auxiliary lights, but I think I'm about ready to place an order. Time to get a cold front through KC so I can test out this heated gear!
