Not Quite Day One

Today is more like day .5.  I left work and rode about 130 miles to Early.  This sets me up to make it to Littlefield tomorrow in under 300 miles.

I don't think this trip feels quite real to me yet.  Right now it's all pack and load the bike and then ride in the heat and count the miles to AC and dinner.  No fun at all.  Tomorrow it will be how early can I get out of here to beat the heat.  Again, no fun.  I think it will hit me about Santa Fe.  Maybe I'll be riding and suddenly I'll be like "Shit!  I'm going to Colorado for two weeks on my own.  WooHoo!"

I know I'm excited somewhere inside.  Maybe it's the underlying trepidation I have about the trip that just needs to shake free of my boots.  The small fear that my bike won't make it.  I'll kill the transmission, I'll fry the clutch.  Of course, issues like that were the entire reason I bought the newer, bigger bike.  So far, she's been a trooper.  My poor R90 broke down on me the first two weeks I had her.  I have faith in the bike, faith in the set up of the rig.  I have faith in my abilities to navigate.  To strike the right balance of printed map, written route and GPS.  I just have to shake my doubts loose from me and let them melt away like the dishes I forgot to do before I left.  They serve no purpose for me, they should be ejected from my psyche.

I'm anticipated the excitement starting tomorrow night, when the hard riding is done or perhaps the day after when I pass Clovis, NM and the wasteland that is New Mexico South of I40 where I'm riding. 

For now, I'm checking my route for tomorrow and planning on an early night.  Tomorrow is Day One and I want to be ready.