The Mid-Life Crisis Tour 2015

In December 2014 I'll be hitting the half century mark.  I haven't given it much thought until just the other day while driving in to work.  I'm not one to be overly introspective and I've never given aging much thought.  I don't like to celebrate birthdays either but I got to thinking that it would be a wonderful, even smashing idea to take a four corners U.S. tour on the bike.  This is something I've wanted to do for forever and I think the 50 year milestone is just a way to sell it to the missus.  That wasn't a tough sell by the way.  It went something like this:

Me - "Honey, I think when I hit 50 I want to take a ride across the country."
Best wife in the world - "Okay."

So with that I ran up stairs and immediately signed up for Adventure Rider Motorcycle Forum.  There are some hardcore dudes over there and a bunch of them are impressive photographers as well.  For the next two years I will be pouring over maps and Google Earth and The Insight Guides United States On The Road book I bought several years ago and almost sold in a garage sale.

I'll be fantasizing about this one for awhile.  Thinking out the minutiae and figuring out the logistics every time I take a shower or a ride.

The thing that will make this dream a reality is the purchase of a (almost) new '12 FZ1.  I took a spin on a co-workers '08 and the difference in comfort and wind protection between mine and his is like the difference between...I was going to say Democrats and Republicans but that comparison doesn't hold up so much any more.  Let's just say day and night.  Riding his bike really makes me believe I can do a long distance trip on a motorcycle relatively easy.  Hopefully I'll get the chance to see soon.