Modern Vespa

Thanks, I picked it up from a MV guy, Didge. Great rack, delivered super fast. Love it.

Cheers

Spare exhaust gasket?

I think I would want two of those... I hear the Yamaha ones work.... ducking quick...

I brought one on the last Cannonball, even though I was using an LV pipe. I figured someone would need it. Indeed, I think I gave it away on the third or fourth day.

Yeah, I'm sure they'll be plenty of spares around this time. I'm bringing a couple myself.

I have a PM can, so I'm all set.

I am really amped up for this [and I'm not even going].

The route does not include the 'Going to the Sun' highway that goes right through the heart of Glacier National Park [too bad] that would be fun on a scooter. However, the North Cascades Highway should be quite enjoyable: Vancouver is an incredible city -- don't party too much.

Good luck, everyone -- and keep us posted on your daily progress, thoughts, feelings, etc. [And don't forget the pics]

Is Rob going on the Buddy, again?

I'm so wanting to do this ride!

Maybe in a couple of years!

Er, actually it does include Going to the Sun Road. Sorry for the confusing route I posted earlier. I was too lazy to adjust Google's automatic routing between cities.

Part of me wants to bring my D90 on this trip.

Part of me knows I can't afford the extra weight, and it's not like I'll be pulling over all the time: gonna have to just keep going and going.

Gah.

So how many of us are expecting to get bed bugs on this ride? Apparently it's like an epidemic.

I understand the BBC audiobook of 'War and Peace' is pretty good.

Thanks for that cheery thought.

Dude it's all over the news. Hotels, movie theaters, etc, are having to shut down.

Apparently it's mostly an east coast thing but Chicago is also on the top 5 list of cities with the highest incident rates lately.

Some huge percent uptick in reported cases this year, like 3000% or something ridiculous like that.

I'll be sleeping in a garbage bag

I'll actually need the OED on audio book. Think that exists? Non-abridged, pls.

http://m.yahoo.com/w/search/%3B_ylt=A2KIOUGyXX5MWi4AngRI5tw4%3B_ylu=X3oDMTIxbWR1dXJjBGNiaWQDBGNvbmNlcHQDBGNwb3MDBGNzZWMDBHBvcwMxBHF1ZXJ5A0JlZCBidWdzBHNlYwNuZXdzBHNsawNtb3Jl?p=Bed+bugs&_intl=US&_lang=en&fr=news&b=4&submit=oneSearch&n=10&stype=news&sf=3&.tsrc=yahoo&.sep=fp

Great, now I have to go read how to defeat bed bugs. Better living through chemistry.

There's a Cannonball first I can (regretably) claim. First bedbug infestation. First hotel. First night. First Cannonball. The MacBedbug Inn. Virginia Beach. 2004.

Guy in the next bed, same hotel room, no prob.

For those concerned about bedbugs, you might try some of this.

http://www.resteasy4bedbugs.com/

You can spray your gear and luggage with it before your trip.

Oz, I would be more worried about the chupacabra! you and that ruckus may look pretty tasty!!!!

fugg bed bugs.

you *know* traveling this time of year in the north... you are most likely the first person to kick on the heat in the hotel room. enjoy the wonderful aroma of summer funk and drunk sex cooking off all night.

pack your nightys.

LMAO so true, no heat , and NEVER look under the bed.

WE ( scooterme,4n6 is cool, malecopywriter and myself) may get an extra 6 hours to plan and prep , while we duck and cover from EARL.

looks like the predictions are for all for of our neighborhoods. like f**in dominoes, Long Island, Boston, Coastal NH, and Portland, bam.


on another note, the trailer is almost fully equipped and decked out.

4 scooter chocks, extra floor mounted tie downs, 24 inch wrap around gravel shield from treated plywood, extra front mounting eyes, mounted fire extinghusher, diesel and gas cans 5 gal ea.( still debating>>>the harbor frieght hi lift MTC lift), spare trailer tire, plenty of custom murray tied ropes. Red and white reflector tape, orange "hazard cones". cables and chains for locks etc.
what are we forgetting?

The one thing you REALLLY need. You won't know what that is until you need it.

Good luck! Wish I were riding with you guys and gals.

I'm buying a couple of dog/cat flea collars. Seriously, apparently it contains the only legal chemical pesticide the creatures have not developed a resistance to.

are you going to wear them?

No, I'm gonna toss one in my bag of clothes, and another between the bed sheets.

What's the name of the chemical? Would like to do the same, want to be sure I get the right flea collars.

No joke. Ditto. Fuck the fact my bag will smell.

Take a lint brush with you, when you get to the hotel, first thing, put anything you bring into the room in the bath tube. Then get out the lint brush, pull the bedding back and pull back the seems of the mattes and roll the lint brush along the seems. Look for little black dots on the lint brush, bed bugs are messes little critters. Repeat on the furniture and then the carpet. Heard this on a call in home repair show this past weekend.

Because some bedbug populations have developed a resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, there is growing interest in both synthetic pyrethroid and pyrrole insecticide chlorfenapyr; insect growth regulators such as hydroprene (Gentrol) are sometimes used

Most over the counter flea collars contain permethrin(most common), d-Phenothrin, or cyphenothrin.

Since Permethrin is a pyrethroid pesticide, chances are it won't work on bed-bugs.

just use moth balls

This article was in my local newspaper last week, timely, eh?

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/30/655696/us-grapples-with-bedbugs-misuse.html Ironic too, on my trip back from dropping off my scooter, I heard a radio show today on NPR talking about the problem. It suggested not to place your bags on or near the bed. Infestations are easy to spot if you pull up the sheets near the head of the bed and look for bugs/carcasses in the rolled seam of the mattress. They also like to inhabit the wooden structure common in box springs. Once you return from your trip, 20 minutes of high heat in the drier with all your clothes will kill any you bring back in your bags.

Cute critters, no?

Aren't y'all glad I mentioned it?

www.bedbugregistry.com

Glad? Not particularly. I think my blissful ignorance of where those itchy red blotches on my skin came from, while I enjoyed an otherwise restful nights sleep is long past....

Here's those flea collars

Only one of our cities on the list below. Some hotel reported in Portland.

ya'll thinking about packing a tent now.

Thanks!

Here's a link to the Rest Easy with permethrin.

http://www.pestmall.com/rest-easy-bed-bug-for-mattresses.html

Not sure where BleuBelle got her info on permethrin not being effective, but if you Google permethrin and bed bugs, you'll get a lot of hits saying it is the most popular pesticide being used for them.

[insert Joker voice]
Hello KIDDIES! Ladies and Gentlemen, and Vintage Trolls of all sizes . . .

Not long before your honorable and intolerable master of Cannonball, Big Bertha Bagel, will be making his run on Vancouver!

And not just ANY run - IRON BUTT!!! 1000 grueling miles on a 250cc GTS/GTV/Whateverthafukuwannacallitnow!

I call it the Blue Baller (see images from 2 years ago).


Wish this blue-riding buffoon (yes, those annoying red lights are now blue too) best of luck as he completely pounds his ass over the next three weeks, doing the Iron Butt AND the Cannonball in a single month!

Say sayonara to your nuts, Bagel-boy...

Yeah that's just askin' for it (says the guy on the ruckus)

So that a "No" on having any more kids, right?