What no send off party?

Here's the bike at 4 o'clock in the morning ready to go,we had intended to leave for London the previous night but as always we were scuppered with last minute jobs (nothing new there then!)
Sue refused to be photographed after 3 hours sleep and whilst the excitement of leaving was keeping us upbeat, the thought of driving to Heathrow with so little sleep was not going to be the highlight of our day. Fully loaded the bike weighs about the same as a small elephant and when driving slowly it handles as well as a pig on roller skates, of course the beauty of this machine is it's ability to carry those kinds of load at speed so once on the open road the ride characteristics are quite enjoyable because of this we have decided to christen the bike BOB (Beast Of Burden). we know it's cheesy and the last bike we simply called 'the bike', but the fact that we will be relying on it's mechanical good nature for the next 12 months means it's probably as well to personalise our relationship in first name terms, it's also more satisfying when something does go wrong to blaspheme at a name rather than an object, here's a few of the worst possible examples:

BOBs P***ing oil all over the place!
F***ing BOBs rear ends gone!
F*** me! BOBs been pinched!

Here's the starting mileage on the speedo, I have no idea what the final trip mileage will be but the chances are it will be closer to 30,000 than 20,000 with a 10% excess for getting lost!
The run down to Heathrow was uneventful, I took my final cholera vaccine before we set off which meant no food or drink for an hour before or after, so 60 minutes into the journey the indicator went on at the first available service station for a bacon butty and a coffee. Sue coped with the monotony of motorway miles in her usual fashion, sleeping, every so often she slumps forward and I get this knock on the back of my helmet, seriously! I've tried doing the same thing, but keep getting woken up as soon as I drift into oncoming traffic!

We are shipping the bike with James Cargo who are experts when it comes to moving motorcycles anywhere around the globe and have made the whole process relatively painless, we rode straight to their warehouse at Heathrow and after watching Steve crate another bike about to be shipped overseas we paid our money and left Steve to strip the dangly bits off BOB and screw him into the crate (see it works!)

BOB never did like confined spaces

Of course the moment of truth will be in a weeks time when we get BOB from the customs at Anchorage airport or when we open the crate and find a bloody Vespa scooter! (you'll hear the screams on this side of the Atlantic).

Seriously, thanks to Giles, Roddy and Steve at James Cargo.

http://www.jamescargo.com/

We are now relaxing for a few days in London, stopping with our youngest son Mat before flying out on Monday morning. The realisation of what we are about to do is becoming more apparent by the day, and whilst our time over the last 8 months has been occupied with house alterations, building work, decorating, and retirement the next 12 months have the potential to be life changing.

There are too many people to thank for their help in getting us this far, whether it was helping us sort the house, making my retirement memorable or just supporting us in the whole planning thing. We cannot thank you enough.

As the old saying goes........Wish you were here.