My soul is in need of an adventure. 

 Life is a journey. Make it epic!

At the end of this school year, I will retire after 28 years of teaching junior and primary grades (including kindergarten) with YRDSB. 

 In early/mid July this summer, I will leave on a great circle retirement solo tour of the USA on my 1975 Honda CB750. I expect to be travelling for 4 to 5 weeks. My primary passioninlifeisblack and white film based photography/wet darkroom, so of course I will be thoroughly documenting my journey. 

As a school teacher, my life has been highly regimented; jumping at the bell, so to speak. Even family vacations with children were precisely pre-planned. As a reaction to this, my tripwillbemuchfreer. I have an idea of where I'm going, but will simply follow my front wheel to get there. People I have "met" on photography and motorcycle forums, have offered  couchesinseveralstates.I'll just stay in motels other times as my camping days are behind me.

I enjoy working on my motorcycles myself. I have 2 other vintage motorcycles: 1976 BMW R90/6 and 1981 BMW R100/7. Either one of these would be a more logical choice than my Honda (if thereisanylogicin long distance touring on bikes >30 years old!), but I'm currently in love with the Honda. One of the BMW's will be sold to help finance the trip, but experiences aremorevaluablethan"things". 
50 vitamin pills, 50 working days until retirement
I'm about to retire, my bike is pretty much sorted, and I'm in a pleasant quandary over what cameras to take on my trip. Call me crazy, but I'm taking more photo gear than the average motorcycle traveller, but that's what I'm going to do, because photography is very important to me and I'm not the type of person who is paralyzed by choice, or one that feels that less is more. I am taking both 120 and 35mm systems; the black and white film is already bought.

My medium format gear was certain to be a Rolleiflex TLR and a Fujica gs645w. The tlr was chosen because of the positive attitudes people have towards these "antique" cameras. The Fujica was chosen for its wide angle lens. Now I'm thinking that my Hasselblad with 80 and 50mm lenses is a good alternative. The lens apertures are faster than the Rollei and Fujica lenses, but the Rollei and Fujica choice offers 120 backup redundancy.

My 35mm gear was certain to be a Leica M2 and Leica CL with 21, 28, and 50mm lenses. An alternative 35mm kit could be a couple of Nikon SLR's, (maybe FG's or 801s') with 20, 28, and 50mm lenses. The advantage of the Nikons is built in metering and no need for external finders. The advantage of the Leicas is user satisfaction - I simply enjoy using them more. But maybe not in a demanding situation like a motorcycle tour.
I just laid out the MF gear, and the Hasselblad with 80 and 50mm lenses take up more room and are heavier than the Rolleiflex and Fujica wide. The Fujica has a built in meter. So they get the nod over the Hasselblad.

I'm not thrilled with the Nikons. They are in some ways the more practical 35mm camera choice, but is there anything about my whole trip that is based on practicality and logic? No, it's an endeavor of the heart all the way!
I may have found a compromise: I could take my Konica Hexar RF camera. It is a rangefinder camera like the M2, but it has built in metering and 28mm framelines so there is no need for an externalviewfinder, like the advantages the Nikon SLR's offer. :)
The caveat is that the rf mechanism is delicate in these cameras, but with a 28 I'll be scale focussing anyway. With aperture priority metering and motorized film advance, it is very quick to use. It's battery lasts a long time so that shouldn't be an issue.
I handed in my resignation for retirement notice the other day.
 No turning back now, not that I would ever consider that!
April 30

A couple of weeks ago when I was getting the bike ready for the season, I knocked my helmet off the seat. The way it fell, it broke the face shield mount on one side, and the helmet became unusable. This is not as tragic as it sounds. This helmet was over 15 years old and for safety's sake needed to be replaced simply due to its age. 
 
So I began to look for a new helmet. A couple of motorbike shops in Whitby were having a sale so I went to check it out. I was looking for another Shoei because I was so satisfied with my old one, but quickly found out that they were priced out of my reach, and I came home empty handed. I got a helmet today from kijiji ! This model (RF-1100) was on sale at some motorcycle shops for $350 because Shoei has introduced a successor model. (RF-1200) I got this helmet for $250 with an extra tinted face shield. I have to do this trip in a frugal manner in order to afford to do it at all, and I'm very happy to get a really good helmet.

Touring Bags

I have to replace my 20 year old Joe Rocket tank bag, because a zipper on it tore with use and age so that it does not close fully (not a good thing to lose items while on the road) and because I could use a larger tank bag to carry my film cameras. I could buy a new one for over $100, but I like to be frugal, so I bought a nice used one from a motorcycle forum (GTAm) for $50. Only problem is that it came with useless suction cups instead of the more secure magnet method of attachment. Now, I could buy the magnetic straps from nelson-Rigg for about $35, or I could try to adapt the suction cup straps that I do have to the magnets cut from my old tank bag. We'll see. The new (used) tank bag has more storage, expanding from 17 to 27 litres.

http://www.canadasmotorcycle.ca/nelson-rigg-cl-1035-touring-tank-bag.html?gclid=CPiMybv-n74CFVR5Mgod0TcAjA

I've done shorter trips, visiting my parents in another town - a 6 hour ride, with a duffle bag bungee corded to the luggage rack and seat behind me. Again, I needed more capacity and something with a bit of water resistance, so I bought a new boat bag from Bass Pro outdoor store. It's bright yellow so it will improve my visibility. It's a 70 litre bag, so there will be almost 100 litres of storage capacity for all my stuff.
Electronics for the Road

Short answer: iPhone 4S and iPad 2.

Explanation: The iPhone is my only digital camera. I'm happy with the quality of photos that I get with it for Internet sharing purposes. I'll get a US SIM card and a roaming service for connectivitywhen local wifi is not available. I just bought a tomtom GPS app for it. Its best feature, besides giving you your location, is the "winding roads" function which directs you to your desireddestination along, you guessed it, winding roads which are the most fun on a motorcycle.

The iPhone is sync'ed to my iPad via iCloud, so that pics taken with the phone appear on the iPad. This allows me to edit and post process pics on the larger screen. I use a free app (surprise)called Snapseed, to do this. Typing notes to post while on the road to update this website is much easier on the ipad as well.

So, I need to take an AC charger for these devices after a day's ride, but I also want to be able to power them using the bike's battery. I'm thinking that using the tomtom GPS app during the daywill quickly tax the iPhone battery capacity. I have a motorcycle battery tender, which is a low power battery charger used for battery maintenance purposes. I got an automotive cigarette lighteradapter that plugs into the wires that the battery tender plugs into. An iPhone/iPad automotive charger plugs into this adaptor, and this connects them to the motorcycle battery. This was moredifficult to explain in words than it really is.
A couple of small steps forward with 29 working days left:

In a Canadian Tire clearance aisle, I bought a $40 Nike dry fit t-shirt for $10. :)

I got the old tank bag magnets epoxied onto the securing straps which once held ineffective suction cups.


I bought some Rok straps, reputed to be much more secure than bungie cords.
Looking into a new rear tire to install before I leave. Settled on Avon AM26. Good tire, good price.
Oh, and now only 18 more working days left! :)
Friday, June 6

Last week of work coming up! 
My workplace gave me and another retiring employee a nice party the other day.
It's really happening!  :)
I just ordered a new back tire from Petes superbikes online store.

Sunday, June 29

And then there were none. This is my first weekend of retirement. It doesn't feel any different from an ordinary end of school year, but come September ...

Bye, bye work!

With about a week to go before my trip, I installed the new rear tire and tube. It took 2 hours and is the kind of job where having 3 hands would have been very helpful. I also changed the oil and filter. 

Below, is a nice pic of my bike on my most recent trip to visit my parents.
Wed, July 2

The bike is ready to role! I also adjusted the valve clearances, adjusted and synchronized the carburators. Still need to get my cellular provider to unlock my phone for use with a US SIMM card and buy a roaming plan. I'm thinking about leaving this Sunday. The first day is just travel to my parent's farm near Kingston, which is a trip I've done by bike countless times over the years.