T Minus Five (Nathan)

My mission for the next few days: avoid all contact with weather maps.

I looked this morning, and it may be better not to know. Next Monday, I'm heading out on a motorcycle trip from Vancouver to Cabo San Lucas and back to Calgary. Eight thousand kilometres. Thirteen days. A bit loony in the sunshine. Downright madness in the rain. Lunacy in the hail. Which, unfortunately, is what the forecasters are calling for up and down the coast in the next day or so. Hail mixed with thunderstorms. That, and temperatures that are barely breaking double-digits. One of the weather maps is colour-coded, with yellow showing 10 C and above. The yellow starts at about day three of our trip.

We're still a few days out, and hopefully things will change. (By we, I mean myself and my friend Brett, who also plans to blog as we go). But this is an El Nino year, so I'm not sure what to expect. I've spent the last few days running around Calgary, picking up last-minute supplies and gear. I'm glad I sprung for the waterproof insulated motorcycle pants, and for the heavier weight long underwear. I'm glad I have a pretty warm motorcycle jacket. But I think I'll spend tonight, my final packing night before I head off on a weekend with my wife, throwing in a few extra warm clothes.

T Minus Five and I can't help but be worried about this trip. We're hoping to ride through Lake Tahoe and Mammoth on the way back. Right now, both are down in negative temperatures and getting dumped with snow. When I envisioned this trip, I looked at pictures online of sunny winding coastal roads. It looked like paradise on two wheels. I'm not sure what it will look like in a downpour. For now, all I can hope is that our wheels won't be rain-soaked for long.