navelgazing.omphaloskeptic.net Journal

Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

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Gearing up San Francisco, CA, Sunday, 14 June 2009 10:13pm

I've spent the last few weekends doing some light preparations for the motorcycle trip. Buying accessories (gas cans, new GPS unit, Mexico maps, windscreen, walkie/talkies...), and fitting them on the bike...

Windscreen GPS behind the windscreen

Unfortunately, the windscreen seems to do far more harm than good. I can adjust it so that it sends a blast of air straight at my chest, which is loud and uncomfortable, or straight at my head, which quickly induces a headache. It seems like it can't direct the air high enough to go over my head in a normal riding position. I've taken it off again. Barring unexpected access to a wind tunnel for fine-tuning, I think I'm going to have to do without.

I spent an afternoon at Chuck's house working on the wiring. I had the GPS and my old cigarette lighter adapter plugged directly into the battery. Now they're plugged into a splice off of the license plate light circuit. Chuck had a spare SAE connector with an inline fuse, so we used that for the first connector in the new wiring. When we soldered up the GPS unit's power and the lighter adapter, we discovered that each of those also has an inline fuse. No fear of shorts here...