And now to get ready for the quick trip out the US and cross into Canada. The bike's been serviced and had some new bits added, its now looking and sounding better than it has before. With new side racks and upgraded front brake its also more efficient in use. I'm sure glad I decided to allow the bike shop do the service and fit the upgrades. They've done a great job, hoorey for the local Kawasaki dealer (Monroe Motorsports). If you need a reliable bike shop in the Seattle area they're well reecommended by me; the guy who never likes bike shops messing with my bikes. I made a few adjustments myself, just to get it exactly how I want it. After about 3,500 miles I'm well aware of the little grumbles about the positions of pedals, handlebars etc. My luggage is securely attached to the new racks, which are heavy enough duty to put Lockable aliminium boxes on them. Come a time when my soft panniers finally bite the dust. I've also stiffened up the front forks, general advice here was to upgrade and buy progressive forks. One guy I meet riding a KLR 650 felt this was unnecessary, all that was needed was more viscous oil in them. The bike shop said no, just put a bit of air in them. And true enough, they're brilliant now!! Blimey, what's that about looking for the simplest solution?
I was going to try and go whale watching before Canada, to save having to detour over to Vancouver Island. As I didn't manage to get a booking for a small boat trip I'll head over Vancouver way instead. No way was I going on a large boat with dozens of tacky tourists! Unfortunatley the Orcas are roaming a bit further out now so Kayaking isn't likely to result in seing Orcas. Patience is all it takes, I'll see 'em soon.
So having everything accomplished that I wanted to here I'll have to give a hearty wave and ride off into the sunset. Its been lovely to spend time with friends, but now my feet are getting itchy again! It'll be a shame to say cheerio to Nick and Emmah, the three dogs and their various fowl (Horace gives such a nice gobble he's kept as a pet rather than christmas dinner). MIracles do happen, Bonkers has actually let me stroke her. The first stranger she's ever allow the honour. It made my night last night when it happened, of course slowly geeting closer with tempting bits of beef jerky. Don't blame her either they were really nice! Mishka has already been laying on my bed when I'm out, Emmah claims she was pining for me. But she has taken a shine to me, absolutely adores a good body massage. Even Ripley, the old man, loves his patting from me; at least when he can be arsed to get up.
WOW, excellant! I got to go shooting yesterday! Yeah, I know; firearms...blah..di..blah..di..blah!! Absolutley great fun! I started by firing a new AK47, then an even more abnoxious assault rifle. The latter is heavier, larger calibre and so much noisier. We then fired a wide variety of side arms, starting with a very reasonable and easy to use .22. The 9mm luger was good, but the Kemble 45, yeees! What a shame we ran out of shells for that. Fired off hundreds of .22 rounds, compared to the others it was virtually like a cap gun. There was a whole range of Glock pistols taken along. Calibre sizes were 9mm, 10mm and .40 as the big boy. Nick had standard and compact versions of the smaller two, the .40 was compact and light for every day wear. So we had good fun, I haven't fired weapons that good before; only the older standard british forces hardware. My ears were ringing for ages after, and yes we did wear ear protection. Boys and their toys eh?
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