And theres still so much work that needs to get done! The transport is leaving Aug 11th now so I have a bit more time to get the bike into the shop for service and everything, but not by much. Booked my ticket with the Beef and a few others headed out of LAX on the 16th. I’ve been looking into the Chatterbox GMRS X1 Bluetooth. Alicia tells me 2-way radios are the main source of communication so that should hopefully help keep me in the loop with everyone and get GPS updates along with phone calls! The bike is quickly becoming way more tricked out then the Highlander! The SUV will get some attention and work when I get back. Maybe the LaserStar unit? We’ll see.

Ran by PepBoys and picked up a new horn and a giant button for it so I can mount the horn under the seat and the giant button on the triple tree to pass DMV inspection. I was thinking of getting a semi-truck air horn but feared they might not find it all too amusing and fail me yet again.

My main fear with this rally is dead batteries and electrical gremlins which the early Duc’s have been know for. Should I carry an extra little Odyssey battery and a Trickle Charger for nights? Or should I get a little solar charger and mount it on the tail bag? There’s going to be quite a bit of a drain on the system with low beam, tail lights, GPS, cell phone & LaserStar all on at one time. Not sure what the Chatterbox battery is like too so there’s a chance i might have to plug that in to…

Trailered the bike over to a Suzuki bike shop to get the DMV light certification thing so I could get my registration tags. Well, get it loaded up, and all the lights work. Get there and the guy checks the lights, and then goes off on how this is wrong and that is wrong. Thinks the kevlar kit is fake, my brake pedal is bent in too close, the stock battery is way too big, missing the front windscreen bracket which will cause the whole kit to shatter at low speeds and the clutch is messed up he says. After all that’s said and done, he hops on the bike and looks at the horn button which gets stuck in. “I can’t pass you with the horn broken. Go get it fixed.” That’s what I get for taking a Ducati to a Suzuki dealership.

On a happy side note the Zero Gravity screens came and and look great! I’m going to try the double bubble on first when I fix the horn tonight…

Behold the mighty WordPress! After trying to figure out Dreamweaver in an hour and the lack of iWeb customization, Alicia recomends Wordpress and by the end of the night, it’s up and running! Follow along with the build up of the bike and general insanity along the way here! Pics of installs and videos during the rally will be posted up here thanks to some nifty Twitter and Flickr widgets