Off The Grid
I'll be off the grid starting 9/3 - 9/6. I'll have my Spot Tracker with me up and running.. If you're so inclined you can follow me via my tracking page. I promise when I get back I'll do a trip report and post pics in a coherent fashion 
Back in a few days!!
A Good Trip?
This is every Red Hat office in NA...I think I could make the trip...Now to try and get management buy-in 
All Systems Go
Got a new battery installed this morning and then rode the bike back over to the dealership to have them check the charging system and make sure everything was where it should be. It seems that I did blow the high beam but I was able to pick up a replacement while I was at the dealership. I'm planning on heading out ~2p EDT. I did plan for a couple of hotel nights just in case I ran into really bad weather or something else unexpected. I plan on riding at least 400 miles today and then probably getting a hotel if I can't find a campsite close by..
More to follow..Until then here's the bike all packed up.
Update
Well...There is definitely something else wrong..I'm hoping it's just a fried battery but even after 2hours on the battery tender it's not charging. As soon as I take it off the charger there's no power again.
I'm going to head to the dealership early tomorrow morning and try and pick up a new battery. Fingers crossed this will work. If it's not the battery then it's something in the electrical system which I can't afford to have fixed and still go on the trip. So if the battery doesn't fix it then the trip is over before it gets started..
More Voltage Regulator Drama
So the regulator got here at 5:30pm the day before I'm supposed to leave (thanks for nothing UPS). I get it installed go to start the bike for a test ride and I turn the key...Nothing..Not lights,No Nothing..*sigh*
So I've got the battery tender hooked up to it now. I let it charge for 30min and then turned the key again and finally got some weak indicator lights..I'm just hoping the batter is dead. I'll probably have to let charge overnight and then see how it goes in the morning. I'm fully expecting to have to buy another new battery..As of now I'm still planning to leave tomorrow..6:30am was what I was shooting for but it will probably be later than that. Especially if I have to go to the stealership to buy a new battery..If it comes to that I really hope they have it in stock. With the way my luck has been going that will be the next hurdle.
Part Update
It was finally shipped Tuesday. I paid for 2nd day air which would put it here today..But the site I bought it from sent it 3 day select...So that puts it here Friday as long as UPS doesn't decide to lose it..It should be at the house when I get home from work so I can get it installed and do a test ride to make sure that does infact fix the issue. If it's fixed then I'm good to go to leave Saturday morning. If it doesn't fix it, well, I will not be a happy camper. :-/
Technical Snags
A couple of weeks ago I started having problems starting my bike. It was like the battery was dead and just didn't have enough juice to crank. Upon pulling off the battery cover I noticed that the battery was quite deformed and swollen. I removed it and went in search of a replacement. Sufficed to say no one has that type of battery in a 50mile radius of Raliegh except the Stealership which, of course, is closed on Sunday and Monday. After paying for a new battery and getting it back in and the bike back to normal I thought nothing else about it..I checked the battery on the 7 day mark and it had no issues.
Fast forward to today. I took a pretty long ride and at stop lights I noticed a rotten egg/dead animal smell. Once I got home I tracked it down to the battery. Looks like the battery has been overcharged and got so hot that it has deformed now and was venting out of the top. After doing some searches online I found several people who've had this exact problem. It looks to be related to a bad voltage regulator/rectifier. I've pulled the battery and the old rectifier out and the new one should be here Tuesday. I'm hoping I can salvage the battery but I may just order a battery and have it sent to Brian's house in MS so I can change it out when I get there. (btw..Brian can I have a battery shipped to your house? ).
I've been kind of waiting for something to go wrong and now that it has I'm not as stressed about it as I expected to be. Hopefully this will fix this issue and I can go about my business..We shall see..
6 days left.
Proposed Route For Trip
Total Miles:3,175 miles
Total Ride Time:3 days 4 hours
This route could change but I have 16 days to make it in so I shouldn't have a problem..
Tent Setup
So this is a bit late but I finally got pics up of the dry run setup of the tent...First off let me say that this tent may have been a bad choice. It might work for an extended trip but the 1 or 2 night stays that I'm planning for October may make this tent too much of a hassle. I was planning to attempt the shakedown run for this past weekend..Guess what happened? Tropical Storm Hanna happened...I don't know when I'll be able to plan another one..This weekend coming up is our monthly outage window at work so I'll be working late Friday/early Saturday...The weekend of the 20th - 21st I have my MSF riders' edge course..Barring any more hurricanes/tropical storms or other madness I'll be going Sep 27th - 28th..Hopefully :-/
Shakedown Trip #1, Attempt 2
I'm planning to do an equipment shakedown camping trip the weekend of September 6th - 7th. Look for pics of me trying to get the tent setup this weekend .
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