First I let the good people at GoAZ Motorcycles fix him up a little. The 12K service is not cheap, but the valves got checked (no adjustment needed) and he had sprung a little coolant leak. His tires are getting a little dodgy, but we figured they had one more good ride in them, so we I headed off through the desert for Joshua Tree National Park.
Day one of our journey was a 300 mile drone through the desert. Beautiful in a desolate sort of way. We were hit with near perfect riding temps, and I even got to use the new heated glove and sock liners that Santa brought for me. "Got to use" is a good way to use your heated gear, as opposed to "really, really needed", which would have described segments of my October adventure, when, unfortunately, I did not have this gear. Taking it off when my fingertips are burning, that's how I like it!
Anyway, we got out of town only about 90 minutes later than our target time, which isn't bad. And off we went to a place neither Ashley nor I had been before. The fun begins!
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