One hundred percent

Three big milestones today!

1. Today marks 100 days until my last day at work. Wow! After nearly 12 years -- and still enjoying the challenging work and fabulous people I get to work with -- the tunnel vision of having so little time left is hard to describe. So much to do between now and then, and so much to leave behind.

2. Today Julie and I booked flights for our big trip! To our happy surprise, we've locked in the biggest (and first) flights of our trip using frequent flyer miles -- 100 thousand miles each -- to take us from Anchorage, Alaska (final destination of the "South to Alaska!" summer moto tour) to Auckland, New Zealand with a nine-day layover in Hawai'i. I'm so glad we've both been banking miles all these years; they saved us thousands of dollars. Sure the flights aren't as direct as we might have planned (for example, there's a middle-of-the-night stop in Seoul en route from Honolulu to Auckland), but I'm not complaining! Thanks Northwest Delta Airlines!

3. Today marks my 100th post on Riding the Iron Rooster! Hope you enjoyed it!

My first ride of 'aught nine

Thank goodness for Louis and all the fine folks at Roy's Repair, and for the (brief?) respite the Twin Cities have experienced from the bitter cold of winter. WeatherBug reported 40 degrees Fahrenheit when R2 and I set out from my garage at 5 p.m. today -- gingerly crossing the most dangerous stretch of road I encountered, between my garage door and the curb, laden with slabs of slick melting ice.

And so, having reached the wet but grippy pavement of Garfield Avenue, I began my first -- and earliest yet -- ride of the year, delivering R2 for an annual check-up and some mods in preparation for the big departure, not to mention the riding I hope to pack in between now and then.

Thankfully, the journey was uneventful, except to remind me how inexplicably damn much I love riding a motorcycle. Happy journeys to you, wherever, however and whenever you take them.