23 May 2009 London England

I went downstairs and ate an early continental breakfast, then went back to my room to wait for Les Black’s telephone call. About 12:30 p.m. the telephone rang and Les said the motorcycle cleared customs and is ready to be picked up. However, there were custom, handling, and a special Saturday fee which had to be paid before could I take delivery of it. Ka Ching Ka Ching. When that was all taken care of he told me where to pick it up and he was gone. He was a voice on the phone who I never met. I hired myself a taxi and took off to the TRANSAT warehouse where I presented my Air Bill Number and passport and the motorcycle was mine. First thing I did was take the left saddlebag off and tip the bike over on its left side so all the gas would run into the left side of the gas tank which is my gas reserve side. Then several of the guys from the warehouse helped me pick it up again. I put the saddlebag back on, attached the battery cables and started the bike. I mounted the Garmin GPS unit in the mounting bracket on the handlebars and checked it out. I needed to find out if it worked in England/Europe. I spent more time tinkering with that than it took to get the bike ready to run. I eventually got it sorted out; more operator ignorance than GPS erros. With my GPS operating I left the warehouse and the cargo area of GATWICK Airport. First I filled up with gas and then went to find the Mercure Hotel. Once I found the hotel I took a 20 mile ride into the rural area around GATWICK Airport. It’s the way one thinks of England with narrow country roads, hedges, farm fields and sheep wandering around. It made my day. I let Matilda take me back to the hotel just see she if could find her way back. Sure enough, she made it back. That proved to me my European Maps loaded ok from my laptop to the GPS unit. I was happy. Once back at the hotel I started loading up my motorcycle with all the heavy tools and spare parts and junk that could be stored in the tour pack and saddlebags. I covered up the red beauty with her motorcycle cover to keep prying eyes of it. Later that night I sent out some e-mails to everyone about my plans to ride the red beauty around the world.