Over the last few days I’ve been watching the long range weather forecast, for obvious reasons. The forecast for Thursday has gone from 20% chance of rain to 30% to 40% and now 60%. When you factor in the fact that I’ll be covering a bit of territory, the chances of staying dry are fairly low. Plus, temps will be in the 90s for the southern part of the ride (upper 80s up north).

Oh well. My first overnight scooter ride started with me following storm clouds as they slowly moved ahead of me, and the big scoot around Lake Michigan started in heavy rain. I have rain gear, and I know how to use it. And the forecast gets better on Friday, and stays pretty good (no more than 30% chance of rain) for the forecastable future after that. So nothing much to worry about.

I hope.

The scooter’s back from the shop with shiny new brake pads, but it still required a little bit of prep before it’d be ready for the road. The mirrors needed tightening, the air pressure in the tires needed checking, and the center stand needed a little WD40 so it’d fold up more freely. Done.

I’ve gone through my packing list and started putting things together. I can’t pack per se, because that means strapping and stuffing things into the scooter, and I can’t put stuff in my bag because I’m still using that for my commute the next few days. But the camping gear is laid out on the floor, and nearly everything else (except my clothes) is in a little huddle on the table. It took me half an hour, but earlier today I found my battery recharger (and the batteries in it) under the desk. I’ve printed out Google maps of my day-by-day itinerary, not so much for actual navigation (I plan to use the iPhone for that), but as a backup. I just got back from the gas station, where I filled up my spare-fuel bottle.

I’m doing laundry tonight, then I can assemble the clothes I’m bringing (a few specific items I want to take are already in the laundry basket, and one needs to take the correct t-shirts when traveling). And that’s pretty much everything.

There’s only one thing on the packing list that I don’t have: a charger for my new iPhone. The antique car-charger for the old one doesn’t work with this model, so I need to buy a newer model. I have a wall-outlet charger of course, which I could use at camp grounds, but I’d rather not be dependent on that; I want to be able to charge it on the road as well. So, to the Apple Store tomorrow. The iPhone 4 crowds should be gone by now, and I can pick up a few accessories for mine.

Then it’s just waiting until Thursday rolls around.

This year’s trip isn’t fundamentally different from last year’s, so my packing list won’t be much different. Mostly just a refresh on tech gear, and adding a passport to get into Canada and back.

I am dropping a few items, however. I’m not going to bother bringing a lock. The Buddy has a handlebar lock that will discourage casual theft by making it difficult to push anywhere. You’d need to carry it to a pickup or something, and the odds of someone trying that in the short periods of time I’ll be leaving the scooter unattended are pretty slim. I didn’t use it at all last time. I’m also leaving out the tire-repair gear, because it really wouldn’t do me any good if I needed it. Unlike a bicycle, which has tires I could reasonably patch if I had a punctured tube, I simply don’t have the means to remove and then replace the scooter’s tires after repairs, so I’d need professional help regardless.

On my person – utter essentials:
T-shirt
Long pants
Socks
Underwear
Hiking boots
Helmet
Riding jacket
Gloves
iPhone 4 (camera, GPS, etc)
Keys
Wallet (cash, debit/ATM card, papers)

Bag (over shoulder/on seat behind me) health and safety:
Camera
Battery charger
iPhone charger
Frogg Toggs (rain gear)
Rain cover for rear rack
Hat
Water
Swiss army knife
First aid kit
Bug dope
Sun screen
Soap
Meds
Toothbrush, paste
Flashlight
Paper road maps
Passport

Pet carrier (under the seat) clothing:
T-shirts (3)
Shirt
Shorts
Underwear (3)
Socks (3 pair)
Hankies (3)
Camp shoes
Detergent for one load of laundry
Plastic bags
Tie downs (for scooter on ferries)

Rear rack – camp gear:
Tent
Sleeping bag
Sleeping pad
Pillow
Jeans
Towel

Glove bucket – etc:
Extra bungees
20-oz bottle of spare gas

I am scooterless for a few days. I dropped my scooter off yesterday at the motorcycle/scooter dealer near where I work, to have them look at the brakes and give it a general servicing. (I took the bus home.) They said it would be ready by the end of the day today, but they had to order parts for the brakes, so it wasn’t. And with the weekend and Independence Day upon us, that means I won’t see it until Tuesday at the soonest.

Fortunately the weather is supposed to be nice the next few days, so I should be able to get everywhere I need to go, on my bicycle. I drove the car to work today, because I needed to deliver some large boxes to FedEx for shipping, and I drove it to the laundromat this evening because… I had laundry to transport. But for the weekend, I’ll be going by ped or by pedal.

There’s an article in today’s Detroit Free Press about Michigan’s state parks. It doesn’t paint a rosy picture, pointing out that many state parks across the country are closing, and that they’re all facing funding problems. Michigan’s parks no longer receive any tax-based funding, relying entirely on the fees they charge the people (such as I) who visit them and camp at them. They’re postponing repairs and updates, cutting back on expenses, and getting by with less staff.

But there’s good news in the article. None of Michigan’s parks have been closed. This is especially good news to me, because I’m rather fond of the smaller, more remote parks that would be the first to close if that had to happen. In fact, with people unable to afford trips overseas or even out of state, the parks are getting used more. And there are plans to improve Michigan parks funding by offering a less expensive day-use pass for the parks to all motorists in the state, which would spread the support costs around farther. So I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to keep taking scooter-and-parks trips like this for years to come.