Getting Ready

V arrived a week in advance, landing on 14th March 2011, to check out the bikes and the essential stuff that we would need for the trip. I arrived on 22nd, and the entry into the United States is something I won't forget in a hurry. I had a valid visa for entry into the country and my passport has stamps from over half the world, owing to business travel, and this wasn’t my 1st trip to the states, and therefore I hadn’t seen this coming. I requested for a 5-6 month stamp at the immigration, explaining that I would need that much time to look around the country by road. I was fairly proud of myself for planning such a thing, and imagined that the excitement showed on my face. The lady however had other plans for me. She sent me to secondary check where the gentleman (or the lack of it) decided all by himself that I was a single woman who had come to US to get married and settle down. (This, in spite of my telling him repeatedly, that I was a married woman with a 2 year old kid). I finally managed to find my way out after 45 minutes of interrogation, and almost losing my temper, and the officer calling up V to double check on all details that I had told him; only to find that the lock on my check in luggage was broken and the luggage thoroughly checked. What a welcome! I sincerely hoped that this wasn’t any indication on how the trip was going to be.
Thankfully V was waiting for me outside the airport, and I could smile. V had selected a Honda ST1300 to be our ride and we secured the deal on the way from airport to Santa Clara. One milestone achieved. The sleeping bag, tent, air mattress and the inflation pump was easy to get, courtesy Amazon.com and Cosco / Walmart. The utensils that we would need for camping and a GPS, that would keep us company for a long time to come, were also acquired from Walmart/Target in coming days.
The budget was set at $100 per day. For minds tuned to convert every dollar to Indian currency, this didn’t look so bad. But this wasn’t India, and we realized soon enough that the budget was shoe string. But if we started without a figure in mind, it could be end up in a financial disaster for us. And this wasn’t meant to be a luxury trip anyways, so we were committed to adhere to it, as tight as possible.
We were ready to start the trip, but the rain Gods weren’t pleased with us. The tires on the bike were new and had less than 100 miles on them, so it wasn’t wise to tread on slippery roads. All we could do was wait.