You're Going Where????

I just returned from Travel Medical to find out what immunizations I would need for my Mexican / Central American trip.  I explained my plans to travel by motorcycle to Panama and she exclaimed, "Boy, you're a fool!"  She then proceeded to give me reams of documents explaining the dangers of traveling outside the United States.  I must admit that after seeing all that documentation of death and destruction throughout the world (except the good ol' USA) I almost called the trip off.  But I persisted.  This little five foot tall nurse was not going to talk me out of this adventure.  So she told me the shots I would need and proceeded to line up syringes on her desk.  Typhoid, Tetanus and Yellow Fever vaccines were administered in both arms.  She then got her prescription pad out and wrote me a prescription for a 90 day supply of some sort of anti-malarial pills. I think my only real health worry on this trip will be "Montezuma's Revenge".  She even told me how to handle that!  Powdered Gatorade and Pepto-Bismol would do the trick!

On my way out the nurse reminded me of my appointment for my second in the Hepatitis A/B series.  I told her that I would remember because it was just a few days before I left for Germany.  I could swear I heard her say something like, "Why don't people just stay at home?".

While all this was going the Eurosport (our local BMW dealer) called to tell me that the bike did indeed have a bearing that was about to fail in my final drive.  The good new is that it was caught in time before it would become a catastrophic failure.  The bad new was that the bike needs a new front tire before I leave.  I was going to replace both tires while visiting my family in Longview, Texas, but after inspecting the tire I had to agree that it should be replaced now.  If I had any rain between Asheville and Texas the front wheel would stand a chance of hydroplaning.

Things are progressing and I am starting to realize that time is nearing for my departure.  It is only five weeks away and of that time eight days will be in Germany.  Stay tuned!