Such was this machine

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever, and to those who know the call of the open road and who love to feel the rush of the wind and the glamor of speed, such was this machine." -- C.K. Shepherd

Shepherd made his trip on a brand new Henderson four-cylinder motorcycle. Wikipedia tells me that Henderson made bikes from 1911 to 1931, and they were the largest and fastest motorcycles of their time. He never specifies, but from the pictures, Shepherd's bike, which he comes to call "Lizzie," was likely a Henderson 1918 Model H, like this one:

Much as I'd like so say that I picked up a 1918 Henderson for the trip, it wasn't in the budget, so I'll be riding my 2007 KLR 650, a single-cylinder dual sport, tastefully appointed in flat black paint and reflective caution tape. It's not as pretty as the Henderson, but it probably would have made Shepherd's off-road travels a little easier if he had had one. With about a week and a half to go before liftoff, I need to take care of some things.

New tires, new brake pads, maybe a  valve adjustment to keep ahead of the scheduled maintenance. Shepherd says "there is nothing at all interesting in the narrative of repairing a puncture," so I'll spare you the tire changing story, except to say he's probably right.

"I arrived in San Francisco with the same tyres I had when I started, and they were still good for several hundreds of miles more."-- C.K. Shepherd.

Here's hoping.