V-star to V-strom

I bought Issy, (2000 V-star 650 custom) my first bike, in August of 2004 and have enjoyed every moment I have had on her. She took care of me as I learned how to ride and I took care of her. In the last three years we have bonded. We have had some scary close calls, turned over 10,000 miles, and took a cross-country trip together. Your first bike will always be your favorite, however (cover your ears Issy) I think it's time that Issy and I part ways. The Long Road Home Trip will be over 8,000 miles covering 32 states. That kind of trip was not meant for poor Issy and I'm not about to try and put her through it. I'm going to pass her on to someone else who can love her.

The bike I'm looking to get for the trip is a V-Strom. After doing some research I think its a good fit. The V-Strom is made for adventure riding. The hard cases can accommodate all the warm clothes I'm going to have to bring and the seat position will be more comfortable for those 500 mile days. I was also inspired after reading about another women who did the four corners challenge on her V-Strom. So the hunt has begun for a used V-Strom 650. This may mean I have to change my blog name from CV-Star to CV-Strom.

The other addition to this trip that is being discussed amongst Burgma, BeamerPop and I, is some sort of communication system. Burgma developed a simple hand signal system for our last trip. It worked, but not well enough. All too often one of us was just enjoying the ride and not paying much attention to the rider behind waving vigorously. Also most of the signals we had were simply for entertainment. When you see a deer, spread all five fingers out and hold your hand up to the side of your helmet. It's quite humorous when we all do it at the same time. So in order to improve our communication there was talk of radios or Bluetooth technology. All three of us have different opinions on the subject. Should we all have them? If only two of us have them, who will it be? Do we go with an intercom system or with Bluetooth?

So many questions and decisions to be made.