Mark - wow, nice pix. Thanks!

Firefox - I'm officially scared.

Jim - the cool thing about Mad Maps is that they give you loops that you can take. All the roads are personally scouted out by the people that own Mad Maps. They know what motorcyclists love - long winding low traffic-ed roads with very little cop activity. My bud and I went up to the area east of Eureka for 4 days armed with only their Northern Cal map, and we had the best 4 days of our lives. No kidding. Unbelievable roads, no cops, sweepers, tight stuff, SOME dirt (not fun for me on the Ninja - but ok with my friend who was on a BoxerCup Replica), beautiful scenery. The maps point out where all of the essentials are - brew-pubs, good restaurants, roadside attractions, etc. They also give you an overview of what to expect with each loop.

See this page to get an idea of the format of the maps and how the loops are designated. http://www.madmaps.com/trav_norcal_loop.html

Ok, enough. I don't work there, and they ain't payin me! They are well worth the 9 bucks a pop.

For New Zealand, I just ordered 2 things:

http://www.kea-motorcycles.com/pdfs/NZMCAfactsheet.pdf

and

http://www.mcycle.co.nz/

Supposed to be great companions.

Come on Jim, bust out the credit cards! Come with me! You'll make it up in your poker winnings! I'll buy the first round in Auckland!

- Jon