Did I say new Bike? After raving about the old flame machine? Yep. I succumbed to the pull of six years of engineering/design improvements and to the lure of a fixed fairing in lieu of a windshield. Also, did I mendtion it is Harley Davidson black and chrome? My two favorite colors!
Phase I of this year's adventure has been getting the gear ready--and in most cases acquiring it.
Tired of last years succession of motels, I decided in a "Travels with Charlie" spirit to see America from the [camp]ground up. What I found was that a Standard Poodle is the least of the things I don't have room for.
So Phase I A was my decision to purchase a trailer.
But don't get so excited...it didn't make the cut. It was so darn cute, and it was the perfect solution, but after going to all the trouble of finding and getting it here, installing a hitch on the new bike etc., I decided that trailering was not my cup of tea and the trailer went back out the door.
So now the question became, can you get enough stuff on a Harley to camp out comfortably?
I am way too mature and dignified (read old and stiff) to go crawling around the ground finding a backpacking pad in the dark. So certain criteria were established: First, I had to have a good tent that would keep the elements out where they belong, and it had to be one I could both stand up in and stretch out in and spend some time in should monsoon season descend early. Second, I needed a good comfortable chair. I have spent enough time in campgrounds to know that one cannot adjust a redwood picnic table bench to your own ergonomic specifications. Finally, I have no illusions about being able to take enough equipment to cook gourmet meals for myself, but I must have the basics---good coffee-- as well as the means to cook up some high end MREs in a pinch. Then there are all the little things. I must have light to read by at night; should nature favor me with both wilderness and an internet connection, I must have the wherewithal to take advantage etc. etc.
So equipment has been coming and just as often going back to the stores like mad around here. Living isolated is great in many ways, but suffers from the lack of decent shopping centers. Although we have a little "Outdoors Store" (that's actually its name), virtually all my needs have been met, or not, via the internet. At long last, with just a few short weeks until my scheduled departure date of September 23, most nuts have been gathered, with the exception of just a couple key ones which are supposedly in the mail. It turns out that modern ingenuity and technology helps the weary motorcycle tourer these days. LED light technology means that I can leave my old gasoline/delicate mantle Coleman lanterns on the shelf--a good thing, since there was absolutely no room aboard for such antiques. The big gorilla in the living room is--as you may have guessed-- the tent. Although the armchair problem was a poser in close second.
It turns out that there are a surprising number of options for tents in which a 6 foot person can comfortably stand. The more attractive of these from a space and erectability standpoint however, tend to present to mother nature the profile of say --a telephone booth. Real life reviews of such structures tended to confirm ones instincts: they often blow over/away/in/out/down and other words not in the lexicon of happy campers. Having inadvertently braved the harsher elements too many times, I opted for a tent which of all things was first and foremost secure and stable. (I am, after all about to brave the near wilderness reaches of Utah and Colorado, notorious for violent weather.) Plus, it still had to offer headroom to specs. Finally, as for some reason I have been unable to persuade anyone to join me on this venture, it also had to be erectable (easily) by a solo camper. TaDa! Enter the REI BaseCamp6. Initial experiments in the back yard have been promising, and it looks like a winner. The only problem is that its big enough to hold our annual block party in it with room for the band.
With shelter taking up approximately 40% of the available luggage capacity on the bike, one then turns to the second major piece of furniture--the lounge chair. Well, at least a comfortable chair of some sort. It turns out there are quite expensive alternatives here that were nice in theory, but were budget breakers. The PICO chair is great and folds up in a quite ingenious way. Its also still big and heavy and therefore a bit awkward for motorcycle camping...there goes another 10%. Finally, we come to the last critical component of a successful camping experience....actually being able to sleep. Quite comfortable cots are available...yes, Virginia, I know there is a floor, but it will remain theoretical to me as a sleeping platform if I can but help it. But the cots, by their very nature, tend to be long and therefore highly unsuitable for packing on a motorbike. Sleeping pads, conforming as they do to roughly the same dimensional requirements, share a similar awkwardness when one introduces them to a two wheeled vehicle. Perserverance will out, as they say however. The Go-Kot is a quite ingenious device that packs down into a 28' long tube, and the most modern of inflatable mattress provides quite a comfortable interface between me and cot.
Other choices have had to be made: my trusty old two burner Coleman stove just has to stay behind, to be replaced by a Primus backpacking device. Ditto, as stated, with the mantle lanterns, to be replaced by little four inch and nine inch LED lanterns that could signal the Queen Mary into port, and do so for many, many hours on four little AA batteries. Miracles. You'd think sleeping bags wouldn't be much of a problem, but when confronted with a motorcycle, the smallest bedroll looks huge. As it turns out, I have figured out a way to take two...one for the insufferably hot climate I will be going through, and the other for the onslaught of winter I am sure to run into. It all adds up--towels, dop kit, did I forget clothes for a three week trip (minimum). Ah well, take lots of quarters and budget time for a laundramat! First trial run (but with less than a100% of gear on hand) has looked promising. TaTa! Off to pack.
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