The Vagabond Chronicles

Status update: Trip route and alternates are almost 100% finalized. More details to follow. Three week trip is the plan to ensure that I have some time to enjoy the scenery.

Gear Up! Part One: Camping Gear.

Camping while motorcycle touring has some inherent problems, space, size-limits and safety. With the average size car ever increasing in size, there are virtually no limits as to what one can take on a road trip. Hotels and motels offer convenient places to get rest. Trunks swallow large amounts of clothing allowing one to go to the beach in the morning and to the Opera that night. Motorcycle travel is closer to backpacking which one is required to carry all of the necessities and creature comforts.

The decision to mostly camp on the trip is to keep the expenses down and to re-connect with nature. My past experiences backpacking will allow me to keep the load light and compact, which follows my ‘less is more’ philosophy. Since this will be a solo-trip, space won’t be too much of an issue, but I will have to control my tendency to over pack. The following is by no means a comprehensive list of required items. Like in life, the three essentials are covered: Food, Shelter and clothing.

Shelter:

There are a wide variety of shelter options available ranging from the tarp, to inexpensive family cabins to the ultra-light expedition ready tents. Tarps offer basic coverage from the elements, but lack protection from bugs and won’t trap heat like tents. The bomb-proof expedition tents tend to be very expensive and tend to be overkill for the state park campsite. A decent three season, backpacking tent provides versatility, compact size and durability. Since the tent won’t be carried on our back, look at tents with space for one additional person. For example, a two person tent will have lots of comfortable, usable space for a solo traveler, and in a pinch, get cozy with another person. My current tent is the free-standing, Half Dome from REI. It is a reasonable price and can be found on sale at least once a year at REI. It offers a full size rain fly, two doors with vestibules and lots of ventilation. The twin vestibules allow space to store gear in one and access with the other. Free standing tents are easy to setup and allow one to move the setup tent to its optimal spot if necessary.

REI and other campstores offer rentals. Renting a tent for a weekend allows one to try out a tent. You are spending 8 hours a night in it, and you want to make sure it works for you and your travel companion.

Other tent accessories include a footprint, repair kit and additional pegs. Footprints protect the floor of the tent from the ground. Rocks, twigs and other debris can poke holes through the tent. The additional layer of fabric between you and the ground can help keep you drier when the weather decides that it no longer wants to cooperate. An inexpensive alternative is the generic blue tarp. Tarps provide additional versatility, tend to be heavy-weight and can be found at just about any hardware store.

Additional assorted tent pegs will give you a wide range of possibilities for staking down the tent. I have found adding loops of cord at the stake points will allow one to get creative if needed. While camping on a beach, I buried my fire wood in the sand to provide a stable anchor for my tent, other times when the ground was impenetrable, the addtional line, picnic tables and trees helped keep my tent secured to the ground. The included pegs are often no more strudy than wire, bend quickly and are too short to provide any useful anchorage.

Repair kits are only needed when one doesn’t have one. More on that later. The repair kit for the trip will need to cover all gear areas. Duct tape is your best friend.

Now that there is a roof over the head, getting comfy for sleeping is the next step….