My luggage space is limited, and I was worried about my easy Brackets on my bike being rusted and hard to get off I ordered new saddlebags, which were smaller than the old ones, so I have even less space than before. So here’s what I’m packing, I have a two-person tent, a tripod, and a rucksack strapped to my sissy bar with two ratchet straps. In the rucksack is six days of clothes, a towel (which will also serve as my pillow), hygiene bag with travel size items, a sleeping bag that rates at 0 c, my passport, a flashlight, a Levono IdeaPad Yoga11S with power cord, an external 1 TB hard drive, 5 memory cards, 4 camera batteries, and my skydiving jump logs from 20 years ago. In the top pocket of the bag (easy access while on the bike) I have my sunblock and chapstick with sunscreen in it. Thank you Marine Corps for the packing skills.
In my saddle bags, I have my leather vest for the warm days and my leather Jacket for the cool nights, and you should never travel anywhere without packing your rain gear. My Sony A65 camera with three lenses; a Tamaron 70 - 200 mm lens, a Sony 14-18 mm wide angle lens, and a 24 - 70 mm Lens, are all packed in the bag with my leather so it can have a little protection. In my second bag I have a solar power pack (to charge my gear while camping), a first aid kit, mace, an hex key set (in case I need to make some adjustments to my bike), a leathermen, an inflatable sleeping pad, a sync cord for my camera, electrical tape, two pairs of video recording glasses, and various cables for charging my equipment.
I got a late start today. I set out around 10:00 am; personally I like making sure I’m well rested and coffeed up. I got about 15 mins down the road and remembered I did not grab my registration out of the truck for my motorcycle. For short rides that’s a whatever moment but I’m going through Canada and will need it, so I turn around. Dad makes a joke about that being the fastest trip he’s seen. I grab my registration and make sure I have everything else that I will need and set off again.
It takes me about three hours to get to the Mackinaw Bridge. I make a short stop to put on some sunscreen because I am already burnt, ah the unpreparedness. I stopped by this cool restaurant named Jacks in Rapid City for lunch. Talked to my partner for a bit and them head on to Dodgeville Wisconsin for the night. I traveled about 580 miles, which is a long day on a motorcycle. Part of that I think in the late start and just wanting to get the trip started.
