I finally got out there. I’ve been wanting to do this for months and I’ve been prepping for it. A very small first trip. I had a good excuse too. I had to work upstate for the day on Tuesday so I went up late Monday night and camped nearby. Warning: this write up should be interesting to no one but myself. Still.. It is exciting to me. My first time! Gotta start somewhere. Just to be clear though - I’ve been camping many many times - just never by myself and never on a Moto.

I was planning on leaving a lot earlier but I ended up spending 2 hours working on my bike. I need to get my engine bolts re-installed which meant I needed to take the givi engine guards off. What a pain. I got home around 730, went to the butcher to get some meat, packed as quick as I could and headed out around 840pm.

Packing was easy. I had plenty of room for what I needed and some items for my client the next day. Of course it should be easy for only one night. I brought my share of electronics. Macbook for work, iPhone, iPad for music and reading, a small wireless bluetooth speaker, a 10000mah extra battery pack to charge iPhone and iPad. Of course great timing, my powerlet-lightning adapter is not charging my phone anymore. Not sure if its the outlet or the adapter, but shitty timing.

I packed my tent, camping chair, sleeping back, pillow, tarp, and mallet in my right case. I’m impressed how i could fit most of my camp site in one little box. That was all thanks to my research on finding the smallest best items to buy a few months back.

My left case got my cooking hardware, food, and misc items.

My top case got my laptop (minus the mallet from photo).

Behind me i strapped on my dry sack which had clothing, an extra blanket, flashlights, etc and on top of that my luxurious inflatable mattress. All strapped on using the awesome rok straps. So easy to use, and i was pleasantly surprised to find more strapping points on this bike compared to the G650.

The drive was beautiful. So what if it was late and dark, the roads were great, this was my first real trip at all on this bike and it handles the highways and the back roads beautifully.

I got to site around 11pm, unloaded the bulk of my gear on to the picnic table, then headed out to pick up some supplies. I left my top case on site too so i could strap wood to the back. I picked up a gallon of water, eggs, cheese, tortillas, fire starters, and a bundle of wood.

Got back to site, and started the fire first. That was quick. Then i built my tent, inflated the mattress, and built my camp chair. I sat down for a few minutes to enjoy some special green herbs and listen to some tunes. It was so relaxing under the stars alone. Peaceful. I then started up the stove and made some dinner, which was really better then i thought it would be. I impressed myself. Tasty! I had a fat hot dog, and then some baby chicken.

The weather was perfect at night, not cold at all, not hot and sweaty. Just perfect. I actually slept with one of the rain flys doors open. I imagine when it gets hotter out i wont be sleeping with the rain fly at all. It was nice going to sleep being able to see the stars above, the fire outside my tent slowly flame out, with my bike in the background. it was a nice view. I slept great, and woke up around 645. The view when i woke up wasn’t bad either. Reminded me how special this was for me. I finally got to go moto camping, something I’ve dreamt about for a while.

I made myself a delicious breakfast and some coffee, took my time packing up, changed and went to work.

After my client, i drove home and i took the back roads most of the way. The roads were incredible. Twisty, long stretches with decent speed limits. It was great weather, no traffic, and just a blast. The camping is nothing without the roads in between. Its nice to get out of the city :)

I can’t wait to do this again next week. Though next week i likely wont have a client to go to near a camp area so ill have to wake up a lot earlier to head home. That means getting to site earlier the night before and getting to sleep earlier. Cant wait.

SUMMER CAMPING 2014