This was my first official #motocamping, and most of it was by myself. I made a small commitment to go once a week for the entire summer. They were all one nighters, and I loved it. The time alone was something i needed in life. Just me and my bike out in the woods. Being married with kids is amazing, but its important to get out and be on your own occasionally. To reflect, and get to spend time with YOU. One night solo camping trips are highly recommended. On the other hand, a few of the trips my wife or brothers joined me and those were great as well. You can see an interactive map of the areas I camped in around NYC here.
This week I went to a campsite slighty more north east then bear mountain, to Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Parm. I checked the weather 10 times before I went. This was supposed to be the only rain free day of the week. The roads up were nice and twisty as I like them. Usually most of the enjoyment on these solo camping trips are about the time on the bike. The other part of the fun is the unexpected. Unexpected events = adventure.
I’ve been bugging my brothers, Alan and Harry, to come moto camping with me, and i finally got them to come. We rented them bikes from jupiter rentals in brooklyn. Great guy, great place, highly recommended. Harry rented a lowered F650GS which is almost identical to my bike just a couple years old before they changed the name to the 700. Alan rented an R1200RT Sport Tourer. I only have a two person tent, so alan bought a personal sized single person tent on the cheap for the night. They took their bikes home for the night, packed them up, and we met up on the palisades parkway state line around 4pm, and continued on to bear mountain for a great time riding and camping.
this week was fun in a different way. I’ve been wanting to take my wife along on my adventures, and lately she’s been a bit frustrated that I’ve been going without her. this week i promised i would take her with me, if she would be willing to ride on the back of my bike. we chose a camp site nearby, so that it would be a shorter ride for her. it would still be her longest ride on the back of the bike, and another challenge would be fitting everything on the bike, and her at the same time. exciting!
this happened to be one of my more exciting outings so far. i left my comfort zone a bit more then usual. from camping in a primitive camp site, to leaving the pavement for my first bits off road excitement. i love this state forest, and i will be back.
Last week was tough. Lots of rain so the one night that looked decent I ended up camping very local. Right under the verazanno bridge in Staten Island. A good 30 minutes from where I live. It was a cool experience. Seeing the bridge right over me. It’s nice to know I can do things like this in my own backyard.
On with the weekly summer camping trips. this trips location was decided on based on the 600 mile service that i needed. being the beginning of summer it was really hard to get an appointment at any of the local places. the soonest appointment was 3 weeks out, and at the rate i was going, id have over 2000 miles on the bike by then. i found an earlier service appointment at max bmw in Southbury CT for this past tuesday, which happens to be 3 hours from brooklyn.
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.
What is Wheels in the Field? Sure you’ll see some of that here. This is mostly a personal story of our weekend there which you may or may not enjoy!
I last used the tarp on a 5 day trip on the MABDR with 7 other riders, starting in Tennessee and headed north through George Washington and Jefferson National Forest then farther north, MD and PA. The poles held the tarp open for porch mode with such ease by just letting out some slack on the line tensioners. Closing up on the colder nights was just as easy while the poles kept the tarp wide enough around the spreader bars to get in and out without putting pressure on the tarp at all. There’s enough tie out points to do just about anything…
Christmas is a great time of year, but for jewish folk like me, its just another night. Either way, i can't work as everything is closed, so i took this opportunity to get a little camping trip in. It's early winter, not too cold out yet. I enrolled a few other local jewish buddies, and we had our first JMC. Jewish Motorcycle Christmas.
Just a quick recap of what i have so far. Everything was chosen based on quality, and pack size. Links and descriptions after the jump.
Added gear, just in time for the denver trip. I just received the Kelty Noah's Tarp, and two 6ft REI Tarp Poles, just in time to test them out during yesterdays overnight in Staten Island. This is key camping gear for the unexpected rain. You can set it up first, and then set up your tent under it. The inside of your tent will stay dry while you put it up. You can also pitch the tarp over your picnic table so you have a place to hang out in the rain as long as your tent is safe under its rainfly.
Before the summer I bought an inflating full size air mattress for camping. It just fit inside my tent with no extra room. I bought it mostly to make my wife comfortable coming camping for the first few times. I knew I would need something smaller eventually. I got this great air pad on Amazon. $50 each. Two of them are way smaller then the full size mattress, and I don't need to rely on a motorized pump. Key criteria for our Denver trip. Click on for photos.
Every year I goto an industry show (A/V Home Automation). This year it's in Denver and I'm taking advantage of it. My brother in law harry, who is also my business partner, will be coming. We are going a few days early, renting motorcycles and heading out in to the mountains.
This week I kind of chose my camping site at random via reserve america. That worked out well because the camp site was nice, but the drive was longer then I thought it would be. Besides being 2.5 hours away, which I’m ok with, i also hit 40 minutes of weirdconstruction traffic. Still it was mostly a fun drive.
This week I went to a campsite slighty more north east then bear mountain, to Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Parm. I checked the weather 10 times before I went. This was supposed to be the only rain free day of the week. The roads up were nice and twisty as I like them. Usually most of the enjoyment on these solo camping trips are about the time on the bike. The other part of the fun is the unexpected. Unexpected events = adventure.
I’ve been bugging my brothers, Alan and Harry, to come moto camping with me, and i finally got them to come. We rented them bikes from jupiter rentals in brooklyn. Great guy, great place, highly recommended. Harry rented a lowered F650GS which is almost identical to my bike just a couple years old before they changed the name to the 700. Alan rented an R1200RT Sport Tourer. I only have a two person tent, so alan bought a personal sized single person tent on the cheap for the night. They took their bikes home for the night, packed them up, and we met up on the palisades parkway state line around 4pm, and continued on to bear mountain for a great time riding and camping.
this week was fun in a different way. I’ve been wanting to take my wife along on my adventures, and lately she’s been a bit frustrated that I’ve been going without her. this week i promised i would take her with me, if she would be willing to ride on the back of my bike. we chose a camp site nearby, so that it would be a shorter ride for her. it would still be her longest ride on the back of the bike, and another challenge would be fitting everything on the bike, and her at the same time. exciting!
this happened to be one of my more exciting outings so far. i left my comfort zone a bit more then usual. from camping in a primitive camp site, to leaving the pavement for my first bits off road excitement. i love this state forest, and i will be back.
Last week was tough. Lots of rain so the one night that looked decent I ended up camping very local. Right under the verazanno bridge in Staten Island. A good 30 minutes from where I live. It was a cool experience. Seeing the bridge right over me. It’s nice to know I can do things like this in my own backyard.
On with the weekly summer camping trips. this trips location was decided on based on the 600 mile service that i needed. being the beginning of summer it was really hard to get an appointment at any of the local places. the soonest appointment was 3 weeks out, and at the rate i was going, id have over 2000 miles on the bike by then. i found an earlier service appointment at max bmw in Southbury CT for this past tuesday, which happens to be 3 hours from brooklyn.
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.
This week I kind of chose my camping site at random via reserve america. That worked out well because the camp site was nice, but the drive was longer then I thought it would be. Besides being 2.5 hours away, which I’m ok with, i also hit 40 minutes of weirdconstruction traffic. Still it was mostly a fun drive.