SPOT Tracker

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Shave and a Haircut

Bike is packed and gas, oil and air all set. I took a practice run with the bike loaded and I'm glad I did because the handling is much different! I took a 5 mile ride and from what I could tell, the gas mileage was only affected by a few mpg's.

Rebecca is going to get some video from an overpass as I head up 495 in the morning but I don't think I'll be able to post it until I get home. Maybe she can put in on FB. It will be a fairly early start tomorrow - hopefully I'll be pulling out around 7:30.

T minus 14 hours and I'm ready to go!!





sporting the old school cut
 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Gear

 T minus 8 days ..... I better get some packing done!
practice run in the back yard

Setting up the tent, from it being stored away to completion, took 18 minutes. That was from a first time run, so I think I can probably it get under 5 mintues.


home sweet home
 Advertised as a 3 man tent. Seems more like a one man tent with plenty of room to store my gear!


tools
 Nothing but the essentials - that is until I have to do something that I don't have the tool for. Best case scenario - I never see these again after I get them packed.  I really wanted to bring a manual, but when the dealer said it would be over a hundred bucks and 7 - 10 days to ship, I just couldn't pull the trigger.

 
cooking gear

essentials

clothes


riding gear
This stuff takes up a LOT of room. I know I will be wearing most of it, but I do need space to store it when I'm not.  I think I'm bringing 2 helmets - I definitely need the full face for pounding out the mileage, but I like cruising with the half helmet waaaay better.



electronics
Sometimes I wish we didn't live in a world of computers and cell phones and gps's and tracking devices and chargers and backup power and cords and on and on. But we do, so how can I leave this stuff behind?



other stuff

electronics and some other stuff packed

tools packed

tent and associated gear

tent gear packed

pots, pans, stove, fuel, etc packed

clothes packed
I know it's a lot of pictures for just packing, but believe me, I combed the inter-web for pictures and ideas of what others had packed for a month on the road!  Hopefully this helps someone decide how they will tackle it.

All my gear weighed in at 77 lbs. so far.  With a little food, water and other odds and ends, I will probably be right around 85 lbs.  That may seem like a lot, but I'm thinking it's pretty good.  The only thing that could add substantial weight is this laptop I'm typing on.  I did pack a netbook that weighs next to nothing and is next to useless, and this laptop with battery and power supply must be about 8 lbs. , so I may just scrap the idea of any type of laptop.  My only concern is storage and backup for video and pictures, but in the end I will probably just wing it.