Packing, part 1: clothes

There are two schools of packing: one i call the take-it-just-in-case-and-i'll-find-somewhere-to-stuff-it school. My friend below, passing thru Boulder on his way home after a cross country ride to the BMW Nationals last year, is of that school. He's so prepared that he even carries TWO rolls of electrical tape -- the extra one in his jacket pocket just in case (of something). I think i counted 12 different carrying cases on his motorcycle......

Corrrection from my generous friend, below:

You missed 2 of the cases

One is the Camera case strapped to the outside of the tank bag.

 

The other is the bag on the other passenger footpeg.

 

So 14 in all if you do not count the bags in the bags, the BMW tool kit, 5 jacket pockets and 4 pants pockets.

 

click photos to enlarge

The other school, to which i proudly subscribe, is take less and if you really need it, you can buy it -- somewhere. The advantage of motorcycle travel is that people EXPECT you to be pungent and grungy, and you are sweaty much of time anyway in your riding gear, so any bit of tasteful attire once out of the shower and on the street seems tres elegant to the surprised locals.

this is my complete clothing allowance for a month-long trip:

and it all fits into this compressible drybag; the secret is the vent valve. Like a thermarest, squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag and tighten down the valve. Voila! It is geshrunken. Unfortunately, this trick does not reduce the weight..........


Oh, almost forgot a subset of the first school, above. Not sure what to call it, but i photographed this bizarrely packed vehicle at the Sturgis Motorcycle (read: Harley-Davidson) rally,

YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR NAME RIGHT HERE ON THIS PAGE!

enter the sort-of-official
NAME THE PACKING STYLE
COMPETITION.

YOUR COMMENTS WILL BE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED BY OUR PANEL OF LINGUISTICALLY AND HUMORACIOUSLY EXPERT
"EXPERTS" AND THEIR SELECTION WILL BE PLACED RIGHT BELOW THE PHOTOGRAPHY ABOVE.

ENTER AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT! NO RISK!
TRY IT ABSOLUTELY FREE IN THE PRIVACY OF YOUR OWN COMPUTER!
DID I SAY "ABSOLUTELY FREE!" ? YES, NO ENTRY FEE!

FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PRESENT TO WIN!!!

tomorrow: motorcycle clothes, gizmos, accessories, connectors, cute storage boxes, and other items from my cabinet of curiosities (probably won't be as interesting as this post -- but you never know).






If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time - Edith Wharton