I’ve been wanting to do more outdoor stuff. I spent time researching travel trailers last spring in hopes of diving back into something I used to do a lot growing up. I couldn’t guess how many nights I spent camping. I spent weeks at a time camping with my dad in the old 1970s Airstream Land Yacht while working road construction. It was always so peaceful to be away from the hotels and isolated from the crew you’d spent 12 hours working alongside.

Travel trailer camping isn’t in the cards, though. It’s not something Antonette would enjoy as much as I will and I don’t think we’d be able to justify the cost of a travel trailer with just one or two camping trips per season.

So I decided to pivot to motorcycle camping and I’ve been accumulating gear for the last few months. I’ve really enjoyed researching and planning. I’m in the early stages of planning a South Dakota trip with my friend Jon later this year. I’d like to do some early calibration camps alongside my parents. That way if I forget something or something goes awry, I’m near some familiar folks that can help get me out of whatever jam I might find myself in. And I love hanging out with my parents. They camp a lot in their retirement so the opportunities should be plentiful.

I’ve also been upgrading some motorcycle equipment for safety on longer rides. So far I’ve picked up a 3 season riding jacket from Merlin, a Cardo comm unit (I split a two-pack with a friend*), some ADV touring boots from Alpinestars, and a USWE/Giant Loop backpack/hydration pack. I’ve already got some appropriate riding pants (I think — we’ll see).

What might be most exciting about this is the promising prospect of doing some adventure rides with my oldest friend Jason*. We’ve become closer recently and both have a big-time interest in longer trips with a mix of on and off-road touring. Can’t wait to see what happens here.