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Hey all!
So, a little background. It's my first post after all!
My name is John. Lived in and grown up in a rural area all my life. I know my way around tools and around the woods! Camped and hunted as a kid quite a bit. Then got away from it for a few years. My wife and I would really like to get back into it (she did too when she was younger). I'm certainly no stranger to camping- but far from an expert.
Seems like a logical place to start is a tent. I've pretty much got cooking and utensils and such covered. Did that several times a year for many years! I cook with cast iron a lot at home and plan on bringing a little of that. I've also got a coleman stove, and I'll pickup some more stuff later on.
The kicker is, we'll be camping off of our motorcycles. BUT, I do (or will shortly have) a cargo trailer. So I've got about as much room as a big car trunk. So I'm not that constricted in terms of storage; but it's not unlimited either. The cargo trailer will have about as much room as a big plastic car-top carrier. (The cargo area is similar in design. For years guys have been putting those on wheels and hauling them behind their motorcycles; that's basically what this is just tweaked a bit!) However, it does present some unique challenges for what I need from the tent!
So;
What I want in a tent:
Room to stand up is a must. We will be easing into it but the eventual plan is to do some long distance camping. We do a lot of long distance riding anyway, but we'd like to replace motels with campgrounds (would be way more fun.) That means setting up at night, taking off in the morning. Not ALWAYS, but sometimes. So, if it's pouring down rain when we wake up, we need room to stand up and get our clothes and rain gear on. Being soaked to the bone is miserable, but if I can get my rain gear on before I step out of the tent I'm golden!
On with that theme, it needs to be dry and roomy. Roomy enough to store clothes and rain gear. I like the idea of a vestibule or something.
Needs to be cool in the summer, for sure. Won't be doing a lot of winter camping! If any at all, really. But traveling on bikes means no A/C for us, potentially, on the entire trip. Definitely need to rest and cool off! On that note; are those 'cooler a/c' get-ups any good? Seems easy enough to make (forcing air over ice with a 12v fan basically)
Needs fairly quick setup and takedown for two adults. As I said; occasionally, it'll be one-night-at-a-time. (We may do 3,000 miles one way, setting up 3 or 4 nights along the way, then spending a week at our destination)
Weatherproof is a must too. Again, getting wet is a bad idea. As long as I'm dry and can get into my rain gear I'm fine, but if I'm wet underneath my rain gear it's awful. So waking up having been rained on is no good!
thanks!
Any other tips, by the way? Assume you had to pack everything into a car-top carrier. 100% of it. What would you bring? What would you leave home? Assume also some of that space is going to be taken. For one, a motorcycle electrical system isn't capable of charging our cellphones overnight (when it's running sure, but those batteries are small). We've got a DSLR and two cellphones to keep charged. So I was probably going to haul a deep cycle battery or a SMALL (thinking 1000 watt Honda) generator. This assumes worst-case scenario and not camping in campgrounds without electricity.
Thanks! Sorry for the long winded approach but I'm really trying to do my research! I think we're going to start camping next spring; with a few local 'jaunts' this fall to close by places (there's a state park 20 minutes away; after all I live in the place everyone else runs away to on the weekend!). As a matter of fact I used to live on 20 acres that bordered a state park with campgrounds!
After a few medium size trips I think the plan is to head to the grand canyon, we've been wanting to do that for a while! I live in Missouri, so it's a bit of a hike to the grand canyon from here!
Thanks!
John
So, a little background. It's my first post after all!
My name is John. Lived in and grown up in a rural area all my life. I know my way around tools and around the woods! Camped and hunted as a kid quite a bit. Then got away from it for a few years. My wife and I would really like to get back into it (she did too when she was younger). I'm certainly no stranger to camping- but far from an expert.
Seems like a logical place to start is a tent. I've pretty much got cooking and utensils and such covered. Did that several times a year for many years! I cook with cast iron a lot at home and plan on bringing a little of that. I've also got a coleman stove, and I'll pickup some more stuff later on.
The kicker is, we'll be camping off of our motorcycles. BUT, I do (or will shortly have) a cargo trailer. So I've got about as much room as a big car trunk. So I'm not that constricted in terms of storage; but it's not unlimited either. The cargo trailer will have about as much room as a big plastic car-top carrier. (The cargo area is similar in design. For years guys have been putting those on wheels and hauling them behind their motorcycles; that's basically what this is just tweaked a bit!) However, it does present some unique challenges for what I need from the tent!
So;
What I want in a tent:
Room to stand up is a must. We will be easing into it but the eventual plan is to do some long distance camping. We do a lot of long distance riding anyway, but we'd like to replace motels with campgrounds (would be way more fun.) That means setting up at night, taking off in the morning. Not ALWAYS, but sometimes. So, if it's pouring down rain when we wake up, we need room to stand up and get our clothes and rain gear on. Being soaked to the bone is miserable, but if I can get my rain gear on before I step out of the tent I'm golden!
On with that theme, it needs to be dry and roomy. Roomy enough to store clothes and rain gear. I like the idea of a vestibule or something.
Needs to be cool in the summer, for sure. Won't be doing a lot of winter camping! If any at all, really. But traveling on bikes means no A/C for us, potentially, on the entire trip. Definitely need to rest and cool off! On that note; are those 'cooler a/c' get-ups any good? Seems easy enough to make (forcing air over ice with a 12v fan basically)
Needs fairly quick setup and takedown for two adults. As I said; occasionally, it'll be one-night-at-a-time. (We may do 3,000 miles one way, setting up 3 or 4 nights along the way, then spending a week at our destination)
Weatherproof is a must too. Again, getting wet is a bad idea. As long as I'm dry and can get into my rain gear I'm fine, but if I'm wet underneath my rain gear it's awful. So waking up having been rained on is no good!
thanks!
Any other tips, by the way? Assume you had to pack everything into a car-top carrier. 100% of it. What would you bring? What would you leave home? Assume also some of that space is going to be taken. For one, a motorcycle electrical system isn't capable of charging our cellphones overnight (when it's running sure, but those batteries are small). We've got a DSLR and two cellphones to keep charged. So I was probably going to haul a deep cycle battery or a SMALL (thinking 1000 watt Honda) generator. This assumes worst-case scenario and not camping in campgrounds without electricity.
Thanks! Sorry for the long winded approach but I'm really trying to do my research! I think we're going to start camping next spring; with a few local 'jaunts' this fall to close by places (there's a state park 20 minutes away; after all I live in the place everyone else runs away to on the weekend!). As a matter of fact I used to live on 20 acres that bordered a state park with campgrounds!
After a few medium size trips I think the plan is to head to the grand canyon, we've been wanting to do that for a while! I live in Missouri, so it's a bit of a hike to the grand canyon from here!
Thanks!
John
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