Camping Shakedown Trip

Haven't been motorcycle camping since attending WeSToc last year. Over the winter my wife was kind enough to get me some new gear. A sleeping bag was in order as I'm just not as small as I was at 17 when I purchased my last bag. For years I've also used a small single person tent that you could not sit up in. Again, I'm just not as spry as I used to be.
So Dale_I from this site and I decided to go test out some gear as he has some new stuff as well. Our trip consisted of riding from Spokane to Thompson Falls, MT via Sandpoint, ID. The setback was that I didn't get off work until 3pm. We launched shortly after and had one of the most beautiful rides around the east side of Lake Pend Oreille that I've ever been on. Great temps and sunny skies. We motored through Hope and Clark Fork Idaho and then Heron and Noxon Montana. This was all along the beautiful Clark Fork River. It didn't disappoint. As we moved along the sun was getting ever closer to the horizon which also parallels the hours of deer movement. We observed quite a few in the fields, on the shoulders, and several meandering in the road. We were on high alert and thankfully we didn't have any personal encounters with them before arriving at our camp site in Thompson Falls. Of course it was now fully dark which would be a test of how easy our new tents would be to set up. All went well and after some conversation it was time to crash. No fires allowed due to extreme fire danger, otherwise we'd have been up longer.
We were up around 7am to pack and then drop by the local restaraunt Minnie's for some grub. Wonderful grub it was and as it turns out we just beat the crowd of motorcyclists arriving by the handfuls. After meandering through the now packed parking spots of cycles and talking to many of the owners we had to get on the way. Back to Spokane through Thompson Pass and on Kingston where we picked up the super slab I90. Between those points was some of the most spectacular riding I have ever done. The mountains were 'out' and most of the ride was along different rivers that were as clear as glass.
It's now time to take that overnighter and make it into a multiple day event.

Sound awesome. Good writing. Thanks for sharing. What gear did you try out?

New REI Passage II tent: nice and roomy and super easy to set up. Even in the dark. The ground cloth, tent, and fly all have color coded stake tabs so you get it right every time. Also has a nice stuff sack that is large enough for everything that goes with the tent and has two cinch straps to compress it all.
LL Bean 650 DownTek 20 degree Long Rectangular sleeping bag. Super comfy, packs fairly small, and large enough for the adult size me.
Dale had some new gear as well and I'm sure he'll chime in soon.

I just bought a new 2017 Z71 4x4 Silverado with a high-rise camper shell. Plenty of room for tents, cots, porta potties, barbeque grills, Ice Chest's and anything else you might want to take with you. Plenty of power to pull the trailer with the Bikes. God am I getting Old or What?

That looks like a beautiful place to camp. Thanks for posting.

I believe some of the best riding is following a river. Thanks for sharing.

Sorry for the late reply. As beautiful as it sounds and looks... I have to admit that for a shakedown cruise it certainly turned into a highlight reel.



Riding in was simply awesome. Picturesque. Following rivers will now be my favorite past time. Stopped in a little town just to stretch out legs that happened to be having a music festival. And, when JRob said there were some deer... I'm talking a LOT of deer. I don't hunt and he was pointing them out right and left. One field had what he estimated at 15 to 20 at a minimum and likely more. A lot more.



Arrived at camp safely and set up went well... which is actually GREAT for a shake down cruise. The stars came out in force and the Milky Way was clearly visible. As stated, fire ban... so we sat at the picnic table and stared at the stars.



As well as leaving late, I needed to be back in Spokane by noon to take my kids to a Music Festival with some of their favorite bands, so we were up and out early. When we walked into Minnies Cafe there were only a few people in the place. When we left it was packed and that was after an overflow room was opened and still very few seats. Bikes appeared from everywhere. I lost Jeff to a ST1300P all white police unit out of Canada. I talked with his buddy, who also happened to be an outdoor guide and picked up some tips on spotting deer.



Time's up... need to leave or I'll be late... so we head out. Truthfully the ride out might have been better than the ride in. When Jeff said that the water was clear... I'm saying that if you asked me how many rocks were there I could tell you... at 50 mph from 30 yards away... and approximate size of each. Perfect weather having warmed up just enough after sunrise.

Jeff's CTX before and after... we kept the face shields down along the river!



Excellent... and I want to go back!

Jeff took this of my bike with some hay bales... there's a story about my wife's grandpa... but you need to come ride with us to hear it.



My gear shakedown:
New jacket, helmet, and pad:
Cortech Air 4.0 in the Hi Viz and an HJC-IS Max2 with he Hi Viz stripes. Kickstand pad was a gift from JRob (thanks muchacho!).
Really like them all so far. Only complaint is that I used my jacket for a pillow. The Hi Viz on the Cortech jacket is also phosphorus, meaning it glows for a while after the sun goes down. As long as you turn the jacket inside out when you use it for a pillow it won't keep you awake.



Camping:
Jetboil system (Minimo), Helinox chair (never used, but it fit and made the trip).
The dehydrated food was not only good... it was great. More than I could eat too. Super easy to make. I had the Mountain House Chicken Noodle Casserole and Jeff had the Chicken and Dumplings. If I dumped it out of the package and into a bowl, I could easily be served it in a restaurant. That with some hot tea sitting on the river with a good friend after a ride. IT DOESN'T GET BETTER!

The Jet Boil System is nothing short of amazing. For the size and weight, I've decided to just keep it in the saddle bag. Anywhere, anytime... a hot snack can be made. Water so hot you can't touch it in minutes. Jeff already had a Flash system, and I found a coupon and discount that made the Minimo system the same price, so I opted for it. Not a lot of differences and both worked flawlessly.

Although only gone for a short night, I packed as though I could have gone 3 days just to make sure I had the packing skills.



Last addition: Stuff I found I need...
Headlamp with a headband so when you are setting up in the dark and trying to unpack you can have both hands free and still have light. To that end, I picked up a Black Diamond Cosmo unit off Amazon on the recommendation of a mountain climber. I like it because there is a red light function that is twice as bright as other options, which actually makes using red light an option. If you don't want your pupils to dilate it is key. Then your night-vision is much less affected.

(Everyone say this...)
Hi, my name is ..... and I need to read directions.
After my debacle with my helmet vents you would think I would learn to read directions. Nope. Here I am days later and I opened the Jet Boil instructions and the Minimo doesn't pack like the Flash. I put my canister and burner on its side because my cup is wider. I couldn't figure it out and left for the trip with a couple rubber bands on it. Lesson learned (again) and rubber bands deleted.

Wow nice trip and write up. We gotta go and bring some telescoping fishing poles. Glad to hear it was a safe one and the gear worked out


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We talked about fishing poles a little. Unfortunately, I was just in Cabela's buying fishing licenses for the state of WA recently. A little over $100 once you got the license (I only needed one since my kids are 8 & 9), the Discovery state parking pass, and the open land parking pass (used outside the state parks). An out of state ID fishing license starts over $100 unless you are just going for a few days. Then it is something like $16 for the first day and another $6 or $8 for each day after.

Wow.... what ever happened to stealing your dad's rod and making your way down to the creek with some worms you dug up??? I miss the old days sometimes.