In my last post I explained I’m planning an epic (in my eyes) motorcycle/camping trip. I’m taking Honey Badger (my diminutive Yamaha TW200) so I have to sort through my gear looking for small light things, or buy new small things, or just get by somehow on my savage ingenuity. It’ll be remote-ish. I’m traveling solo. I’m looking forward to it.
The first discovery was that my Vista 1 “Quick Tent”, which is kinda’ neat when setup on a Teton XXL Cot, is pure hell when setup on the ground. One night in that yellow sausage casing was enough to convince me I need something bigger. This is why we test things.
Next came my “sleep system”. My air mattress, about which I had doubts, passed with flying colors. All of my sleeping bags are heavy and meant for cold weather so I “spread three light fluffy ‘camping quilt’ objects on the air mattress”.
I was so discombobulated by the small tent I did a re-test in my huge and comfortable Gazelle Hub Tent. I realize the tent can’t fit on my (or any!) motorcycle, but I wanted to test the sleep system.
Did it work? Nope! That’s why we do testing!
My Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Topo (which has made the cut for this adventure) is R2.5. It ought to have something over it. (Normally that would be a sleeping bag, it’s just my own weirdness that I’m trying alternatives.
I put an Alptrek “Adventure Blanket” over the mattress. It didn’t fully cover it, leaving the top 1/3 of the mattress exposed. Oh well. I soldiered on.
I’m not providing a link to the “Adventure Blanket” because it was a gift. I’m not sure where it came from. The little blanket is just fine for hanging around camp. It’s not junk, just ill suited to the specific use I was trying.
For a pillow I use a Nemo Fillo. There are things which begin as luxuries when you’re young but become necessary when you’re older. For most of my life I’d die with embarrassment to buy a camping pillow. Cram a t-shirt in a stuff sack and that’s a pillow! But… life happens. The Fillo is scandalously expensive at $40+ but it packs small and every time I use it I’m glad I have it.
The next layer was a present from Mrs. Curmudgeon. She gave me a Get Out Gear Down Puffy Blanket. It’s very small and crazy light. It’s half the encumbrance of the “Adventure Blanket”. However, it’s thin. I’ve eaten cheese slices thicker than this blanket!
So far I had a very light setup and I didn’t expect it to be enough. I just needed a baseline. It was a warm, humid, stuffy night in the mid 60’s. I’m planning for as low as 32 and expecting 50. At first I was cozy. The question was, for how long?
I drifted off to sleep under my cheese slice.
The little puffy blanket is impressive, it punches above its weight class. I was pretty snug at first. (I should add that I was wearing skivvies and nothing else. The goal here isn’t to prove I can survive a night shivering in my motorcycle gear during a cold rain, it’s to prep a baseline where I can sleep comfortably several nights in a row without carrying too much weight and volume.)
As the night wore on, the temperature dropped, just as you’d predict. After a few hours, I woke up in the chill. The cheese slice had done well but it wasn’t magic.
I deployed my next layer, a Therm-a-Rest Honcho Poncho. I’ve had mine for years. I use it mostly for hunting. As a poncho I’ll put it right over giant bulky winter jackets. It allows me to stay still in a snowstorm just a wee bit longer. Sometimes that makes the difference when hunting. It makes a fine little blanket too.
It’s much thicker than the cheese slice and it might be too big to carry (at some point a sleeping bag makes more sense). It’s a little short (being a poncho and not a blanket) so my shoulders kept losing cover. Even so, I expected it to be warm and it was.
I drifted off to sleep, dreaming of campfires and coyotes.
Alas, it didn’t last. A little bit before dawn I woke up again. It was 52. I was “OK but not toasty warm”.
I could, at that point, start putting on sweatpants and fleece shirts but that’s not the point. I already know I can survive a 50 degree night. I can survive much more. What I wanted to know was the baseline for “warm and toasty”. My mishmash of Adventure Blanket and the cheese slice and the Honcho Poncho wasn’t enough.
So far the air mattress and the pillow have passed testing. I also fell in love with the cheese slice, I’ll bring it as “backup” if I have room. The rest, as my high school teachers often said, “needs work”. I’m going to have to buy a sleeping bag like a normal person. Damn!
While I’ve been messing around with blankets, Honey Badger is at a dealership getting hand guards. What is the return on investment on hand guards for the reduced chance of a broken wrist? I don’t know but it feels like it went positive when I decided to take this trip; especially given I’ll be solo and I’m inexperienced.
In other news, a small but steady flow of little tools and gadgets have been ordered and are trickling in. I’ll post them in due time. It’s my intention to be tooled up to fix anything that goes wrong but balance that against the fact the bike is small and pretty tough.
The first thing I learned that replacement tire tubes are too big to carry. The TW200’s huge ass end tire has a tube that’s a couple pounds in itself! I don’t regret buying it but the tube stays behind in the truck and only a tiny patch kit comes with me. Other details are starting to come clear too.
Stay tuned.
Note: If you click one of my links to Amazon and buy anything (not just what I indicate) it doesn’t cost you anything extra but I get a tiny kickback. I encourage you to buy whatever you desire from the links I provide. Don’t hold back! If you buy a yacht or a helicopter or something I might get that tent I need. Happy camping y’all!