I finally did “tame” motocamping on my tame bike. It was everything I wanted it to be!
The Honda Pacific Coast 800 has a huge bedonkadonk. S0me folks love it, some folks hate it, the motorcycle buyer’s market of the 1990’s rejected it, but I love it. Without spending a lot of effort optimizing gear I just stuffed a bunch of camping shit in the bedonkadonk. The only thing that didn’t fit was my tent and sleeping bag. Those rode well on the pillion. (“Pillion” is the passenger’s seat.) By comparison, back when I did trips on my cruiser (with normal saddlebags), I had to have an unwieldy backpack (albeit one meant for motorcycles) strapped to the sissy bar.
Behold the wonder and glory as I open the bedonkadonk to grab my sunglasses without unstrapping the crap on top. Very handy!
The campground was glorious and empty. There was nary a sound but the leaves rustling. I would expect the same spot to be a zoo in mid summer.
The area has had a few hard frosts, so the bugs are mostly gone. Autumn is truly the best season.
For the WYBDR I bought (at great expense and with no small amount of consternation) a Lone Rider ADV tent. (I’ll discuss the tent in detail later.) It’s made specifically for motorcycle riders. It only makes sense to buy such a special tent if you’re batshit crazy enough to try your hand at a remote solo crossing of Wyoming mountains and deserts. However, now that I own it, there’s no reason I shouldn’t enjoy it even on tame campgrounds.
Before you Google the tent, I warn you that it’s stupidly expensive. When you see the price, it may cause organ failure. It nearly killed me. But it is a pretty good tent and ideally designed to fill the niche in which I’m using it. It rolls up small but not too small.
It’s a stout short tent. It looks a little floppy but don’t let that fool you. It sheds the wind like a boss. I started calling it “turtle tent”. (If you ride solo enough you’ll start naming things weirdly just like I do.)
I had to buy firewood and then strap it on my bike. I much prefer bringing my own, but that’s only possible when camping by Dodge. I feel like those little wood bundles are unfairly too small.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I couldn’t help but take too many photos of my bike.
A campfire is the cure to almost any mental stress.
Dawn was as gorgeous as I could hope for.
I chose to carry my JetBoil (with French press accessory) instead of my percolator. 
The coffee was just as good.
I brought my shortwave. I like to listen to the universe during the night. When you camp solo it’s wise to allocate some space in your gear for “toys”.
If you’re in a situation where you can, get out there and enjoy autumn. It’s fleeting. Migrating birds won’t be in the sky forever.
