Motocamping Trial Run - Motorcycle Touring Adventures without Breaking the Bank!
Motocamping on a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle is an adventurous way to travel and see many different parts of our Great State and Country without the expense of costly hotels! You will give up some of the luxurious in exchange for more adventures and miles on the road.
The Motorcycle
The bike of choice here is the 2021 Harley-Davidson FLTRXS Road Glide Special in this years Custom Color Snake Venom! The power, comfort and handling give you the ability to pack all of your gear, climb the mountains and enjoy the switchbacks and sweepers, it will not disappoint!
The Gear
When searching for the right camping gear to carry on your bike, there are many options. I chose to search for backpacking gear, this will be lightweight and compact so it can be easily carried on two wheels. So far the necessary gear has been a Waterproof Motorcycling Bag, Harley-Davidson offers their Adventure Duffel Bag. Most of my camping gear fit in that bag, it included; a mattress pad, cot, camping chair, camping pillow, fire starters and a few other essentials. The tent and sleeping bag were easily cinched to the top of the bag. When going on the trial run, you will figure out what you have extra and what you're missing. Two very important items I added to my list while on this trip were a hatchet and earplugs because my neighbor in the next tent snores! He claimed I did as well?????
The Campsite
The options are endless on where you can motocamp! National Parks and Forests offer free dispersed camping, as long as you have a good spot you can pitch your tent get some rest and nobody will bother your! Being the first trip we were a little bit more prepared, we booked a site through Ohio State Parts and stayed at Stewart Lake Campground at Scioto Trail State Park just south of Chillicothe Ohio! It was a great location in the rustic (no running water or electricity) walk in camping area! The best part, no cell phone service! Just a group of guys hanging out around a campfire, laughing, joking and having a great time!
The Ride
This idea to motocamp came to me when we went on a two night trip in South Eastern Ohio. We saw the Big Musky Bucket, rode the Triple Nickel and saw so many campers out, we thought how much more riding can we do? On this trip we headed East out of Cincinnati on US Route 50 towards Hillsboro then we rode State Route 73 to State Route 24 and Holy Cow was that and awesome ride! If you're not using the Harley-Davidson Ride Planner to plan your routes, you could be missing some great rides!
The following morning we rode down to Portsmouth Ohio to check out the Flood Wall Murals, if you haven't seen those, what a site! It's worth the ride down just to see those. After that we headed back up State Route 73 and stopped at Terry's Grocery for a sandwich before heading home!
Continue to follow my blog as I get ready to motocamp on my way to Sturgis!