Ray's Motorcycle Experience

This should be the last post about the motorcycle camping trial run, in other words the testing in real time before the serious stuff starts. At this point everything I can think of is packed, food, toiletries, clothes, cooking utensils, heater (this was in March and still cold) extension cords, table, chairs, firewood, etc etc etc…. In other words had the trailer hooked up, bike and some supplies in trailer with the remainder in the cab or back of the truck.

Lets go——we had reserved camping sites at Karick Lake South for March 4 through the 8th of 2020. Five days to test out this setup, see what was missing and what could be left behind on the next outing. By the way Karick Lake camping is near by (25 miles) and is a really quiet and well taken care of campground. It has a fishing pier, bath rooms, showers, and hiking trails. Each campsite has electrical hook up and water. For those with RV and trailer campers there is a dump station on your way out.

As you can see from the photos, when we arrived it was dreary looking, foggy, raining, and on top of that the wind was blowing pretty good also. Those photos were taken around three in the afternoon. That was not going to stop this camper however, we were going to stick it out no matter what. In fact turns out most of the five days we were there it was like this, cold, damp and for normal people some might have called it miserable.

Next it was time to setup, unload the bike first, then inflate the queen size air mattress, unpack the blankets, hook up the water hose, plug into electricity, turn on the heater, build a fire and get ready to prepare some food. The RV you see in the right side of the photo below is my brother and sister-in-law. They camp in style with all the comforts of home. 🙂

It rained really hard that night, the camper directly in front of me was camping in a tent and riding a motorcycle. Met him the next morning as he was packing up to leave. He explained it was pretty rough since his tent flooded and he only had a few dry clothes to change into. He was from Mississippi and was headed home that morning hoping he could stay out of most of the bad weather. Not likely though, storms were brewing all across the southern states at that time.

Even though is was miserable, had a great time with my brother. We hiked almost every day, cooked and ate a lot, sat around the camp fire which we kept going strong for the entire time and talked about anything that came to mind. Learned a lot on the trip, some changes I might do and other things I could do without. In other words, I packed way too much stuff. 🙂 Even though the weather was not nice still had a chance to take a few short rides on the motorcycle which for me is always fun.

Will post a two minute video below of one ride as I was leaving the camp site and out of the campground to the main road. Camera was mounted on rear of the motorcycle. Turned off the sound because it was so windy.

Soon we will catch up from the past and start posting about what’s happening now, but first I will need to catch you up on what has happened since this camping trip, maybe more camping, more rides, more photos and videos. So be patient with me, we’ll get there I promise. Will close this post out with a few more photos of that campsite. It was a blast and a learning experience for sure!

Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Stay tuned, hit that follow button to be notified when next post publishes. And if you feel the urge, you can share this on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thanks for reading. 🙂

In the last post kind of explained what would be necessary for me to purchase in the area of a trailer to do all the things I needed to do with it. Like the motorcycle search which took a while, the trailer search began. After a couple of months searching, found the trailer I’d been looking for and it was probably about 1.5 miles away. Was a six by twelve foot single axle trailer, covered, with drop down rear door to use as a ramp and side door for entry when you didn’t want to drop the rear door down. Was large enough to carry the Yamaha and all the other stuff I thought was necessary.

Once the trailer was in my possession it was time to set it up and make it mine. First had to find a motorcycle chock that would accept the front tire of my bike and hold it up without support. Of course you have to use tie downs before you move it and that meant tie down hooks in the floor were needed. Turns out it already had some tie-downs.

Next thing I did was add electricity. Wired in an on/off switch, light, and a wall plug. Placed the plug-in down on the under side of the trailer easily accessible so it would be easy to run an extension cord and plug it in so you would have lights and electrical power inside the trailer. Most of the campgrounds I would use have electrical hook-ups, water, bathrooms and showers.

Also built a little area in the nose of the trailer to store things so they wouldn’t move around and even put a rod across the front of the trailer in order to hang clothes, jackets, helmets, and whatever else needed to be hung up. Also devised a way to mount the spare tire on the wall. When I say nose of the trailer, forgot to mention that it is V shaped in front which actually makes it pull easier due to the shape it will split the wind better. Will put some photos below.

When all of that was done, time to see how it would feel pulling it with my truck, bike loaded. Hooked up the trailer, loaded up the Yamaha, tied it down securely and took off down the road a few miles to test how it pulled, felt and then on returning making sure the bike was still secure and had not moved. Did some quick turns, faster than normal stops just to see if anything would go wrong with the way I had it setup.

Result, it pulled great, bike stayed in place and it appeared that the trailer, bike and me were very close to ready for a trial run at camping. Well not quite, still had to buy/gather up some supplies. Food, clothes, camp stove, utensils, paper towels, cleaning products, air mattress, sheets, blankets, pillow, heater (it was cold), charger for phone, extension cords, water hose, table, chairs, coffee, coffee pot, hot chocolate, firewood, matches, gas for stove and lantern. Believe me there was probably more but I really wanted to over pack and see what I really needed on this trial run. There was a lot more minor items packed I’m sure but you get the idea. 🙂

Funny thing is my brother and sister-in-law were going to be camping in the very next campsite in their RV to assist me with anything necessary but the idea was for me to test this out as much as possible on my own. Plus we would only be camping about 25 miles from my home at Karick Lake South so if necessary I could run back home quickly should there be something missing. LOL

Will have to finish up this camping experience on a motorcycle in the next post as I don’t really like to make these post too long and boring. There will be a part three to this story posting soon. See some of the trailer photos below.

Off subject a bit but just got notification that Viking Bags is running an Easter sale at 20% off. For how long it lasts I have no idea but this is the place I go to when I need saddle bags, sissy bar bags, or any type of motorcycle luggage you can think of. Viking Bags- World Largest Motorcycle Luggage Manufacturing Company, Offering over 700 Key lockable Saddlebags and pouches with hardware.

Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Stay tuned, hit that follow button to be notified when next post publishes. 🙂