Sleeping under the stars

A couple of weeks ago I got to do one of things I love to do most, go traveling on my motorcycle. This addiction started back in the early seventies with a trip up into the Sierra’s on my BSA Lightning 650. I rode with my high school friends Benny and Mike. Benny on a ‘chopped’ Honda CB350 and Mike on a Yamaha XS650.

We took off on a warm sunny day, first stop Mammoth Lakes. We took a route that I still take to this day. Up the Kern River, over Sherman Pass then up HWY395. None of us had ever gone that far in one day and we were whooped! Back then we didn’t have tiny tents and tiny sleeping bags, we didn’t even have saddle bags! Everything was strapped on the bike somehow or another. So after a cheap dinner at the local McDonalds it was toss the sleeping bags on the ground and call it a great day. Our trip went like that for the next four days. What a great time, I was now hopelessly addicted to Moto Traveling.

Since that first trip I figure I have put nearly 400 thousand miles on a motorcycle. All over the western USA and Canada, what fun and adventures. Blazing hot days to being snowed on. Rain for days on end and getting blown off the road in Wyoming. Coming eye to eye with a moose in the middle of the road and watching a woman knitting while sitting on the back of a Honda Valkyrie. Almost running out of gas in Clorado to almost running off the road in Glacier National Park…yes, the scenery is that stunning!

So here I am over forty years later, traveling on my motorcycle. Nowadays, I do have saddlebags and a little tent, a little sleeping bag, a fancy air mattress and all kinds of great camping do-dads. Ah, modern technology and conveniences.

Well, this trip I decided (after checking the computer for weather info) that I was going to go retro…back over thirty years. Sleeping bag under the stars. My traveling companions opted for tents and air mattresses, wimps! The first night out we camped at Onion Valley in the Eastern Sierra’s. Nearly 9000 feet and truly beautiful. Sleeping next to the dying campfire, listening to the waterfall and looking at the Milky Way brought back the memory of that first trip and why I love MotoCamping.

Sleeping under the stars, there is no better way to end a day of motorcycle riding. So where can I go next? Where is my map??

Ride safe, ride fast, ride far and I’ll see you on the road