The Dood's First Dual Spot Adventure.

I took my first trip with the dual sport this weekend and for the most part everything went well. Surprisingly, it was Friday the 13th and when I realized the date I almost cancelled. I'm not real superstitious but I just felt maybe I could of picked a more auspicious date for my first adventure.

Throwing caution to the wind, I got up early Friday morning and began packing. There wasn't a lot of planning involved. I grouped up everything I thought I needed. I had my camping stuff organized, my clothing, and cooking stuff. As I began packing stuff on the bike, I began to realize things I left out, and added them to the pack. The end result was a mess, but effective and I made it to my destination without any problems! I did remedy this on the way home, and my pack was much more organized when I returned. I did learn a thing or two about packing for a trip that should make the process much easier on my next adventure.

Considering this was a test run for longer journeys and I wanted things to go smoothly I decided on a campground in a state park. I figured this would be much easier than dispersed camping or primitive camping in the wild.

I also decided that I'd just wing it as if I was taking a cross country trip. No reservations, and if things didn't work out at the park, I had an app that could find free camping (dispersed primitive camping on state land.) I'll probably focus on testing out the app on my next adventure.

It took me almost two hours to pack the bike for the first time. I honestly didn't know what I was doing outside of tips I had learned from a few Youtube videos I watched. Once I was packed I then took a very scenic route along Lake Erie, then through the Cattaraugus Indian reservation. I did use my GPS as I traveled and I didn't arrive at the park till around 4 in the afternoon. All in all it was about a 3 hour ride, but the scenery was awesome and worth every extra second spent on the road !

On a side note, if you use Google Maps, many people don't know that there is a setting that gives you routes without highways or toll roads. No matter how you are traveling I highly recommend checking the "No Highways" check box. This will give you a map to your destination following all country back roads. The scenery and towns that you come across will be worth every extra second it takes to get to your destination. So far, in my experience you can almost double the amount of time it will take to get to where you are going, but well worth every moment!

When I arrived at Alleghany State Park it was close to 4 in the afternoon. I went to the administration building to get my camping permit and discovered I had probably arrived just in time, they said they only had about 14 spots left. I selected a site near a creek bed and then setup camp.

After I setup camp, I cooked some Chef Boyardi Raviolis. Haven't had those since I was a kid, but I was just looking for something simple to cook on my alcohol stove. The stove worked out really well. I cooked Raviolis for dinner, then Jiffy Pop Popcorn for a late night snack as I sat by the fire. I also made some ramen noodles at two or three o'clock in the morning when I couldn't sleep. I cooked all this on one fill of fuel, and everything cooked fantastic. On my next trip, I'll try and get a little more adventurous with cooking on the road. This trip was really all about keeping things simple, and trying to figure what works and what doesn't. Thankfully the cooking system worked great :)

So for the most part everything went extremely well. The ride out was fantastic, I was comfortable, and the weather couldn't of been finer. My confidence grew in the bike, and also in my travel skills. I really want to do a cross country trip, but for now, I plan on taking each adventure a little further, and learning from the mistakes of the previous adventure. I learned my sleep system needs improvement and my cooking system is pretty awesome!

I planned a 1 day trip, but was considering spending a second day at the park. This probably would of have happened had I not forgotten one very important part of my sleeping kit. I left my foam matt at the house. It's a thin matt that covers the rocks, and makes sleeping on the ground much more comfortable.

So, I couldn't get comfortable with rocks jutting into my back. I didn't sleep. Probably got about 3 hours sleep if I was lucky and decided the ride home would be miserable if I spent the day at the park site seeing. So when I woke in the early hours of the morning, as the sun rose over the hills, I decided to pack up and head home while fairly refreshed. When I got home I slept the entire rest of the day

Outside of sleep everything else went pretty well. Using my phone for GPS kind of hindered using it as a camera. So I'm also trying to improve either my system for taking photo's or changing up my GPS to free up my phone for images and video.

I'm planning another adventure in the next few weeks. This time further and longer. I will have all my kit prepacked this time, and will certainly not forget my foam matt. I also plan on weeding out extra items from my kit, as far as I'm concerned the less items I travel with the better the ride will be. So my main focus on my next trip will be improving my sleeping conditions, and getting comfortable in the tent.

Outside of sleep deprivation, I would say the trip went well. I really did enjoy myself for the most part and look forward to taking it even further on my next journey!

Here are some final photos I took on the ride home.