Winter camping on a motorcycle has a few extra considerations to take into account or your time in the elements can be uncomfortable at best and flat out dangerous at worst.  Motorcycle camping in any season tends to take a great deal of gear but adding the cold element add to the load.  The potential for snow, short days, damp wood, bitter winds and more all are set to put a cramp in your camping style.
Fair weather camping sets you up for certain conveniences that allow you to skimp on gear or ignore it entirely.  Winter camping can be far more brutal should you find yourself lacking in critical items.  In the warmer months if you have less quality gear it might be uncomfortable but it certainly isn't going to be dangerous.  Consider these as must haves for a comfortable winter camp.
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1.  4 season tent.  Most tents are not made for 4 seasons.  Even when they say they are.  If you find a tent that is comfortable in the winter most often that means you will burn up in the heat of the summer.  My snugpak Scorpion 3 tent was an example of such a tent.  It was comfortable in Fall, Winter, and Spring but there was simply no way to get enough ventilation to keep from getting hot in the summer.  I upgraded last fall to the Hilleberg Nammatj 3GT and of course had to test it in cold camping as soon as possible.  After camping in low 20's on the crest of a mountain with relatively high wind I can say this tent fit the bill for what I was looking for.  The front of the tent has a large vestibule allowing me to store my gear and even due to the wind and cold and lack of decent firewood get in from the elements while still having the ability to cook hot tea and food.  (precautions much be taken when cooking inside a tent but out of the scope of this article).  Again motorcycle camping lends you to having more equipment especially in the winter so having a dry place to store your suit, helmet and other gear without having to crawl around it is welcomed.

I had the pleasure to meet up with Simon and Lisa along with Candida Louis and stay at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast at Penmerryl Farm right after Overland Expo East.  Spending time with amazing people like this as well as Laura Pittkin (one of the owners and fellow rider) who joined us for the evening is truly what travel is all about.
This farm is tucked away in the Shenandoah Valley and has one of the most exquisite breakfasts I've had at a Bed and Breakfast.  The owners love motorcycles and ride themselves.  The area is only a few miles away from the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Travelers coming either direction on the Blue Ridge can find rest at this wonderful location.  It is surrounded by great rides and curvy roads are literally everywhere.  You can stay comfortably and cozy in a cabin complete with a full kitchen or stay in one of the lodge rooms that is setup more like a typical hotel room..  Well, except for the amazing breakfast in the morning.

The property is complete with horses and donkeys as well as a lake in the back where a tall tree hosts a nest of bald eagles that if you are lucky will be in view.  They don't provide rental horses but they do allow you to bring your own and enjoy the trails in the area.  You can even choose to stay in your horse trailer if it is so equipped for a lesser amount.
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They also have a tavern on the property complete with pool table and bar although the bar isn't in action just yet.  They are working on it though so stay tuned.

Happy Birthday wishes are flooding in from close and far friends from about every electronic platform I subscribe to.  I'm grateful to all of those and feel loved by having so many reach out.  It's become easier to wish someone a birthday wish than in the past, now its just a small slice of time but even then with so many things tugging at our focus, even that is something to be cherished.

As I wake up to the realization of being on this planet for 47 years I recognize I'm not the typical "party hard" for my birthday but I tend to go down more of a reflective course.  Where am I with my life, who have I surrounded myself with, what connections have I made, where have I been, where am I going.  Thoughts that could lead one down a path of self deprecation or perhaps a path of hope in the future.  I choose hope.  I have determined one never gets everything done they want either in a day or a decade or a life time.  I find myself passionate about a lot of things, from filmmaking to photography to health to adventure in all forms.  I also realize time is real and it continues to move no matter our best intentions of ignoring it.

What we do with the time we are given on this planet matters.  Or at least it should.  Who do we matter to, whose lives have we touched.  Were we a positive or negative to that life.  When it is all said and done, why were we here in the first place and would we be missed.  What legacy do we leave behind.  I just returned from an event where many of those I call close friends are literally 1/2 my age.  Seeing life through their lenses is an interesting experiment and one that can invoke youth back in ones own thinking.  I highly recommend it.  Having the courage of youth with the wisdom of age is likely the best takeaway I could make to my real life character I am portraying.

In the book, The ONE Thing,  it speaks of the path of mastery.  "When you can see mastery as a path you go down instead of a destination you arrive at, it starts to feel accessible and attainable."  At 47 I realize there is no destination per se but rather a journey that continues to blossom along the way.  Wisdom comes from applied experience.  Experience is typically what you get when you are not getting what you want.  And there is the rub.  If we don't fail, we can't succeed.  Fear of failure can paralyze some while catapulting others.  The beauty is, it's always our choice.  The book also speaks of mastery coming from doing the one thing for 10,000 hours.  The 1993 psychologist K. Anders Ericsson published "The role of deliberate Practice" stating that the 10k hours is a rule, not a guideline.  Consistent effort over time trumps natural talent every time.  Golf legend Jack Nicholas spoke of his body shape not being ideal but that his practice couldn't be beat.  He practiced himself to greatness.  His stubby fingers and stocky build be damned.

I find myself passionate about so many different things it is easy to feel overwhelmed on whether I will ever master any of them but instead be the Jack of many trades.  I've never liked the term btw.  But I press on and follow those passions and incorporate as many as I can into my life as long as they give me growth and enjoyment.  Stretching oneself is likely the best way to never grow old.  Once we believe (inaccurately) that we have arrived...  We have lost.  Once we believe we can no longer make a difference.  We have failed.  Once we believe that who we are is all we can be, we are forgotten.

I truly believe that anyone can achieve what they set out to be, do, become.  It takes time, consistent effort, and a passion within to find what moves your soul.  As I enjoy my 47th I hope to all of you who read this to enjoy your day as well and realize there will never be another day like today.  Take it, love it, absorb it, record it however you must.  But above all remember it.  And take each day to grow just a little bit.  And when you are 47 or whatever that number is for you, you will look back on all those days and discover how they were all responsible for making you who you are today.  Hopefully someone you can be happy with knowing.

I am happy with who I am, where I have been (good and bad) and where I am going and especially who I have become in the process.  I look forward to the next 10 years or even 20.  Life is a mystery and our thoughts ultimately give definition to that mystery.  The wave becomes the particle. (a topic perhaps for another time).

So, here's to 47!  Cheers!!

David

That's part of what made this year difficult for me.  Over all the years of motorcycling, through all the bikes and well over 150k miles, I never had a wreck outside of tumbles off road (which are kind of expected).  And then this year happened.  I had just upgraded from my beloved 2014 BMW GSA to the BMW Triple Black 2018 R1200GSA. What a beauty.  Bought it in late Oct 2017 and had a couple thousand miles on it when a friend and I were riding off-road in January and I was following him. Between a taillight covered in mud, a missed turn recognized late and stopping to turn back, combined with sun blazing at my 10 o'clock, the year of accidents began.  How could this happen?  Literally it was seconds and poof, I'm flying and bike is going one way and me the other.  How could I be so stupid to actually hit him?

Rode the bike all the way home only to find the damage sustained totaled the bike.  Wow, 2 accidents and one bike down.  Surely this is the end of my bad luck streak, right?  This is when the loving non-motorcycle riding friends started to say... "Um.. perhaps you should take up a less dangerous sport?"  I get it. I love you too, but it doesn't work that way for me.  Let's just get another bike, shall we?

Enter 2018 BMW Triple Black GSA #2.  200 miles on the clock and I'm loving the new bike I'm feeling confident again (having to ride the GSA 1  1600 miles home did a lot of curbing the "nervous feelings" of throwing a leg over after an accident).  My wife Holly and I plan a trip to a cabin a few hundred miles away as a belated anniversary get away combined with a work trip and as a break-in for her getting to ride on the new bike.  30 minutes from arrival at the cabin and a blue truck waiting to turning left across my path whom I made eye contact with, yet he decided to make a go of it anyway.  Traveling about 45 mph I slammed on the brakes and just before slamming into the side of the truck told Holly in a probably too calm of voice, "We're going to hit".  She had already slammed into me from my braking, so upon impact we both went simultaneously off the bike and toward the truck.  I hit the side of the truck and she bounced off of me and back onto the ground.  Thankfully, I learned a few lessons from the years ago "shorts, short sleeves, carefree riding style" on the Nighthawk.  All three accidents this year I was dawning top level Klim gear and Adventure boots and Holly equally equipped with BMW gear.  We both sustained injuries but compared to what it could have been we were fortunate.

​8 weeks of therapy (Kudos to Dr. Corey Idrogo at Centerpointe Health and Wellness) and healing from a knee injury and Holly with bruised ribs and other bruises gave us some time to think.  Do we get another bike?  Are we mitigating risk as much as possible?  Is it worth it?  What about our 15 yr old son?  Is it selfish to do this activity knowing that at any point something like this could happen and have long lasting results?

​And then I thought, what would I teach him by giving it up?  Yes, I love it but, better not do it because there is risk?  What in life can you do and not have risk?  Can you really eliminate all risk, and if you could, would you want to?  Isn't the risk part of what drives us forward?  To press ahead aware of the possible negative outcome but hopeful for the prize?  Overcome the challenge?

The motorcycle industry has been shrinking over the years and all the manufacturers are still scratching their heads trying to figure out exactly why.  The adventure market is the only segment that has remained steady and you are seeing manufacturers such as Harley Davidson enter the market in hopes of reviving their own market share and take on the younger generation of riders.  Many look at stagnant wages, job uncertainty, or perhaps the reality of far more distracted drivers on the road today (hello cell phones) as being the culprit.  While all of these certainly are factors I believe there is a fundamental shift that is happening in the US and perhaps the world that I see to be far more devastating not only to motorcycling but life in general.  We, as a people, are losing the ability to dream.  To shoot for the stars.  To do something not because it makes a buck but because you just need to do it.  In the world of warning labels on everything from straws to vehicles we are programmed by the media to fear everything.  I still believe all things are possible and I believe that everything has risk and I would rather do what I love and mitigate the risk as much as possible than to live to a ripe old age thinking about all the things I chose not to do because I was scared of what "might" happen.  Fear is a matter of perspective.  The same thing that gives a person sweaty palms, fast heart-rate, dilated pupils and is explained as terrified is the same physical response described by a person who is excited and ready to take on the next challenge.

Anniversaries are something to be cherished and celebrated although for some reason Holly and I seem to have something scheduled on top of our anniversary every year.  So each year we promise to take a little time away specific to the celebration but many times, if not most times, it never quite happens and another year slips away.

This year would be different we said.  Although we missed again celebrating on April 25 we had plans to do something special that was just for us.  Deanna Naddie, a friend of ours through dōTERRA (how we earn our living) reached out prior stating she had a cabin for rent that had openings during the six week blueberry season.  I love blueberries and love staying in a quaint cabin where internet and even cell phone service can't pierce the tranquility.  However, this time we would find that lack of communications was not freeing at all on this trip.  Regardless, we were in.  Although it was a couple months after our actual date, Holly and I were excited to be actually celebrating 17 years of marriage, and although not a "special number" 17 is a lot of years together.

We made all the necessary arrangements to have our son stay with his cousin, get the cats taken care of, and all the typical running around you do prior to leaving even for a few days.  I'm reminded how complex life can be even when you fill it with good things.  Things still require attention.  A thought to ponder at another time perhaps.

Both of us in gowns and placed in facing ER rooms we were realizing this would likely be an anniversary celebration we would never forget. The hospital verified what we had hoped that there were no broken bones but that I had a possible knee strain if not a tear.  More testing would be required to know.  Holly had bruised ribs although not broken but follow up would also be needed to be certain.  Not how I intended to spend our time.  But it is what it is..  The hospital provided a brace and crutches for my leg and they stated I needed to have it looked at further to determine if there was soft tissue damage.  Having had tendon damage in my shoulder in the past I was not looking forward to any prognosis especially with my legs because that limits just about everything I like to do from hiking to photography to camping much less motorcycling.  Hoping for the best on that one.

Now the reality of an accident while on the road away from home on a motorcycle sets in.  Luckily Deanna was not far away and was kind enough to come get us and after a much needed dinner took us back to the cabin so we could figure out what we do next.

It wasn't long before rain started and became quite fierce in different stages.  This is when it would have been incredible to have a camera at the ready.  Around 5pm, we had made it back to i24 from 840, the most direct route home, meaning we were on the road with mostly people who were tired from a long days work and were already mentally sitting at home ready to enjoy their evening.  About that time I looked left and saw a vehicle who had been traveling to close to the car in front of him slam on the brakes and enter into a full on skid due to the lead car having to mash the brakes.  The skidding vehicle stayed calm however still encroaching on the slowing vehicle to the point where I thought he would clip the vehicle in the left rear.  This of course would have sent the nose of the vehicle into our lane and once again I would be making a call to our embattled insurance company.  Luckily the car, while continuing to skid, gently moved to the left and into the median and came to a safe although "wrecker required" stop.  Holly and I looked at each other and decided if we can just get home we might just stay there for a while.

We made it home without further incident and spent the better part of the day working to insure everything is being handled as it is supposed to with regard to our vehicles and medical etc..  That process we would find is not anywhere close to being over.  I have discovered there is never a winner in an accident no matter whose fault it is.  So much time required to deal with all the factors.
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Even though this adventure did not go as planned we still made the best of it and above all did it together and we were able to come home together, for the most part, in good health all considering. To that we are both blessed and grateful.

Until our next adventure!! ​

David

So let's be honest..  We love to travel and get in hard to get to locations but at the same time we are dreadfully stressed over taking our gear into these same locations.  It would seem through all the bag purchases that I have made no one bag ever fits my exact needs and so... I look for the "next" bag in hopes it will fill my needs.  Then I have non-photography bags that fit certain needs for the function they were made such as hiking or climbing but not photography needs so I find myself moving my gear from one bag to the next in hopes of some compromise only to find some of my needed hiking/climbing/adventuring gear got scuttled in lieu of camera gear.  The process is frustrating to say the least.

I may have found the ultimate solution and in doing so added security for my camera and gear while keeping the flexibility of different purposes whether it is on the bike, in a backpack, overnight hike, whatever.  Flexibility along with padded protection for the sensitive gear is something we all look for but typically give up one or the other just to get the job done.

Tennessee has a landscape that is simply  hard not to like and it covers a large swath of the Eastern US through some of the most interesting landscape found including the Appalachian Mountains.  While it is easy to relate to the East side of the state to being chocked full of beautiful scenery from water falls to mountains its necessary not to under estimate just how beautiful the Middle TN Southern region can be.  I caught a glimpse of this as I took the TN TAT back a few years ago and was surprised then just how beautiful the area was.  Creeks throughout, Amish country with large beautiful horses, and dirt roads that went on endlessly, this place really has it all.  And, its only about 1-2 hours south of one of the largest cities in Tennessee, Nashville.

Every year off-road motorcycle enthusiasts from small cc dirt bikes to large big bore adventure bikes descend on a small town in East Tn named Telico Plains.   This event has become known as the mother of dirt bike rallies as March Moto Madness is now a common theme in other cities and event countries around the world.  Bottom line is, if you want to experience some of the best dirt, gravel, single track, off road experience around; March Moto is the place for you.  Plan ahead however as there is no cell service in the area so you will find guys in really weird places from side of the road to the grocery store trying to check in when needed :).

This was my first experience at March Moto but I went with Tracy Henshaw who was a veteran MMM participant and even chose to participate in the infamous Trials event held on Saturday.  This event is a difficult event but was made more so with the deluge of rain that came overnight prior and the light rain blessing the event during the trials.  To say it was slippery is an understatement.  While taking photos of the event I was slipping in my boots which said a lot for the guys running the course.

This is a first come first serve event where everyone comes with whatever resources they have as there aren't a ton provided although the updated instant heat showers were a welcomed site for the many who decided to tent camp while there.  Others as well as myself brought our facilities with us in the form of motorhomes and fifth wheels.  Did I mentioned it rained?  Yep..  There was a certain amount of off-road mudding that some motorhomes and fifth wheels got to experience as well.  Some faired well, others..  well, there were tractors available.

I was excited about the opportunity to meet up with some very good friends of mine, Simon and Lisa Thomas with www.2ridetheworld.com, to do a little work together and play in the beautiful Yucatan Peninsula.  The goal was to get some videos made and take a few photographs as well.  Mission accomplished.

Simon and Lisa were gracious enough to pick me up at the airport and take me south where they were staying.  Now keep in mind, all they have are motorcycles which created a few additional things I needed to consider.  1.  I needed a helmet and 2. my travel gear had to be motorcycle mount capable. No fancy suitcases on this run.  So, I loaded up my Mosko Moto Back Country 40L (features hidden backpack straps that came in very handy), all my camera gear, an old helmet and motorcycle jacket and off I went.