CAMPING GEAR
The Camping Gear section of the list is pretty straightforward. I generally use a one person or smallish two person double-hoop design tent. Free standing tents are heavier, bulkier, and a pain in the neck to setup especially in rainy or windy conditions. The tent should be securely staked down regardless. A free standing tent is just a box-kite without a string if you don't stake it down. So why carry the extra weight for no good reason? Buy a cheap ground cloth. They take a beating and should be replaced often. Cut the groundcloth about four inches SMALLER than the tent floor. None of the groundcloth should be visible when the tent is set up or it will funnel water under you. My sleeping bag is a 20°F goosedown bag of high quality. I can stuff it into a one liter Nalgene water bottle with some effort. It weighs nothing and is a dream to sleep in. Modern down bags resist moisture, are machine washable (front loading machine) will not bother any allergies (unless you never wash the thing) and should last a lifetime. Synthetics on the other hand are much heavier, bulkier, and only last a couple of years under heavy use. Goosedown is cheaper over the long haul since you may not buy another one for fifty years. My sleeping pad is self-inflating. Yes...it is magic. And extremely light weight, tiny when rolled up, and a dream to sleep on. My bike cover is actually a heavy duty space blanket with eyelets on the corners for secure tiedown. I string some parachute cord from the corners and tie it to the bike wheels at night. If anyone messes with my stuff, the crinkling space blanket should wake me up. Just about every item is transported inside of a quality stuff sack of varying sizes. Some of the stuff sacks are seam-sealed and rain proof. I like my clothes and sleeping bag dry. Everything else can pretty much handle a little water. If my tent gets wet from rain or dew I wipe it down with a fast drying super absorbent synthetic Pack Towel. I keep a few clothespins on hand and a length of parachute cord for making a closeline. My battery powered fan is a must when camping during steamy summer months. Since I won't be packing a sleeping bag there will be ample carry space for the fan. I use a silk sleepsheet and my pad when it is hot out. My Jandd panniers and handlebar bag carry a ton and have lasted over a decade. Even crashing the bike has not bothered my bags - they actually save my bike from damage in a fall. I load heavy things in the front panniers - tools, toiletries, first aid kit, food, fuel, etc. Light bulky stuff ( clothes, fleece, sleeping bag, sleep pad, ) goes in the rear panniers or on top of the rack.

FIRST AID
A small basic first aid kit is a good idea. The more time you spend cycling and camping in remote areas, the better your first aid kit should be. Cellphones have taken a lot of the risk out of getting banged up in rural areas, and you might be surprised to discover how helpful strangers can be in a pinch, so getting totally marooned in the outback of the United States for any length of time is unlikely. You should be prepared for scrapes, scratches, upset stomachs, diarrhea, sore throats, road dirt in the eyes, insect bites, poison ivy, saddle sores, raw skin, sunburn, other minor burns, splinters, allergies, coughs, and headaches. Most of the items in my first aid kit exceed the expiration date and get thrown away, but that is a happy problem. I clearly remember one terrible evening in a Maine campground when I awoke in my tent with violent nausea. I thought for certain my night would be sleepless and dehydrating. I grabbed my well stocked first aid kit, chewed up three pink Pepto-Bismol tablets and swallowed with a sip of water. Within ten minutes I felt a little better. After thirty minutes I was good as new, fell asleep, and woke up with the birds and no ill feeling of any kind. As I already knew - one use pays for the first aid kit.

COOKING GEAR
When living on the road for more than one month at a time I am likely to get pretty fancy cooking on my camp stove. Under one month and I generally eat a satisfying lunch at a diner or lunch buffet on the road and keep the camping simple. My Mini Trangia 28-T stove and pot set is the ideal setup for any of my trips, long or short. Lightweight and small, I hardly know it is with me until time to use it. My Mini-T is safe and simple. No maintenance kits, no cleaning, no flare-ups, and best of all...no gasoline. The Mini-T runs on Ethyl Alcohol Stove Fuel a.k.a. Denatured Alcohol a.k.a. Methylated Spirits for those in the UK. While alcohol is flammable (obviously) it is hard to get an explosion to happen out of doors. If the stove was knocked over while burning, it would just go out. Alcohol is quiet and burns unpressurized and unatomized (turned into mist). Denatured alcohol is readily available at any hardware store or paint store as well as the mega-marts with hardware and paint departments. The best part - the stove works best when the fuel is mixed with up to 15% water. Yes, 15% of my fuel is just lying out there waiting for me to scoop it up for free.

I also have a ton of experience with an MSR Whisperlite International Stove that burns gasoline, kerosene, and white gas among other things. This is a great stove, I will not lie. I cooked with it every day for well over one year in the field, I loved it, and even though many I spoke to had trouble lighting it, the MSR stove never failed me. Why the switch? The answer lies in dogs and cats! I grew up a dog lover and never paid much attention to cats. When I hooked up with my future wife she had two cats of her own. In a very short time I found that cats are really cool pets when you get to know them and they do not require much in return. Throw some food and water at them along with a box full of clay particles and cats are good to go. I can interact with them all I want to, but they do not require much attention. I can leave the cats home four days in a row with food and water no problems. OK...dogs now - same food and water issue, but they must be walked, they poop in a new spot every time, require me to pick up the poop, and generally need daily if not hourly attention. And they bark, some more than others. Cats live with my schedule, dogs force me into their schedule.

What does that have to do with stoves? My Trangia requires zero attention when I am not using it, and burns whisper quiet with safety when I am using it. There are no parts to clean, nothing else to do. Compare the Trangia to my cats. The MSR stove on the other hand is persnickety to even get the thing lit, or keep it lit, must be meticulously cleaned and maintenanced from time to time along with replacing some parts (that I must carry with me) and hisses fairly loudly when in use. Add to this the dangers of handling gasoline, the odor of burning gasoline, and the methods and cost of acquiring gasoline 24 ounces at a time, and we have a dog. My MSR stove gave me loyalty and I paid with time and effort. My Trangia is a tad slower to boil water, but does not need to be preheated like the MSR, so boil time is a tie. So when I am on vacation, do I want more things to do, or less - Hmmm. I can start my Mini-T heating a pot of water, then setup my tent while it works just in view. My MSR needed me RIGHT THERE looking at it. So I actually save time with a slower stove, not that time is a huge issue on vacation anyway.

The rest of my cooking / eating supplies include lexan cutlery. Titanium cutlery is OK, but I do not own any. The only danger of lexan forks, knives, and spoons is the likelihood I will mistake them for plastic flatware and accidentally toss my fork in the trash at the end of the meal. Yes, I have done just that. A GI can opener is small, weighs nothing, and is easy to use. Any matches or Zippo or butane lighter will do to light a stove. Water may be treated by boiling, filtering, or tossing some purification drops or tablets (and about an hour) into the water. The drops are easy, cheap, light, and do not waste stove fuel. I assume if I am treating water that I am pretty far into the outback and away from fuel sources too. After cooking, there will be cleaning and storing of food. Eco-friendly soap is a good idea. Rinse soap onto dirt, not directly into the stream, river, or lake. Bacteria in the soil is needed to break down the soap. Then all food and related supplies must be stored out of the reach of bears, raccoons, rats, mice, squirrels, skunks, ants, crows, and whatever creatures haunt your camp day or night. Bear bag is the generic term for such a food storage system. And never eat or cook in your tent unless you are well above treeline during the dead of winter or you will likelihood house-calls from all of the above critters on an given day or night.

The last item under Cooking Gear on my list is Small Insulated Container. I use a crushable zippered cube to keep frozen grocery store foods from perishing before I get to camp. I often stop at a grocery for lunch, grab some dinner items too, then finish the second half of my day. Frozen veggies will be just about thawed by suppertime in the insulated box.

TOOLS
It is wise to have some knowledge of how a bicycle works, how to make simple adjustments, how and what to lubricate, and experience fixing flat tires. There is no sense hauling a bunch of heavy tools around the country that I do not know how to properly use. My tool list is based on my abilities and sensibilities for performing maintenance and repairs to my bike, tent, and other equipment in the field. The ability to work on your own machine and a small investment in tools can save tons of money when my income becomes fixed during an expedition. Purchasing components with sealed bearings goes a long way to not having much maintenance to do. Basically, what I most certainly will have to do is keep air in my tires with a frame pump, keep my chain clean and lubricated with Rock N Roll or whatever lube I can get my hands on, adjust and replace brake pads, adjust shifters / derailleurs with a multitool, tune and true wheels with a spoke wrench, and fix punctured innertubes on the side of the road using tire levers, a patch kit, spare tubes, frame pump, and a tire pressure gauge.

HOT WEATHER CLOTHING
The first thing I need to mention about my clothing selection is what you WON'T see on the list. I do not wear a bicycle racing kit on a bicycle vacation tour. Americans are a bit brainwashed when it comes to riding a bicycle. If you must wear the kit, skip this section. Or read on and perhaps become enlightened.

Another thing not found in my clothes bag on a bike trip is cotton, except for some short sleeved seersucker shirts blended with polyester. Not even my bath towel is made of cotton. You see, cotton absorbs sweat and humidity but does not dry easily. This is costly at the laundry, and likely to cause skin problems. My underwear is made from Patagonia Silkweight Capilene®, both boxers and briefs. My socks are made of worsted wool, softer than cotton, washable, indestructible, warm during winter, cool during summer. (See my sock clinic if you want reams of information and the results of my 14,000 person study on sock materials and the dangers of cotton socks and underwear).

I wear prAna® 100% nylon shorts, almost knee length, over Capilene® boxers or briefs, depending on my mood that day. My shirts are Patagonia Puckerware® - cotton / poly blends with puckered texture. Cotton is cooling when worn loosely away from the skin. The added polyester speeds drying and wicking of sweat or laundry water. I wear synthetic padded gloves for hand protection and my saddle is lightly padded negating any need for lightly padded shorts. My helmet is well ventilated with a visor and a tiny rear view mirror. I wear each pair of socks and underwear twice (never on successive days) before laundering. I may rinse out some clothes mid week if it has been raining or really hot. Capilene and nylon dries fast without heated drying and almost instantly on low temperatures in the dryer.

For cold wind and rain I carry a lightweight Gore·Tex® shell top and bottom. I also keep a pair of SealSkins® waterproof socks in my panniers. For sun and insect protection I carry one pair of long Supplex® Nylon pants and a long sleeve cotton / poly blend or linen shirt. 100% cotton bandanas make good hankies or sweat cloths, but must be force-dried on the bike somewhere between uses. My cycling shoes are Gore·Tex® Shimano SPDs with recessed cleats for cycling and hiking. I always carry a baseball cap with a camouflage pattern to wear when entering a rural diner or grill for lunch stops in rural America. The camo is sort of a rural membership card. Since I can talk huntin' and fishin' with the best of them, I always have a great time visiting with the NRA crowd and sometimes get my meal free.

The last component of hot weather touring is my silk sleepsheet. Rolled up it fits in the palm of my hand. On hot evenings, this is all I need on to of my sleeping pad until it cools down enough to get inside the silky warmth. During really cold snaps, the sleepsheet will add a few degrees of comfort to my sleeping bag.

COLD WEATHER CLOTHING
If my tour takes me to the mountains or finds me out during colder months I carry a few extra things all crunched down in a compression stuff sack. One pair of thicker SmartWool Expedition Trekking socks, a fleece or fiber filled vest, various thicknesses of Capilene® thermal tops and bottoms, a pair of Gore·Tex® WindStopper® gloves, Capilene® glove and sock liners, a silk face mask, and a pair of wind panel briefs to keep the boyz warm.

PERSONAL AND MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
Most of these items on the list are self explanatory. There are a few I would like to mention before finishing this page.

If you have a modern cellphone with a few apps there are several items you can exclude from the list, assuming you always have a signal. Compass, weather radio, watch, maps, guides, camera, address book and stamps, pen or pencil, tape recorder, video camera, mp3 player, and perhaps even a flashlight. Cellphone//Charger did not make my list because I have never carried one on a bike tour. I can certainly see the usefulness of a nice "phone".

There are two other things on the list that need to be mentioned: The Four-way Sillcock Key and the 16 Point Handle. With these two tools, you can turn on any water faucet in North America even if the handle is missing. Rural churches and cemeteries have water supplies but often remove the faucet handles to keep people from washing their cars or filling tanker trucks with free drinking water. Grocery stores have little metal boxes along the front of the store hiding water faucets. With these two tools you have five of the most common handle patterns. Never run out of water on the road again. Just be sure to turn the water all the way off when you are done.

BODY CARE
All of these items are really up to you except for one: Insect repellent with DEET. Fortunately, if you do not believe me, DEET is easy to find anywhere. You may have to spend more time in your tent one evening than you planned if the bugs are bad. Just don't waste your money on natural insect repellent unless you like applying the stuff every ten minutes.

THE END
If you would like even more droning on about gear, check out my Gear Reviews page where I go into never ending detail about my favorite cycling and birdwatching equipment.

Cheers!
- Joey