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Packing List

On my Motorcycle trip to South America, I spent weeks researching what to bring. This time it only took me about an hour to get everything together. The only way you know what to bring and what you will actually use is to have made a big trip yourself. If you haven’t done that, check out my list and see what I brought .

One thing that you’ll notice is that I did not bring much cold weather gear. When you have a trip with plenty of time, it is best to buy things along the road as you need them. Right now as I leave Houston, it is nearly 100F with 90% humidity and will stay quite warm for the entirety of the USA portion of my trip. Not until I reach Asia is it going to become cold. This is a stark contract to my TDF trip where I packed for it as if I were planning a completely self-sufficient voyage to Mars. If you have the time you can bring less, plus it forces you to interact more with the locals.

Personal Maintenance

  • artificial tears — lots of dry eyes from riding day upon day
  • chapstick – same
  • sawed off toothbush – keep those teeth clean
  • toothpaste — better than using soap, which will also work
  • Wahl AA beard trimmer with attachments — try not to look too homeless

Clothing

  • Exofficio grey riding shirt — dries fast and very cool
  • Smartwool Marino wool riding shirt — my first attempt at marino wool, it is supposed to be as cool and dry nearly as fast as synthetic but without the smell
  • Exofficio light long sleeved collared shirt — for very warm and sunny weather as well as cold
  • Exofficio nice green shirt collared — yet another attempt to not look homeless
  • army surpluss black shorts – if it’ll make it through a war, it’ll make it through my moto trip
  • jeans – I’m tired of being synthetic everything. Jeans are to feel more normal (and less homeless)
  • 3x Exofficio synthetic underwear — dries fast and very cool
  • Running/swimming shorts — less homeless looking than swimming in underwear
  • microfiber camping towel (L) — used all the time for conventional uses to pillow stuffing
  • 4x Wright Sock — dual layered sock, impossible to get blisters

Camping

  • cooking pot with pan lid — Nice container and big enough to cook a meal for a couple of people
  • msr fuel bottle — propane to fuel stove
  • msr camping stove — takes up almost no space and boils well, simmers sorta ok
  • 6 pack seasoning (papriki, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, ojo de pajaro (hothothot pepper)
  • camping TP — you never know if it is going to be where you need to go
  • garbage bag — multitasker from keeping stuff dry or hidden to even used as for garbage vessel
  • tent light — small LED light that hangs from tent. very nice for when you have to spend more than five minutes in your tent
  • REI spork — it is a spoon. it is a fork. It is made of titanium and I wouldn’t have it except I found it at a campsite. I dont know what I did without it. oh yeah, I carried a spoon and a fork.
  • peruvian winter hat — you’ll never guess where I got it
  • .5 L extra virgin olive oil — my favorite fat to use in cooking
  • foldable plate/bowl/cutting board — it folds flat so why not bring it?
  • sea to summit bowl/plate/cutting board, rigid – excellent multitasker!
  • pot scraper — camp cleaning is nearly impossible, hope this helps
  • pot grabber — or use motorcycle gloves
  • REI Quarterdome T1 1 person tent — it is a little small but packs down so small

Rain Gear

  • aerostitch 3 finger rain gloves with wiper — who needs all 5 fingers in the rain. these work great
  • nelson rigg boot covers — my “waterproof” gortex lined leather SIDI Typhoon boots are just water resistant
  • very small umbrella — once I’m off the bike, I’m done being wet. singing optional

Emergency Gear

  • emergency blanket — life safer for the unplanned stopover. packs tiny
  • compass — if all my other GPSs fail, I still have a compass
  • lighter — so many fun uses
  • 2 caribiners — not really for emergency, but good for hanging light stuff off of other stuff
  • sewing kit — I like to make sock puppets
  • loaded first aid kit — ready for anything. The key is that I know how to use everything that is inside
  • allergy pills — I’m sometimes allergic to the outside
  • malarone — for S.E. Asia. Anti-malaria drugs
  • ibuprofen — soreness
  • metronidazole — antibiotic
  • emergency blanket — Yeah, I know I already have this listed, but I have another

Sleeping

  • sleeping bag liner — this is a sheet bag. I use it way more than the sleeping bag. Especially inside or for warm weather camping
  • REI nooksack 35 degree sleeping bag — Warm enough to sleep in most weather
  • emergency foil blanket — the 3rd and final emergency blanket. This one I use when it is too cold for my nooksack. It’ll keep me nice and warm well below freezing. kinda annoying because it makes sleeping so crunchy

Electronics

  • Garmin Zumo 550 — I used this GPS for my TDF trip, it worked well.
  • Spare ER-6i — best ear buds ever. mandatory equipment, so I have two
  • ER-6i accessories — the ear bugs plug up quite often, so I bring tons of spare ear wax filters
  • digi cam charger — charge up that cam
  • laptop lock — we’ll see if I use it, this is the first time that I’ve brought one
  • led keychain lights — giveaways for people who help me out
  • memory card reader — yup
  • Gameboy DS — for the long boring nights of solo camping
  • grounded to non-grounded outlet converter — many countries don’t have grounded outlets, even on their USA converters
  • 500 gb backup laptop disk — set up with time machine. ALWAYS have a backup plan.
  • macbook pro — a bit of a large laptop to carry RTW, but I plan on working throughout the trip

Spare Parts

  • ECU — possible trip ender and hard to get but easy to pack
  • Oil Filter — I’m going SS eventually, I just need to buy one. This one is paper
  • front and rear spare tubes — I hate flats
  • tube repair kit — I really hate flats
  • tire irons — Please please please let me be lucky and not get any flats
  • tool set - email me if you want more information here
  • small bicycle pump — packs tiny but a pain to use. see above notes
  • clutch cable — trip annoyer, easy to replace but hard to find
  • throttle cables — same

Tank bag stuff

  • Nikon D60 — I run the 18-200mm. This is the perfect travel
  • waterproof notebook and pen — my last set of notes disappeared. this will not
  • light balaclava — excellent layer for the cold
  • buff — yet another layer for cold
  • ipod speaker — good for that extended stop
  • cover for tankbag — my bag isn’t waterproof, but this cover sure is
  • sunblock — rule #2 keep your skin covered in it.
  • very small led flashlight — useful for everything!
  • misquito juice — prevent malaria and annoyance
  • orange cleaner — I didn’t bring gloves because I never remember to put them on because I’m too excited to fix stuff.
  • lip stuff — wind = evil
  • emergency blanket — I bet you thought I was done with them. I think I have a total of 4. They’re really good for everything
  • dishwashing liquid soap — the universal cleaner
  • ER-6i — the best earbuds for motorcycle travel. They isolate the road noise like ear plugs and have good sound quality

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!