Packed up and ready to go!

[74Norton]

I love the way this bike looks loaded up for a trip.

[Daboo]

Which tank bag do you have? And how do you like it.

Hmmm...I just realized you never said where you're going...

Chris

[Runmyownlife]

Nice shot - colour of the motorcycle against the fall leaves really pops.

Where to?

[Royce]

Judging from the amount, and size, of the luggage, I am guessing at least two weeks and at least 4,000 miles roundtrip. How close am I?

[74Norton]

It's a Nelson-Rigg tank bag. I like it but it's the first tank bag I've used so I don't have much to compare it to.

We took a long weekend to the Driftless Area, NE Iowa and SW Wisconsin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driftless_Area). I've been trying to get up there for over two years but life kept getting in the way. All the stars aligned and we had perfect October weather. I wish I had more pictures but I would need one of those dash cams. Most of the small county roads have no shoulder or anyplace to pull off. I did come to the conclusion that I need a good gps to navigate the torturous route we picked.

It's the first "long" trip I've been able to take since getting the GT. We covered over 600 miles in three and half days. More twisty roads in those days than the last two years! The bike didn't miss a beat. And I finally was able to use those bag liners Chris! Very handy. I probably over-packed but it's been decades since I went motorcycle camping. Had a great time.

Camping at Backbone State Park:

[Daboo]

That area looks beautiful from your picture and the description at Wikipedia. Thanks for including that link.

I've been using the Sena 10C Pro Bluetooth headset and camera combination. As you found, there are times when the right place to pull over isn't safe or practical, so you miss out on pictures without one. I like the Sena 10C Pro for a couple reasons.

• First, it isn't large. The size is about what some BT headsets are without a camera.
• Second, since you have everything in one unit, there aren't multiple things sticking out from your helmet.
• Quality of the pics is excellent.
• While Sena doesn't advertise it as being waterproof, I've used mine in drenching rains...while charging.
• And it is one of the few cameras that can be used while it is charging.

There just isn't anything like it.

For a GPS, I'm using the Zumo XT. I think it is probably the best on the market, if you can afford it. The screen is bright. It is intuitive. The only negative comment I can make is the power plug is poor. There's a lot of them getting replaced. Mine has been on backorder for two months. I suspect Garmin is doing something to make sure they get rid of this fault to an otherwise great GPS. In the meantime, it can be powered with a USB cable.

Chris

[74Norton]

The Sena 10C Pro looks like an interesting unit. I always use ear plugs so I don't get how you do both. I do remember reading about some bluetooth ear buds. Would that work to hold down the noise but be able to hear GPS instructions?

The Zumo XT looks like the unit to get but it's twice as expensive as the 396 LTM-S or the Tomtom 550. I've been thinking about getting a larger unit for the car and the XT would work for both. I'll keep an eye on black Friday sales.

Thanks for the input!

PS - I don't seem to have the "Thanks" button. I have "Like" and "Dislike". I did some searching but didn't find an answer other than using Edge.

[Daboo]

The Sena 10C Pro looks like an interesting unit. I always use ear plugs so I don't get how you do both. I do remember reading about some bluetooth ear buds. Would that work to hold down the noise but be able to hear GPS instructions?

I wear -33db earplugs all the time, and I don't have a problem hearing anything through the Sena headset. A lot has to do with where the speakers are positioned. Position them just over the opening to the ear canal, and you should be fine...as long as you haven't lost your hearing. Also, there's a volume boost setting that you can enable.

The Zumo XT looks like the unit to get but it's twice as expensive as the 396 LTM-S or the Tomtom 550. I've been thinking about getting a larger unit for the car and the XT would work for both. I'll keep an eye on black Friday sales.

Thanks for the input!

Your eyesight is probably a big determining factor on whether to get the 396 or the Zumo XT. That extra inch of screen size helps in being able to rapidly see what you're looking for, and for being able to operate it with gloves on.

I bought the TomTom 550 and really wanted to like it. But I couldn't. The things I didn't like were in trying to place calls and listen to music. Garmin has an app built into the GPS device itself. TomTom's approach was to let you talk to your phone and operate those things like phone calls and music through voice commands. If it had worked, that would've been great. But I couldn't get it to do that. When I tried to call my wife, I got a lawyer's office instead, several times. When I tried to get it to play a Hillsong playlist through the Google Music app on the phone, it would instead activate a streaming app like YouTube music to play Christian songs. Not even Hillsong songs, but general Christian songs. (At least it wasn't Jethro Tull playing Aqualung. ) And it would do this, even on places where I was isolated with no cell signal at all. I did all I could to make it work within my capabilities. And the phone wasn't some old clunker, but the Samsung Galaxy Note 9.

PS - I don't seem to have the "Thanks" button. I have "Like" and "Dislike". I did some searching but didn't find an answer other than using Edge.

I usually don't see the "Thanks" button, except on the first post. It occasionally shows up at other times. And there for months and months, we had no buttons. So you're not alone.

Chris

[Sundog52]

Nice shot - colour of the motorcycle against the fall leaves really pops.

....

You can say that again........This was taken last week near the Cherohala Skyway, NC.