Every time that I publish a travelogue, I feel almost compelled to list all of the things that I carry with me. Many people who may be planning their first bicycle tour have the same questions as I did for my first tour about what to bring along. It is a lot different from packing for a family vacation. This is my list. Feel free to copy and share.

This year I decided to try a bicycle tour that was more demanding. My tour in the Adirondacks exceeded that requirement. It was the most difficult tour that I have done to date and I had a memorable experience. Read about the tour here.

I worked in the London area for three months back in 2010. While I spent most of my awake hours on the job, I was able to travel around on Sundays. Some of my most memorable travels were on my bicycle on the Grand Union Canal.

Photography was difficult in the days of film. Typically I will take many photographs to get a very few that have decent subject matter and composition. I was never willing to expend a lot of film to accomplish that. My favorite film was Kodachrome, a slide film, which I didn’t use at all for family photos. We have always been picture print and album people, not slide show people. So the use of Kodachrome was less spontaneous and more planned, which led to fewer good pictures that were taken for their own sake. This collection is from that small pile of negatives and slides that I set aside in the “good” pile.

I take a digital camera with me on all of my major travels. A smart phone doesn’t work as well for the scenes that I like the most. You can see my favorites and a short backstory for each here.

My initial success in 2012 on the Erie Canal motivated me to look for a comparable trip in the Northeast. I discovered the Great Allegheny Passage, an old rail bed from Pittsburgh, PA, to Cumberland, MD. Once again I approached the trip as a self-supported tour with just me, my bicycle, and my gear. This must be one of the best bicycle routes in the country. It has very little grade and it is mostly off-road. There are enough services along the way so that the chances of finding yourself in a survival situation are small. Read the full travelogue here. I published a 30-minute video travelogue on YouTube.

In 2012 I took my bicycle to Buffalo, New York, with a well-planned intention to ride it to Albany. This was something that was in planning for months. I was going to do it alone without any kind of support following me from camp to camp. The equipment requirements were all new to me and I researched to find the best gear for me. It was going to be necessary to sleep and eat along the way. I needed to be prepared for a reasonable amount of bad weather. All went well and the trip was a success for me personally. Read the travelogue here.