Writers Note: I'm not a schill for anyone or anything but after years of buying what was cheap to go camping only to have it fail or be inadequate, I finally learned the meaning of the phrase "Pay the Price or Buy It Twice".
I am by no means an expert on all things Camping Gear but I know what we use and I know it works. On to the story....
We are rapidly approaching the one year anniversary of beginning our new life in the RV and although there was a nearly seemless transition between the Sticks and Bricks and RV life, there was a short period where we took of on a dream trip that culminated into a 36 day 6,198 mile motorcycle trip cross country.
Since I've already covered the sale of the house and all it took to get going in the RV lifestyle in a past post, I won't bore folks again with those details. However, as we decided to take this adventure we had to settle on a destination. Not so much a turn around point but somewhere we really wanted to go to make the trip and when I asked Gina, she didn't even hesitate before saying Winslow, Arizona. With that, we were off.
We packed everything we thought we might need in and on the bikes and headed for Jacksonville, Florida to my brothers house as our starting point. Knowing that we both have certain requirements for personal comfort our gear included a Coleman two person tent 
that was large enough to not only sleep in but to put our bags in as well. We also had a compression bag for our bedding, a small butane burner for cooking and coffee (she doesn't drink it but I won't do without it), 7 MRE's just in case we were caught without a meal plan, and various other items.
Sleeping on the ground is not something a couple of 50 something people are fond of and Gina absolutely refused to sleep on the foam military surplus pads I had, so the search for a lightweight and small option for sleeping pads was on. After much discussion on the subject my wife, who is notoriously frugal, mentioned a post on social media about using inflatable pool mattresses that could be found for as little as $2.00 at the dollar store. I'm always up for a good experiment so that's what we did.
Leaving Jacksonville, we headed across Florida and after a few touristy stops we landed on St. George's Island on the gulf coast, set up camp, and secured dinner. This was also the first night of the Great Air Mattress Experiment, which didn't really end that well and our morning after began with our hips digging into the ground. Fortunately the soft sand make it bearable and we reconned that the air mattresses just stretched a bit, but we also knew that a long term travel plan requiring sleep would need a long term solution.
The day after was a long ride day to get to Gina's Dads house near Gulfport Mississippi and a soft bed where we could rest and research a sporting goods store. I won't mention the chain store we landed at but I will say that I hate shopping with a white hot passion. I normally walk in, get what I want, and promptly leave. Unfortunately, not knowing anything about camping air pads, we were forced to stand in the aisle for roughly half an hour comparing and debating the various dimensions and the durability of every sleeping pad they had while simultaneously surfing the interwebs for reviews. Ultimately, we decided on the Klymit V Luxe inflatable mattress.
Although Gina the Frugal (I figured she deserved a Viking name for her frugality) didn't relish the idea of spending $180.00 on sleeping gear, over the next 5,000 miles we would come to love our decision and, as a bit of a side note, we've used them repeatedly since including our trip to Big Bend National Park.
Coffee is an essential part of life for me and when we hit the road there was zero plan to live without it. Rewind to about 5 years ago when some folks we knew were selling everything that didn't matter to them in order to open a donut shop and amongst the offerings was a ton of camping gear including a bear box and two small butane burners including one from Primus. I chose to use the Primus brand over the other burner for the simple reason that it has an electric ingiter integrated into it and the other one did not. I swore that when I quit smoking I would always have a lighter for whatever purpose might arise but that fell by the wayside since it was just one more thing to keep up with, but I digress.
Coffee wasn't the only reason for keeping the Primus burner around since we took some MRE's with us on the trip and the water activated heaters didn't always work. It just so happens that the meal pouches, when folded properly, fit in my steel camping cup and allowed some room for water to heat our meals rather effectively. On that subject, get yourself a steel camping cup with folding handles, any brand will do. They take up very little space and are so handy that I keep it and my entire butane kit and accessories on my motorcycle at all times just in case we head out for an adventure with little planning. Oh, and instant coffee isn't all that bad. I actually look forward to it when camping.
Incidentally, the burner also made for a handy, roadside hand warmer when I was freezing after leaving San Angelo, Texas.
As recently proven by our trip to Big Bend, bugs are an ever present nuisance when it comes to hanging outside in the campground. While we were on the long ride, it was not long before we realized that, not only are bugs a huge pain in the keister, but your bedding ends up smelling like a Dow chemical factory after repeated use of DEET throughout the course of the evening.
Gina and I again discussed options and, thanks to camping guru Steve Wallis (check out Camping with Steve on YouTube) and since we already had butane onboard, we decided that the ThermaCELL would be a welcome addition to the kit. It uses the same chemical as the old coils that we would burn as kids but in a much higher concentration, making about a 15 foot radius of bug free bliss. We chose the Backpacker model since it was small, packed a away nicely, and was in the middle between the model you wear on your belt and the Patio Protection version.
Also, all the other models require smaller butane canisters which I had no interest in adding to our load. Obviously, if the wind is blowing it's not terribly effective, but if the wind is blowing you're not dealing with insects, now are you?
Finally, I'd like to tell you a story about beer. Of course, like any story on this subject, it's a happy tale of cool, alcoholic refreshment after a long day of riding. However, it was not always easy to carry and sometimes we had didn't have room to pack it in when we made our evening food stops, which meant we would set up camp and then have to drive back to town or the nearest watering hole to get out evening supply.
One particular event comes to mind when we were heading for the south rim of the Grand Canyon and were camped at a site full of yurts five miles off the main road, down a dusty and bumpy trail. It was hard on my Honda Silverwing scooter and Gina asked that I take her bike, which is set up for off-road riding, back to secure our libations, which I gladly did.
The return trip from the liquor barn taught me a few things. Among them was that if you rode the seriously bad road at 50mph, the bumps weren't so bad and it was a helluva bunch of fun. Another would be that, when you ride like that with a 12 pack of Miller Lite in the saddle bag, it makes the beer very angry. Lastly, it taught me that we needed more carrying space so we could avoid having to go back to civilization for supplies. That's when I secured a Jansport backpack in Albuquerque New Mexico, which was large enough to carry said 12 pack, a bag of ice, and still have enough room for dinner provisions. Incidentally, I didn't always wear it on my back as it fit perfectly over my handlebars and made it easy to grab a quick snack or drink while riding.
The thing I truly appreciate about Jansport is their unconditional lifetime warranty of all their packs. If for any reason it fails or comes apart, message the company and they will send you a new pack or it's equivalent if yours has been discontinued. To this date, my pack has been treated pretty poorly and still shows no signs of wear or damage.
Sure, I have pushed some products here and sure I might sound like a schill, but the simple fact of the matter is that in 36 days of riding cross country, all of these items made life a great deal more civilized and comfortable. Hopefully my dear readers will get some thoughts from this and decide that roughing it doesn't have to be so rough.
Also, I hope you read between the lines here and realize that two middle aged people took off on the adventure of a lifetime without much knowledge and figured out a long the way how to make it work for us instead of us working to make it happen. Please, whatever you do, take some time to step outside your comfort zone and go camping in great places, take that trip you've always dreamed about, and make life an adventure instead of living just to die eventually.
Most important, inspire other people to do the same by talking about how great your adventures were and how you were enjoying a cocktail while watching an amazing sunset and saying to yourself "This Does Not Suck".
Have a great day!