Well, I have just come back from my month long motorcycle trip form east of Toronto down to Oaxaca Mexico, a month on the road. I packed my camp gear,which took up a whole 36 litre side bag,which wasnt particularly light, btw, and I used it about 5 times the whole trip.

Camping is not really done in Mexico as I was paying on the average,$20/25 bucks a night for motel rooms. So.....I dragged that bag of camp stuff all over Mexico and the US,what a waste of space and added weight. Tent, poles,sleep pad,and sleep bag.

Now my tent is a MSR Hubba Hubba so it's pretty light and small for a two person tent and the poles fit neatly in the side bag. Just everything together was heavy. I have a nemo sleep pad that is heavy, the astro? Maybe, it's got the gel pad I think. My sleep bag is the north face hotlum down so it's pretty small.

So, I went downstairs and packed my hammock, in its skins,the large HH tarp, the webbing and the tarp cord all in a X'S compression bag. Then I put it alongside my regular camp gear.....sigh....I would have been less annoyed at least dragging my hammock stuff around for weeks and using it infrequently.

Need I describe how I suffered trying to get up off the ground after riding for 12/13 hours? It's truly a heroic process at my age!

I only got into hammocking at the end of the season last year so this will be my summer to really get the hang of hammocking..I hope. I still feel a little intimidated by hanging, when I did my overnight last year, I felt anxious and trying to find the "right spaced" trees. And it actually took a while,but I guess I don't have the " eye" yet.

I have had help from a forum member here, you know who you are...Thank you so much and I still have questions!!!!.....incoming texts!

So.....much practice in my home hanging lab is ahead of me so I can feel comfortable and confident enough to leave my tent at home,even though I still find that a scary thought, honestly. Maybe I should just pack a little bivy.....just in case??

I fear not being able to hang due to tree placement or......whatever......lack of skill? Noob-ness? And being left to sleep on the ground without shelter or something.....I don't know....I need to build my confidence. No tent!!!!

Texas is very large and flat btw.........deadly boring on the motorcycle....zzzzzzzzz