Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Moto-POTA in Mississippi with KX2

 

With a good (and quite cool) forecast for the week throughout Dixie, I left Florida for a nice three-day ride to Texas.

I stayed off the interstate and let the back roads take me past cotton fields, farms, pastures and unhealthy-but-delicious places to eat.

The KX2 allowed me to have some after-dark distraction in the tent. 

Sunset comes early this time of year and it was nice to be able to play radio after chatting with the campground neighbors in the evening.

Two of my neighbors at Natchez State Park were a couple from Germany, touring American Civil War sites in a rental RV.  It was very interesting to get their perspective on things.

I stuck to CW even though I had the KX2's mini-mic with me. The antenna was my 17' (5m) whip screwed into its mount, which is bolted onto the motorcycle. Contacts were made on 20 and 40 meters with some DX worked as well.

Aside from radio, I learned a few things on this trip; mainly, that sleeping in a tent is not for me. That ship has sailed and I guess I needed this ordeal trip to serve as a reminder. I had a foldable cot that I thought would make it do-able.

It didn't.

So we'll be looking a a more age-appropriate way to camp in the future.

I very much like the camping experience, which includes not only staying in natural and beautiful settings, but meeting interesting people like the German couple and another couple from Alaska.

The bike ran well...it is my first motorcycle with cruise control and I'll now never have one without it.



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2 comments:

  1. Good morning John very nice reading about the trip and when I first opened the post to have a look I saw the tent...I thought to myself "how does John do it" Well after reading the post I see we share a common thought on ground camping.
    Great evening picture thanks for sharing.
    73,
    Mike
    VE9KK

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    1. Hello Mike, I thought/hoped my love of motorcycle travel would compensate for the trials & tribulations of tent camping...but no! I hate the thought of paying $100 for a hotel just to sleep - seems like such a waste of money, but there's no way around it other than tent camping. So to go on long trips, I guess I just have to bite the bullet or not do it at all. I'll probably not do it at all and will just have to be content with day trips on the bike, seeing the same places I've already seen...

      73,
      John

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