First Time Motorcycle Camping on the Honda Transalp 750

It's time for the very first motocamping trip on this Honda Trans Alp. Firewood! I got my heads between the tire and the fender. Does everything else burn down? It'll be hippo hands from here on out. Chief Woods! You know anything like, good, that keeps screwing it up? Hello friends, here we are at Detroit Lakes State Park. It's time for the very first motocamping trip on this beautiful, new, 2024 Honda Trans Alp. Oh, he's here. What up? Dude, you got off super early. Well, here's the special guest that I mentioned. I didn't tell you who it was, but it's Sean! I didn't know if he was coming for real. So, here he is on his far too clean GS. I'm glad you're here. We could set up, we could even go have dinner at a restaurant if we wanted to. Look at what this guy got. Firewood! You told me it'd work. Well, you finally listened. So, that is my Kelty Far Out 2, which you may remember from, man, when was that video? In the spring, I think it's the first time I used it, that I got from Motocamp Nerd. People always comment, and rightly so, that I have a $500 tent, and I don't want people to get the impression that you need a $500 tent to go camping. The only way to get a smaller tent is to spend a stupid amount of money. This Kelty Far Out 2 is a fantastic tent. Great quality. Packs down about this big, so like a regular loaf of bread. It's sturdy, high quality. It just feels like it's good, well made. And it's asymmetrical. You can actually roll that top half back on top of the tent, so you can look up at the stars. I got that from Motocamp Nerd, and I'm sure you already know, but Motocamp Nerd is the best place on the internet to buy motorcycle camping gear, because our friend Ben runs it. And he's an avid motocamper, and he's carefully selected every single item that he sells. He's tested everything there. And he's got people like me, and Sean, and other people out testing stuff for him all the time. And when we tell him something sucks, he stops selling it. It's like, crazy concept. But he's just a dude trying to make his dream of doing this thing full time come true. He's working a full time job, and running a store, like in the mornings before he goes to work. So, if you need motocamping gear, or just regular camping gear, everything they have is high quality, and it packs down small, works great on the motorcycle, and I encourage you to pop over to MotocampNerd.com. Don't forget you can use promo code DORK in the road to save 10% off your first order. So definitely do that, because saving money is rad. You can buy 10% more gear. That's how it's done. Okay, I better put a sleeping bag in here, if I'm gonna sleep. Step one is always set up your camp, and there's a bottle of Pendleton right here, which I'm not gonna drink any of until I get my bed set up, because I've done that before, and it doesn't go well. It's not gonna be cold tonight, so if I had to just fall asleep in my tent, I'd probably survive, but it's not a good habit to get into. Sean knows. Sean's done it. Had a friend pass out under his tent one time. Pretty funny. Uh, it wasn't very comfortable. There was tons of people with him, and it was right after they switched their warranty to a one-year warranty. Of course. So you had to go on to their website and give them just a scathing review. A stellar, stellar review. And at my heads between the tire and the fender, finally I'd see it, and fortunately I went out then with one of those magnetics, you know. He's like, I don't have a clue. Why just keep it with me? One of these days, I'll find something that's loose. Yeah, or it'll fly off. It's not gonna be that cold tonight, I probably don't even need this. This quilt's gonna be too hot. Tent set up. Filmed three videos today, so I'm trying to remember what I've already covered. So first time out on the Transalp camping, obviously I just threw the Giant Loop luggage on there at the Great Basin, the Tillamook. It was overkill. I honestly had a bunch of extra space. Camp is set up, and I didn't even bring anything from dinner except for a crappy bag meal that I don't want to eat, just in case I get stuck in the woods. I think we're just gonna go to the restaurant. That's what I feel like's happening. Yeah. There's only one. I have no problem with that. Because everything else burned down, so. And the wagon wheel's not there either. Yeah, yeah. I don't even know what's open. The cafe or whatever, but it's an interesting, I got a really good burger there a time before last I was here. It's just kind of small, but it's nice so we can sit outside. So we're probably gonna go get dinner, because Sean already got the spot, already got the firewood handled, and tent's set up, so nothing to do but go get dinner, get beer, come back, have a fire. This is what it's like to be my wife when we go camping. She just shows up and everything's just poof. She doesn't watch my videos, so I can say that. It's also true, so she wouldn't deny it, but. Sean. Yes, sir? Are you excited to be camping right now? Absolutely. I think it's probably the last warm one of the year, so why not? Yeah. It's supposed to be sunny, dry. Yeah, the weather's supposed to start raining tomorrow night and not stop for the foreseeable future. It'll be hippo hands from here on out, I think. No kidding. Yeah, I gotta get those heated gears ordered. Not a bad way to end the good weather season. Thanks for coming out. I just sprung it on him this morning, like literally I was putting my boots on. I said, you're being awful spontaneous, and then I'm thinking to myself, I don't have any excuse not to go. This does sound pretty awesome. Yeah, let's just get out of the house and do the camping thing, so here we are in Detroit. My wife texted me something on the way here. I said, oh, by the way, I'm on my way to Detroit. She was at work, and so I'm like, by the way, I left. She's taking the youngest to see that Taylor Swift thing tonight. They were joking, like, you don't want to go, right? You're missing out, buddy. No, I don't want to go. Maybe we should investigate the food situation. Sounds like a great idea. All right. Well, last time I was here at this place, I got a great burger, and that, I swear, was like three months ago, but apparently it's just teriyaki now. I think this is the only restaurant in town, so if you like teriyaki, I mean, we haven't had it yet, but I'm sure it's good. You can see just the hillside where the fire was, like, came through, and always an interesting reminder of when we're here. Food time. Camping. This camp, you know it's camping when you're sitting at a restaurant. And, uh, whatever. Don't judge. Got some teriyaki. I got some spicy pork. Hoping it was keto. I'm thinking it isn't based on the taste. It's kind of sweet. So, I may just eat my potstickers and get back on keto tomorrow. Who knows? It's working well so far. How's your teriyaki? Fantastic. Well, hey. Come to Detroit. Hidden gem. It beats Mountain House. Right. Yeah. No kidding. Back to camp for delicious beverages, and I forgot my cigars, so I had to buy some crappy ones at the frickin' convenience store, which I'm not stoked about, and I think I'm actually bending them in my pocket right now, so I should've put them in the tank bag, but I'm not smart, but I wanted you to see Sean's beautiful GS, a bike that is twice as big and costs twice as much as the bike I'm currently riding. Anyway, camp is so close. It's, like, not even five minutes. So, quite an eventful day of riding to get here today. I went up, took the twistiest road in the state, I feel like, basically our Tale of the Dragon, up to the D-Ride Observatory, which is, like, this really cool castle made of lava rock where you can see all the nearby mountains. I went into Sisters, and then I took Oregon BDR Route 4 to get here, so there's a video of each of those. On-road first ride and the off-road first ride for the Transalp. Check those out. I'll link them for you. And we're back. There's the lake. There's Sean. There's his motorcycle. Well, we got the delicious, keto-friendly Michelob Ultra, which Sean is begrudgingly drinking because I bought it, so it's here. And I forgot my Mr. Puff Puffs, so they had almost nothing at the store, so I got Chief Woods. I'm gonna go ahead and guess this is just cigarette tobacco, and I'm gonna take about two puffs and be like, what have I done to myself, and hate it. But at least it has the cowboy end on it, or, like, it'll block the eyes and then it'll show up, yeah. Like an oldie, old-timey, like a Curly and Shitty Slickers. Killing one today, Curly? The day ain't over yet. That's a reference for you. Sean hasn't started the fire yet, so gotta get this burning. Oh, now I'm busy. I can't do it. I have a lit cigar. I literally asked the lady, I was like, do you have anything that isn't gross? Or, what'd I say? Anything good? Do you have anything, like, good? She's like, yeah. She's like, do you mean, like, a real cigar? I was like, yeah. She's like, no. It's not something you would expect to be at, like, a small-town store, but at the same time in, like, a touristy town. Sometimes they have, like, a case with, like, way overpriced sh**, but at least it's there. This is the worst thing I've ever had. You want one? I have five. Here, get down on this. No, no, no. It's... Mmm, aromatic. It says so. It's not terrible. But it's not good. I'm gonna hatch it if we need to chop some kindling off. Well, I said we, that's sort of me volunteering to help. Mmm, sweet. No, why? Oh, you did! No! Oh! Party power! Dude, my bad. Well, it's about that time. We're just... I wonder if this firelight's enough. Let's see. I wonder if I turn this off. Not quite. Well, it's about that time. Uh, not bedtime, but time to stop filming. So, we're hanging out by the campfire, enjoying a few beverages, conversation. Sean is at ADV Oregon on Instagram. If you haven't followed him, go check him out. I'm gonna put the camera away and hang out. Conveniently, the guy across the street turned his headlights on. So, I'm filming. It looks like daylight, but it's actually dark. As I was saying before my camera stopped wor... Oh, s***. I need that for filming, bro. I'm literally gonna turn the camera off because we're just gonna hang out and chat and whatever. I was talking about how Veterans Back 40 is a great organization and maybe in the morning we'll get Sean to tell you about it. Or right now because it's not that dark and I have a fresh battery. Well, Veterans Back 40 Adventure is a group of all volunteer vets that like to take other vets on adventure and dual sport trips. We're all kind of like-minded and we want to give back. Veteran suicide is a big problem. We're just trying to find a way to make a difference and solve that in a little way that we can. www.vb40adv.org Check out the website. Definitely a great organization to support. I've supported them over the years and I'm proud to continue to do so. Anyway, I'm gonna hang out with that guy and this fire and we'll catch up with you in the morning. Well, if I could get it in the jet oil. I'm not on point today with my... I'm trying to show it to the camera and I just showed it to the ground. It's camping. 10 second rule. So far, filming, coffee, nice quiet, a relaxing montage is not going well. I keep screwing it up. I think the inside of the camera is fogged up, so deal with it. It's a comedy of errors this morning. I don't know what to tell you. Here's your coffee pouring footage that I always try to put in. Ooh. Ah. Ooh. Hot bean water. Well, Sean, thanks for coming out and camping with me. Cheers. I'm making second round. Second or third? Second. How much earlier than me did you wake up? Just 30 minutes. Filming your cool pour over action. He's got these neat... They look like paper condoms, but it's a pour over. Kind of a cool setup. Look at that. It actually... Man, it's so nice to have autofocus on a camera. It's so much better than trying to do all this with those action cams. Thanks for coming out, man. It's good to get... Like the weather, I think I mentioned it, but the weather is taking a turn for the... Literally today, like this afternoon. Like, so it was get out Friday night or don't get out again without getting wet for a while. So this worked out really well. And I just sort of messaged Sean, like, as I was putting my boots on to leave. I was like, bro, you wanna go camping? I'll be at Detroit. And he's like, yeah. Yeah. There he is. No excuse not to. He beat me here. Just barely. Got here 30 minutes before me. Woke up 30 minutes before me. Worked out well because I was like, OK, I gotta get a spot. I gotta get set up. I gotta get to town to get wood. Nope. He had already gotten wood and a spot. So, casual dinner. Lovely campfire evening with basically dollar store cigars. And then after I shut the camera off, the whiskeys came out. So, we're both feeling pretty good, shockingly. It's good times. Nice, relaxing, chill. Morning. It's the way it should be. I don't love campgrounds, but this one was shockingly quiet. Yeah, all the kids are back in school. Yeah. And the old people are still sleeping. Right. Well, they all have RVs, so... There's not even anybody outside. There's one dog barking, but... I have a love-hate with campgrounds because I... Great! Yeah. I know. Soak it up before the weather changes. I really like the convenience of just having a picnic table alone. It's like massively convenient. But, just, you know, firing. And you can usually buy firewood there. And I like to be close to town so you can get supplies. But, uh, people. Yeah, kind of that end of the season, let's make it painless. Right. I figured I would do the hard part. I would ride the long ways and then have an easy camp. Versus riding the short ways and spending all afternoon chopping up firewood. Yeah, even packing is going to be easy. It's not like we had to bring a lot of stuff. Nope. We were just filming some Giant Loop stuff and one of the camp hosts came by. Her name's Jennifer. And she was like, My husband watches a YouTuber who makes camping videos. Are you him? Sean was like, What's his name? And I was like, Is it Dork of the Road? And she's like, Yeah. So, hi Jennifer's husband. Thanks for watching. I appreciate you. That was fun. And now the worst part of camping. I have to pack up all my crap. He's got five acres on a gated house. With like a 4,000 square foot mansion. Well, I just filmed a shout out to him in this video. So, uh, Tim. Okay, I gotta remember that. I just said Jennifer's husband. Well, I'm excited that he's excited. Yeah. I have the Marrakesh jacket and I love it. Jennifer's husband's name is Tim. Hi Tim. Thanks for watching. All packed up. Ready to head out. I want to say thanks to Sean for coming out and camping with me last minute. And I would say that the Transalp has proven itself more than capable of a interesting ride to a motocamping spot while carrying all your motocamping gear. Admittedly, we didn't go super hardcore this time, but we will when we get protection. Not super hardcore, but as hardcore as I get. Maybe just like, like, uh, tepid core. Like firm core. That's it. Firm core. That's what I do. Anyway. Really enjoying this bike. Really looking forward to a, shall we say, spirited ride home. Because I know a very fun back road with a lot of corners. And, uh, look out for more Transalp content. Make sure that you're subscribed if that's what you want to see more of. As well as just general ADV, dual sport, motocamping stuff. Because I want to be your internet riding buddy. And I'm better than your regular riding buddies because I come with a mute button. Thank you for watching. Thank you to Sean, the man himself. Go support VB40. And please do not forget to be excellent to each other. Oh, thank you. Excellent! Crushed it, bro. Crushed it.