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Oklahoma-typical
The last couple bits of luggage were the addition of a topcase and some drybags. I ordered a topcase from Cycoactive, the same folks as the panniers, and when it arrrived it was of the same stunning quality I expected. It was made clear to me when I talked to Lynn at Cycoactive that is was not made for the KLR so I was going to have to do some custom modification to mate it to the KLR rear rack. I think she is the resident KLR expert there and proved to be a great help in making some decisions about our luggage. I had an idea for the topcase. I needed a safe place to carry our laptop and video camera. I was going to try to rig up a little battery charging station complete with an inverter in the topcase. I glued high density foam all around inside the thing, screwed it down into the stock mounting points for the rear rack and set about to make a charging station. Everything seems to have worked okay so far and even in the roughest conditions the laptop and camera show no signs of abnormal wear. My drybag came from Dual Star. It is an Ortlieb XL and basically just a big bag. I ordered yellow bag which I wouldn't do again. Anything that comes in contact with aluminum turns black and as a result my bag look about 9 years old. I think the thing even has a little leak in it somewhere but I can't trace it. Spice is using a bag that I have had for a while now and seems to be working great. It holds her sleeping bag, sleep pad and most of her clothes. In hindsight I would have bought another bag like Spice's. I think it came from Aerostitch but I can't be sure. There isn't a single label on it.
Spice at the Slickrock Trail in Utah
Most of the decisions we made prior to leaving Atlanta about the bikes have proven to be right on target. There are very few things we would have changed except for starting earlier than a month before leaving. We were fortunate enough to cross paths with the folks at Dual-Star.com early on. Had we not who knows what we would have ended up with. We may still be in Fort Smith, Arkansas waiting for constrruction on the State Park to be completed so we had a place to camp for the night.
quotation: http://www.rtw101.com/id11.html
