I'll try to keep this short. If you have any questions feel free to email me.
One of the reasons I/we bought the FJR was it ability to haul camping stuff. Our approach was NOT to carry our food with us but rather ro buy it locally.
Before we had a rear lauggage rack with back rest from Gary:
In the passenger seat:
We packed a small duffel bag with a small two person tent from Walmart, an inflatable one layer air mattress w/ foot pump, two $0.99 emergency blankets (one to cover the bike and one to cover stuff; they also are very reflective for emergencies or to keep things from heating up), a hatchet(to drive tent stakes, split wood and as a defensive weapon), one flashlight (self charging), a 10 x 10 heavy duty tarp (for sun, wind or rain cover),several pieces of nylon laundry cord (various lenghts) plus one 15 foot tie down strap unit (the cord and strap are used to secure tarp and for a laundry lline), a Swiss army knife and a hand full of clothes pins. The bag was secured to the bike with velcro straps, (I like velcro cause I can tighten it down and know it will stay tight). On top this bag I secured my old styled full sized sleeping bag(someday I buy one of those super compressable hiker bags), again used velcro straps to secure to duffel bag. BTW the velcro straps can be used later to secrue things in the camp.
In the hard bags:
One was for my clothes( I am sure you know the drill...think layers and a hooded sweat shirt), first aid kiit, sun screen & OFF, towel, wash cloth, asprin, ear plugs and personal effects.
The other contained emergency rations: granola bars, water, instant oatmeal, instant coffee, instant milk, peanut butter, jelly, a steel bowl, a steel mug, big spoon, a fork, a kinfe, matches in water tight container, TP(bears don't need it but I like using it) and emergency cash. Plus my wet gear.
On top of the hard bag I bunggie corded and strapped a folding camp chair.
After two years we have changed out our small tent for one in which we can stand up in (it rains almost everytime we go camping). Check out Eureka tents. Got best price off Amazon .com . Our tent is the Sunrise 9. It has larger poles then most, heavier material, good ventilation ever when raining plus netS to store small items like ear plugs, flash lights eyeglasses, wallet, etc. It was a little too big for our our duffel bag so we got a JUMBO dry bag. We secure the dry bag to the rack with velcro straps.We also upgraded to a double layered air mattress for two reasons: one, so much more comfotable and two, should water get in the tent the bedding is high above the floor. The mattress and my sleeping bag go on the passenger seat. I did this for back support. You could mess with placement given the nine pound rule for the rack.
The dry bag is that high visiblity yellow for added visibility.
I also now carry with me a Leatherman WAVE. The evolutionary step up from the Swiss army knife.
Even fully loaded I notice no difference is handling. I cruised at 90+ last summer and had no problems with the load shifting.
For security... I rent guard dogs when I can... other than that I pick my parking places carefully. I have noticed that my velcro straps baffle people.
Rick
