zandoval 

I am not a Touring guy but have had many years doing solo camping. The Texas Bastrop State Park is just down my street and on my daily rides through there I used to often stop and talk to the Bicycle Touring Guys from all over the country. One thing I noticed was the great similarity of the older 70+ Tourers. First of all they are LAID BACK! The weather and temperature, was of minuscule importance to them, or if it was they certainly did not show it. If they got stuck in one place for an extra day, no biggy Second they had a common thing of having multiple areas to stop if they wanted and were not tied down to a schedule or even a specific route. I got the feeling with these older guys that they were just out for a ride be it a day or two or twenty.

I met a couple in thier late 60s from Germany. He was a German Petroleum Engineer who had flown into El Paso for a quick contract and then got another in Texas City with a 21 day break in between. In El Paso he and his wife purchased two bikes at a Goodwill then went over to Walmart for thier camping gear and were now 10 days out and well on heir way to Texas City. Their bikes and equipment were heavy but it appeared to me they had experience in thier selection. Both bikes used strapped on plastic trash cans for panners. They had a Tyvek Tarp and a little pup tent to keep off the mosquitoes. It was the AM and while we were talking another camper brought over some Mexican Barbacoa he had cooked up over night and we ate on just cooked flour tillas with wild chili pequins picked off the bushes. They stayed an unexpected three unplaned days in Bastrop before moving on...