thanks for the advice! I'm pretty confident in my mechanical ability and dealing with murphy on my back I'm probably going to do 100 or so miles to a state park for the first one. I've done plenty of miles commuting and road biking, what I'm kinda clueless about is the touring related stuff, like where to camp, how to secure a bike when you're sleeping, what to pack and how to carry it best on a bike.... things like that.

@mthayer, I see you're in Texas. I'll be getting stationed there (San Antonio) this autumn. Any recommended routes out there?