Galen: Sorry to hear your trip didn't turn out as planned. You might remember me. I purchased a KHS tandem a few months ago and paid a little too much but needed it for a tandem outing. This weekend the girlfriend and I took the tandem to North Florida for a few day rides with a friend's house as a base. We only had a rack trunk as we were only day tripping. When I tell you that the days were beautiful and the rides were incredible - well, I hope you don't get too jealous. The drive was several hours and on the way home we decided to stop at Ron Jons in Cocoa Beach, Florida for some gifts for kids at home. There is actually a free parking garage next door to where we were going - do you see where this is going? We got our free ticket from the high school cashier and off we went into the garage until we heard a loud noise like an accident. My girlfriend and I both freaked at exactly the same moment as the damn tandem was on the roof. Why didn't the casheir say something? Why didn't we remember? The tandem actually hit a sign hanging from the roof. When I stopped the car and jumped out I noticed that about 6 more inches and the tandem would have been a goner. The bottom line is that the tandem seems ok - I'll have the LBS check out the headset because it seems a little loose. It's been several hours since the mishap and I'm still freaking out!! In any event, I'd like to know what kind of rack and panniers you ended up getting as I think our tandems are good tourers. I took my daughter on an overnight camping trip to the Everglades and had a blast. That's enough ranting but I hope you and Nancy haven't been turned off to touring. You're always invited to Florida where you can just about use whatever tires and gearing you want within limits. Take care