My tip of the day, assume that the local raccoons have mastered how to open an Ortlieb bag without needing to unclip the straps. Last week the damn things were able to unroll my pannier and get into my freeze dried spaghetti meal, made a mess of everything.
Oh, and always try to camp near a picnic table so you can lay out and organize all your stuff that's coated with freeze dried marinara powder going back into your panniers in the morning.

chuckle
little buggers (well, not so little)

and Tim, hope you are still reading.

for a bunch of years now, I use a couple of colour coded net bags that are very light, to keep smaller clothing items in and to stop the migration and being hard to find, socks or whatever.
Keep socks, underwear in a yellow bag
warm stuff, neckup, gloves, whatever in a blue one.

my civvie clothes are usually at the bottom of my clothes pannier, my extra riding kit , shorts, jersey, on top of civvies,

small dark stuff has a bad habit of getting lost in or under other stuff, so these separate bags really helped keeping track of stuff, and in the case of my "keep warm" stuff, its nice to just be able to reach in, grab the "blue" bag and get whatever if needed.
I even use these bags for my commuting, especially handy for the warm stuff as I ride in all kinds of temps, down to -10c or more, so not wasting time is nice if I need some overmitts or different mitt liners or whatever.
Handy too for keeping my wallet, cell phone, seat rain cover, glasses case etc in a yellow bag, again for saving time and not rooting around searching.

Sounds like you were lucky! After all, they didn't gnaw or claw their way THROUGH the bags.

I mentioned this once before, but a few years ago one started to run away with one of my Ortlieb's even though it was empty. I was in NJ bear country and had put all my attractants in a bathroom. Best I can figure is that a very aromatic everything bagel I had carried to camp left a lingering smell. Fortunately, I hadn't fallen asleep yet and was able to get out of my tent and chase him off. I put the pannier in the bathroom with my other stuff.

Normally I always bring all food into my tent vestibule but had overlooked that one meal. I can't imagine how I could have forgotten about such a delicacy as freeze dried spaghetti awaiting me the next evening.

A good way to get a family of raccoons, or bears, to keep you company in the tent.

I'm more than willing to confront those sneaky little bastards face to face but I hate it when they're up to their Harry Houdini tricks while I sleep.

I can really enjoy packing slowly in the morning, especially if the sun is beginning to warm me. It's the opposite of my work as a live-sound engineer where fast, effective, setting up and tearing down of gear is what we do.
If it's cold or raining, I get into "work-mode". Guess that puts me in the "compulsive perfectionist" and "slob" camps! ;)

This is a great post. If we're on tour trying to set land speed records, on the road or in camp, we might be out there doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons.

there is certainly no "right" answer that's for sure.
I'm more laid back, and generally slow in the morning, so developing a better system to get my stuff organized helps, but I still prefer a relaxed pace of waking, eating, hitting the can, packing up--but within reason of course time wise.
Other people wake up, chew on some dry food and are out and ready to go in 30 mins, and maybe even ride all day until dark---but thats fine, to me the most important thing is to find a rhythm that works for you, as you say rev, in camp or on the road.

How can there be wrong reasons for a personal vacation?

Fair enough.

I've always looked at bike camping the same as backpacking camping; consider it an 'extended rest stop', and only bring out what you need for that extended overnight stop.

I also like to minimize cooking - a cold meal with a hot drink is all I need in the evening. Cold meals can be cheese and crackers with fruit, salami slices, small cans of fruit, hard vegetables (carrots, onions, bell peppers) . . . the list is endless. I do stay away from those cook-in-the-bag freeze-dried meals - too spicy and loaded with about a month's worth of salt. If I'm on the road I usually stop at a restaurant and get a good hot meal at lunchtime. Sometimes its also nice to just start riding in the morning and have a hot meal at a restaurant after 10-20 miles.

FWIW: I'm pretty much a dedicated credit card tourist these days.

Did my years in the boy scouts in the 50's with Korean war surplus camping gear ,
backpacking in the California Sierras .. so when I finished my 4 years in the Navy and GI bill college
by the late 80s the camping gear tech was so much lighter..

combining that with my map reading skills And bike mechanics, I just had to go see other countries ..







.....