The scene: we’re traveling northbound on I5, left lane, just 5 minutes after departure from Brady’s house.

What happened: I glance at my left mirror…the sleeping bag bundle supposedly secured to my left pannier jettisons off the back and into traffic. What?! I punch the hazards, pull the bike over to the far left, out of the traffic lane, and look back.

The bag is sitting in the right tire well of the left lane of traffic on I-5 in downtown Seattle on a Saturday morning. A semi-trunk approaches the bundle, my eyes go wide, and the truck weaves around it without a touch. I start walking fast to the bag. Another car approaches, and goes around it. And another. And another. I’m now parallel to the bundle, wondering how to retrieve it while the cars whiz past. Then a mini-van driven by a mom with her kids in the back completely stops in the lane, waves me to cut over and retrieve the bag. We wave to each other while I scurry back to safety.

Damage assessment: ripped hole in the dry bag, ripped hole in the sleeping bag cover, and the sleeping bag appears to be okay.

Later that night, I secured the hole of the exterior dry bag with gaffer’s tape, and put the sleeping bag in a spare dry bag, where it stayed dry throughout the trip. And the lash down method received extra attention as well, no other similar issues from there out.

I haven’t yet left my home turf and already I had an incident. Doh!