Packing for the Arctic Circle

I just landed in Sweden and realized that I may have brought enough stuff to move here. I always over-pack, but not THIS bad. Admittedly, how does one pack for a 23 day motorcycle/camping tour to the Arctic Circle, followed by a 35 day sight-seeing vacation around Northern Europe with my mother? I hope to ship much of my heavier things, such as my leathers and camping supplies, back to Minnesota after my motorcycle journey is over. I need to seriously lighten my load for the 5 weeks through Finland, Denmark, Russia, and beyond.

Not surprisingly, the voyage from the Arlanda airport in Stockholm to the city center and my hotel was more than a little sketchy with my 80 pounds of luggage. David is meeting me in Stockholm after his own European puppetry journey from Amsterdam, Berlin and across Spain. He has a shadow puppet suitcase and a ukulele, which obviously is not coming along for the ride.  

I'm anxious to get to Tibro to load up the bikes and see what is really feasible to take along. I still haven't seen the tent we are using, which is provided generously by the Swedish company Tentipi. I hope it packs small and light, because if not, I may only have room for one pair of undies for 3000km.

The lesson here is that it is damn difficult to plan how to pack a motorcycle tour in Minnesota when the bike is all the way over in Sweden. I think my brother and I will figure it out just fine, this ain't are first moto-camping trip, but this is certainly the most hardcore!