squeaks, bangs, and rattles

I mentioned on one of the first posts of the trip that there was noise coming from the front wheel and the Gerbing didn't work.
The squeak was the front brake pad dragging, the Gerbing was a fuse.

On the way up through PA from Chambersville, I developed an entire new squeak. At first it was no concern, but it got progressively worse. In Centralia it was noticable, after Dietrich's it started to be less of a rotational noise. Even after inspecting the rear brakes,axle and belt, it continued. By the time we cruised up through the Delaware Water gap to Port Jervis, it was just a constant loud continuous squeal. I changed my riding style, we were still traveling at good speed, but the acceleration periods were less dramatic, IE it took me longer to catch up with Doug after making a pass.

We finally stopped in Newtown, I crawled on the ground around the rear end and still found nothing. Starting to stand back up I put my hand on the left saddlebag top, it was loose, after examination  (Doug trying to open it to close it) we found it was actually half open, half closed. Front hook engaged, rear one not, but the hing latch locked. In other words it was jammed. After a few moments Doug got it open and closed it properly. We think the bag being over filled and the bumps on the highway had partially popped it. Anyway after dinner we were back on the road, the noise was gone, I had no worries and the speeds increased.

It's amazing how a little noise when you are far from home becomes ominous. As a matter of fact on the first day, we were cruising through PA i was hearing new noises, Doug then mentioned the same thing. When far away you listen for things you normally wouldn't.