Hey everyone!!
The trip is going great! I'm in Salt Lake about to take on "The Loneliest Road in America" Route 50 through Nevada

Just thought I would share this one mod with you all.
Before the trip, a friend of mine asked how I was going to secure my saddle bags in the event I needed to park my bike away from where I was.
(When I'm not sleeping right next to it! )
I came up with this solution:

Wandering around a hardware store (As we all do!) I came across these:

Coupler locks for trailers. About 8 bucks.

I bored two corresponding holes in the bags and fitted the locks as shown.







Seeing as they are soft bags held closed by velcro, they weren't too weatherproof to begin with, and, the holes don't really effect that at all.
Everything that I put in the bag goes in a freezer bag, or, a dry sack anyway.

It's not for high security. It's just to keep the casual tamperer away.
It's pretty easy to pull on one side to get to whatever is in side. (Which has been handy for me as well)
I don't keep any real valuables  in the bags, just stuff that I keep with the bike. Tools, oil, rags, tire repair kit, and that sort of stuff.

What I really like is that it keeps the bag shut while on the road. Especially when I really pack it kinda tight.

So that's it. It's been working great so far.

Slow, look, press, and roll!