I commute to work from the city to a small town about 20 minutes away. I carry the usual stuff like rain gear: lunch, ball cap, lock, tools, you know. But there are a few things in there that I always treasure when out riding for pleasure. One of them is rubber sandals. Where I ride I am never far from water, whether it be Lake Huron; the St Clair River or numerous smaller rivers. I find it quite comforting to stop and remove my riding boots and take to the water in my sandals. I always find taking a break at the water very relaxing. Another great thing in my bags is a sling shot. It is a modern one that is metal with surgical tubing and a wrist support. It is quite powerful. It’s always fun sending stones into the water. I have also chased away a few varmints by the roadside with it. I once spotted a hornet’s nest and after a few misses the hornets sensed a problem and sent a few sentry’s my way. I’m not crazy. I had my helmet on, sitting on my bike with it idling. I called a truce and I left them alone.
 I do most of my riding on county or B roads. A lot of farmer’s fields and dead animals on the road. This brings about birds of prey. A lot of hawks and falcons around and now I hear even a bald eagle has been spotted in my area. I am always on the look out in the air for these magnificent huge birds. Quite often I come across them eating roadkill and I stop as close as I dare without scaring them off. This is one advantage of keeping an original muffler. Out of my saddlebags come my binoculars for a close look at them feeding.  Beautiful.
So, what do you keep in your saddlebags?

Pabst Blue Ribbon (beer)

I use my trunk instead and I have tools, a first-aid kit, spare nuts and bolts, 1 quart of oil, a spark plug, a headlight bulb, a couple of turn-signal bulbs, a tire patch kit (the kind with a CO2 inflator) as well as 2 tire irons in my tools, a handful of nylon wire-ties, a roll of electrical tape, a tube of loctite, a hand-crank radio, and hand-crank LED flashlight, spare cables, bungee cords, a few rags, a disc lock, a couple of waterproof bags, a basic helmet bag, a ball cap, goggles (and room for a rain suit and/or mess-kit when needed).

The Savage is my go to work vehicle.

Unless I'm carrying/wearing the items in question the saddlebags hold my black leather motorcycle jacket, gloves, clear or dark glasses (to be replaced with something with better wind protection,) scarf, leather 'cowboy' hat, work ID on neckcord with pen and screwdriver, work keys, and/or reading glasses.  Papers are in an envelope inside the left lid, also carry an air gauge, four or five bungee cords, a couple of CD-ROMs.  

Unless I'm shopping, in which case things are removed so I can carry, in either bag, a 10# bag of potatos, two gallon jugs of milk, a 5-liter box of wine, or any number of smaller items.

The Laptop I carry in a backpack to save it from the thumps.  Presently the bike's at home and I'm sitting in the Beetle outside the Auto Club where daughter #3 is in a 2-hour driver-ed class.  Someone nearby is generous enough to leave their wireless access unsecured.

It is amazing to drive around and see just how many the card finds - shocked the first time I saw it!

Slow dialup...man of man, what a drag.  I have had to endure that for Y E A R S   now.  I am finally in conversation with a cable guy ( the first one to actually work with me ) about getting Roadrunner to my house.  The cable actually ends on the utility pole across the street from where my drive comes off of the paved road.  From there our little dirt/gravel drive goes about 300' to the front door of the house.  Since our little dirt/gravel drive has an official name (for the 911 emergency system) the cable company has always said "our cable line does not go to your road, or, your road is not listed   in our system as having access to one of our cable lines, or just you are not in our system".  
I started about 8 years ago calling for service and all I ever got was one of the automated messages that service was not abailable in my area.  Come to find out the very next house down the paved road has had service for over 10 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Talk about being P I S _ E D !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the big spring homeshow at the fairgrounds I actually got to talk to a real person who knew something about how things work and he really listened.  What a change, for once I found intelligent life.  He got me in touch with an area tech rep who did some real research on where the lines are, and now he has put me in touch with the V-P who can authorize diverting from the scripted orders.  Is it possible that CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT DEAD AFTER ALL?  
Only time will tell.

On the extremely rare times I throw bags on one of my bikes, I carry lunch in one side, raingear, quarters and a small piston in the other. I prefer to use a framed day-pack instead of saddle bags. Bags that fit the Savage are a mite, hmm, PUNY. Full sized bags look goofy with the lines of the stock rear fender/plate hanger assembly. Some of the folks in the photo gallery hosted by Paladin use hard bags...not a bad look...Max's "micro-bagger" looks surprisingly good. (I'm a chopper fan, not big on baggers)

When I get the chance to add a full sized rear fender to mine, I'll probably go with a 50s Indian style saddlebag. Easier to pack than the slant bags. And will look better with the HD/Indian luggage rack going on the fender top.
-WD

Pabst is not the cheap stuff.  It sored a 1.77 on http://www.ratebeer.com -- nearly matching the 1.78 of Schlitz.  In Air Force in Izmir Rod and Gun club stocked Bud, Coors, and Schiltz.  The Bud ran out first, then the Coors.  Finally, with no other choice, people drank the Schiltz; giving the true origin of "when you're out of Schiltz, you're out of beer."

General Generic beer is rated at a 0.89 -- much cheaper than Papst Blue Ribbon.