Finishing Touches

Sally (my backpack) is TWENTY-SIX POUNDS.

That’s eleven more than I wanted to carry. Oysh. But there isn’t a thing in there that I don’t absolutely need (except for Coelho’s The Pilgrimage, but even that I feel I need)...and I’ve spent so much time over the past few months figuring out what to bring, that I feel like this is as good as I can do. It’s not too heavy when it’s ON...but picking it up, it feels like a ton of bricks. I think I’ve finally got the hang of the straps, too, as far as weight distribution goes.

Space Bags...those big vinyl ziplock bags you see on infomercials for closet storage? They make travel sizes. Got a few of ‘em today. Good thing: they save space. Bad thing: more space makes you feel like you need to bring more crap. Good thing: my pack is TOTALLY organized and everything is easy to get to. Bad thing: they don’t reduce weight at ALL. Good thing: I’ve resisted bringing more crap. Conclusion: they’re a good thing.

Went to Lowe’s today and got a pair of Leatherman tools and a pair of knives in a $25 set. Certainly not top-of-the-line, but the tools work and the knives are sharp and pointy and therefore, life is good. Large and small of each. Kudos to Tony for tipping me off that that deal existed.

Today I think I finished getting everything I needed, with the sole exception of those insoles I saw at REI the day I bought my boots. They’re expensive, and I feel guilty for spending another CENT on gear, but I’m also gonna feel guilty if I don’t get them because if there’s one thing you have to take care of on a trip like this, it’s your feet.

Travel gear discovery of the day: you know those little pocket-pack Listerine strips? They have similar packs, slightly larger, for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shaving cream, and laundry detergent!!! If these things work, they’re gonna be the BOMB!!! (If they don’t, they have drugstores in Spain.) Found ‘em at Bed Bath & Beyond. My laundry detergent dilemma is SOLVED. Unless I’m without a sink I can stopper. Then I’m back to improvising.

Got the quick-dry, ultra-absorbent towel...got the emergency blanket and the little first-aid kit, got the Camper’s TP (!!!), and sucked it up and bought a Thermarest sleeping mat. Big, inch-and-a-half thick, self-inflating, tight-rolling, and only weighs a pound. Think I got my money’s worth on that. Got my dad’s Gore-Tex raincoat. No poncho, but since everything in my bag is in some sort of plastic container, or else doesn’t need to stay dry, don’t need to cover my pack in the rain.

I think I’m set.

(MY CAT JUST USED SALLY AS A SCRATCHING POST. GRRRRR....)

I was just thinking about getting picked up next Tuesday and driving away from my house, heading for the airport and for over a month on another continent, with nothing but this backpack. Swear my pulse spiked. On top of that, arriving in Paris, in a country whose language I know NONE of, with not a soul I know and JUST THIS BACKPACK. I need to sit down....

This is scary stuff.

Tomorrow I’m gonna walk to Hoadly in the morning, my 8-mile trek, with the pack at full weight. OH...did I mention that the 26 lbs was WITHOUT the 3L Camelback full of water???

Tonight at Borders, finally located Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road.” What follows is now in my journal, and more to come....



1
Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

The earth—that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;
I carry them, men and women—I carry them with me wherever I go;
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)




2
You road I enter upon and look around! I believe you are not all that is here;
I believe that much unseen is also here....





4
The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road—the gay fresh sentiment of the road.

O highway I travel! O public road! do you say to me, Do not leave me?
Do you say, Venture not? If you leave me, you are lost?
Do you say, I am already prepared—I am well-beaten and undenied—adhere to me?

O public road! I say back, I am not afraid to leave you—yet I love you;
You express me better than I can express myself;
You shall be more to me than my poem.

I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all great poems also;
I think I could stop here myself, and do miracles;
(My judgments, thoughts, I henceforth try by the open air, the road;)
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like
me;
I think whoever I see must be happy.