First aid kit & sewing kit – we just weened ourselves of several bandaids, half a roll of tape, a thimble, an extra roll of thread, and 10 extra pain relievers in our final push toward ultra-light backpacking.

It’s our last night in PDX, and I’m finding it weird and difficult to try to plan what we need for 5 months. How many tooth paste drops should we make?  How many capsules of Naproxen Sodium (anti-inflametory/pain relief) tablets should we put in each superman mini-bag to have sent to us each week? Should I order those 2 extra pairs of sneakers or wait until the ones I have are truly trail tested before committing to New Balance? I mean… 2200 miles is a pretty long way for a footwear relationship.

The gear is once again splayed across the living room floor. This time, it’s my parents’ floor, and the cats are inspecting all our systems, as my niece watches Disney channel. All the chaos is overwhelming but I am trying to cherish it as this sense of home, family and civilization begins to drift away.

Packed up

I’m, frankly, a bit scared, and looking forward to experiencing the trials and errors of this weird, dorky, slightly-obsessive and fun system we’ve developed.