Packing list

For those of you wondering what I might be carrying with me, take a look at my packing list below. It’s still a work in progress, I am sure there is something very vital missing off of it, like a tent or rain jacket or something. Laura, Ryan, and everyone else who keeps pressuring me, THERE IS STILL NO GUN ON THE LIST! Once I have assembled everything, I’m going to go through the list with a scale and measure how much each item weighs, figure out what is just too heavy to carry, how I can shave off a few key ounces here and there.

GEAR
Backpack
Sleeping bag + stuff sack
Thermarest
Tent
Bivy sack
Pocket knife
Bear bag
Rope
Small first-aid kit

KP
Stove + Fuel
Pot (1?)
Pot holder
Alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Soap
Scrubber
Towel
Bowl
Spoon
Water filtration system
Water bottles (4)
Bladder

CLOTHES
Shorts (2)
T-Shirts (2)
Long underwear (2)
Socks (2)
Underwear (3)
Fleece jacket (1)
Rain jacket (1)
Rain pants (1)
Gloves (1)
Homey-hat (1)
Boots (1)
Crocs (1)
Bandanas (3)

PERSONAL/HYGIENE
First-aid kit
Toothbrush + toothpaste
Toilet paper
Bible
Book (1)
Notepad (1)
Mechanical pencil (2)
Wallet + cash + credit card + driver’s license

ELECTRONICS
Headlamp + extra batteries (1)
Camera + extra memory stick (1) + extra batteries (1) + charger + bag + tripod
iPod
iPhone + charger
Solar charger

MISC. [these are luxuries that I might not bring because of weight considerations]
Slack-line kit
Mandolin + picks + tuner + case + strings
Hammock
Pipe + tobacco + tool + cleaners

When compared to how exciting my trip is (hopefully) going to be, it’s kind of funny how mundane alot of the pre-departure stuff is. Boring things like how many ounces a toothbrush weighs or the caloric content of a cup of rice are now very important and interesting to me.

For those who are counting, I am one month and one day from my first day on the trail!

UPDATE: New blog theme, trying it on for size.

Whoa! New phone!

This is my first post to the ol’ blog from my new fancy-shmancy iPhone. Yes, my trusty old Nokia finally reached its end after many years of valint service. Despite its seeming invincibility (it was once run over by a car, recovered from water damage, not to mention being dropped countless times), the screen finally quit working last week, and I had to put it out of its misery. So now I have a fancy new iPhone with all sorts of bells and whistles which will take some getting used to, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make…

Well, this short post has only taken me an hour or two to write, and with niminal tpyos, so I think thas is the sartt od a buateiful fiernsdhip? (!)

Reading list?

So, I am planning on doing a fair amount of reading while on the trail. I would definitely appreciate your suggestions. Here are a few titles so far, leave your thoughts in the comments:

The Bible – I have never read the whole thing, and I feel like as someone who believes that it holds ultimate truth, that feels a little unacceptable to me.
Anything by Evelyn Waugh
Anything by C.S. Lewis
A New Kind of Christian by Brian McClaren
Jesus Wants to Save the Christians by Rob Bell

The list is a work in progress, so I’ll be updating this as I go along. I might also be posting little book reports as well, that might be fun.

A Few Notes

There is just a lot going on in my life right now and I can not really formulate it into a cohesive post, so I am just going to put it all down in a list. Enjoy.

1. I just grajitated graduated this morning. This is exciting, but also really sad. Which is how I want to feel. If I was only sad, then it would mean I have nothing to look forward to. And if I was only happy about graduating, then it would mean that I didn’t like college. So feeling excited/sad is just the best way to feel, even if it leaves me in a lot of tension.

2. I said goodbye to most of my friends over the past week. This was mainly just sad, not very exciting. I know that I am going to meet new people and have great friends in the future, but these friends are just so nice, and I like the features they come with, and I don’t want to learn how to get along with new people when I am just so comfortable here. We’ve been busy partying/camping/tubing/talking/hugging/crying/swimming/etc., trying to wring every bit of joy out of our last few days together. It’s exhausting, but worth it. To all of my friends, I say I love you dearly and will miss you greatly and hope to see you all very soon! The Baylor Studs better have a Christmas Party this year.

3. Bear attacks? See below.

4. Yes, I have read Into the Wild. No, I have not seen Deliverence. Whenever I tell people about hiking the AT, they invariably mention these two books/movies, and I make the same lame joke about not dying in the wilderness at the hands of inbred psychopaths or poison berries. Stop worrying everyone, I’m going to be fine. I am a College Graduate.

5. No I will not carry a gun (ahem, Ryan). The AT is considerably safer than the rest of America.

6. People keep asking me, “How will you eat on the trail?” Answer 1: “I’m going to forage for nuts and berries, and supplement my diet with the occasional bear or two. Answer 2: “I am carrying six months worth of Cliff Bars.” Answer 3 (the real answer): I am going to premake about two-thirds of my meals, box them up, and have them mailed to me a week’s worth at a time. I will purchase the other third along the way.

7. I might be going to grad school abroad in 2010 through a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship. I won’t find out if I got it until August, but it would be pretty great if I did!

That’s all I got. But I leave you with this video to think upon: