Mom's house

I've been hanging out at my Mom's place for the last few days, chatting it up with her and my other family members near by while at the same time trying to get the final touches done on my pack. All was going well, though taking longer than I had hoped. until I got to the final touches to the hip belt. I completed two very nice (if I do say so myself) hip belt pouches and at the final hour, just before dinner yesterday, I attached them to my belt. Low and behold, I put one of the pouches on upside down. As in, the zipper opening at the bottom. As in a real screw-up. To say I was disappointed in my self is a real understatement. Had I not waited till the last minute I would have had time to reverse my mistake, even if I didn't want to, but today is drive-to-San Diego day so I will have to devise something to make it work. I'll let you know what I come up with in my next missive. Stay tuned!

Leaving town!

Just a brief note to say I am on the road this morning, driving in the rain to visit my Mom in Riverside County. I hope those LA drivers don't create havoc on the roads. Only five more days till I hit the 'ole dusty trail... Woohoo!

Food packed and ready to be shipped

No time now for a long post. I am in the last two full days before I leave town and my lists seem to be multiplying, like rabbits. I must say I am relieved to have the food out of my house and over to Angela's studio. I can now concentrate on getting the rest of my stuff done, and putting my place back together!

Hauling the boxes from our vehicles to the studio

Me, being dramatic, pretending to tear out my hair

All filled and tucked away into a corner

Angela, looking at the list of places she will have to ship... reconsidering her volunteer role perhaps?

Musings

It’s been said that hiking a long distance trail like the PCT is 10% physical and 90% mental. I do wonder if I have the psychological toughness to deal with the demands of a journey such as this. I am guessing that, having survived life to this age, I probably do have the mental toughness but one never knows how it will play out. My physical toughness is “probably” good enough but once again, I won’t know till I test myself out on the trail. Did I do enough? Will my 60-year-old parts hold together and (could it be?) even thrive under such a long, physically demanding event such as this one?

What with all the busyness of planning a trek like a hike of the PCT, the internal, emotional and philosophical aspects of the whole thing tend to take a back seat. Between making lists, shopping for food, preparing gear, meals, losing lists and rewriting the lists again, I occasionally get reminders of the reality beyond the details.

I am preparing to leave home, partner, friends, family, pets and anything that is familiar to me on a day-to-day basis. Comfortable routines, easy access to loved ones and other societal comforts is something that will change for me in… just 14 days now. I will be stepping into an adventure for which I have tried to prepare, but one never knows. Anything can happen.

This is, of course, both the fun and the fear of the whole thing. So I can only do the details, hope I get everything (important) done and then put my feet on the ground at mile 0 on April 15^th  and point myself north. All the planning will have either been done or it won’t be done and by then, it won’t matter. All I gotta do is walk.

Dinners almost done!

It has been an overwhelming task to make 150+ dinner meals. Angela helped me over the past two days and we have managed to complete all but 18 dinners! We would have been able to finish but I still needed some ingredients for the last meals... dang! Will it ever end?

Dinner, deconstructed

Six each of six different meals

The eventual home of above meals

Soon, very, very soon.

The Cats

I have been struggling mightily with the fact that I will be leaving my cats alone while I go off, traipsing about the countryside. They were to be cared for by one of my land mates but still, it isn't the same as having someone living here, with a lap and all.

Two things happened yesterday. First I went into a local pet store to buy a cat box scooper-outer. Cheap- two bucks. I am embarrassed to say that I left the store with the scooper, as well as a cat tree.

Now, I have been a cat owner for most of the last 30 years. During these decades I have declined to buy my cats one of these contraptions, mostly on the grounds of cost - they are expensive! But yesterday I was filled with... what? Remorse? Guilt? I don't know but by the time I checked out I found myself buying the biggest, ugliest cat tree I could find. The cats love it!

Additionally, I just found out I will have a cat sitter for the five or six months I will be gone. The relief I feel cannot  be overstated. This is a good situation for me, the cats and my new cat sitter. Everyone gets their needs met and I have less to worry about. There is such a thing as trail magic! Even before I hit the trail.

Chance, on top.

Mono pod making

This photography thing has been a struggle for me lately. I have been trying to make this iPhone do everything I need, but the process has been making me sort-of crazy. In this vein I have decided to try and make one of my walking sticks into a mono pod. This helps me hold the phone/camera steady while I am being creative and hopefully, interesting in my image production.

So here is the process

First I drilled a small hole all the way through to the shaft below. Second I drilled a larger hole in the top of the grip to give the epoxy a good place to fill, and hopefully hold.

Then I took a bit of wood and drilled a hole, epoxying the rod into it. The black tape is to protect the threads.

I pushed the wood (and the screw) up into the grip from beneath and made it ready to epoxy in place.

So there we have it. Threads I can screw my phone/camera onto, making a steady holder for the beast. I added the wing nut to protect the threads and the small string to make it harder to lose the nut when not on the top. This added .4 ounces to one of my walking sticks.

I'm satisfied.