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On the task of fitting all of THIS stuff into THAT pack… 

After a lot of thought, I have decided to change my trail name to something easier to pronounce. I have it on good authority, from multiple sources, that a trail name too hard to say will be ignored.

So…

Henceforth, I will use the trail name…

Ziptie

People, I am so TIRED of Chinese food! I never want to Chinese again!

Fortunately, eggs Benedict is far from that cooking style, and that is what I enjoyed today in the company of two great friends. 🙂 We Village-Inned, and talked for two hours!

I have good timing. Enough said!

This afternoon was all Cabela’s and Hyvee… I bought, in no particular order, merino wool pants (half price!), a merino shirt, a lightweight knife/fork set, Imodium, a waterproof sack that will serve as my food bag, a lot of strawberry applesauce and raspberry applesauce to make fruit leather from, a microfiber towel, trial size Gold Bond powder and toothpaste, and instant coffee packets. I was going to buy another pair of pants that would fit over the base layer merino pants, but I balked at the $85 price tag. I’ll figure it out. I think tomorrow will see the Final Assembly Of The Pack.

Okay, reality slapped me in the face when I went to actually buy the 5lbs of top round for jerky. At $5.99 a pound, that’s $35. Plus, I’d have to slice it myself. Too pricey, too much work for the remaining time left. There will be no jerky rejoicing, but I can live with that. I weighed the food yesterday after I took the picture – 6 lbs. Add another 4 for water, I’m looking at about 27-28 lbs total. Not bad!

Okay, enough for tonight – ciao!

Five days of food… A little visual aid this time. 

I walked over to Bakers to do some shopping, completely flesh out the menu, and switch things up to keep it interesting. $22 for 5 days, not a bad amount. I have not weighed it all yet… but it can’t weigh /that/ much. Those are mint Oreos near the back. I had to eat three. They had become broken and unruly, it was terrible, they had to be punished.

Speaking of unruly, I gave up and threw out the Chinese food I had dehydrated. It was a failed experiment. The lo mein became my lunch, and my stomach tells me that the teriyaki will be my dinner. I know I keep talking about making beef jerky, and not doing it, but I shall, and on that day, there will be much rejoicing!

NOW I will say Ciao!

Up at 8 am, all restlessness, and the dehydrator is loaded and going by 8:15 am. I’m starting to lose faith in the whole “dehydrate cooked meals” concept, but I’m giving it another try with a shrimp/rice dish. It seems to work best with things like beef jerky, fruit leather, that sort of thing. Maybe I’m just not getting the hang of it. Perhaps a lot of veggie chips.

I am devising my menu for the first week now, and very shortly will go over to Hyvee to pick up food items, and the meat I need for the jerky. I’ll get it marinating while this other section is going, then dehydrate it overnight. Mass at 11:30, then a final inventory of pack contents for missing items, I just realized yesterday that I still haven’t heard back about my student loan issue, so I will have to call them Monday. Bother it all.

And then, of course, packing. There is always packing.

I won’t say Ciao, because I have a feeling I’ll post again later today. I’m restless as anything!

I think the bear spray is up to no good… I don’t like the way it is looking at me.

I knew it would be busy. I was right. 🙂

So far today, in no particular order…

• Added the powdered milk to all the oatmeal baggies
• Had a nice breakfast with friends. (Side note, with all the food I’ve been eating, with meeting with friends all over place, I won’t be walking the AT, I’ll be rolling it!!!)
• Began dividing up the food I’ve gotten ready into ‘pack into the bounce box’ and ‘put in the food bag’
• Walked over to the Chinese restaurant with Mongolian grill, and bought $11 worth of takeout, enough for four meals
• Started dehydrating two of the four portions of Chinese food – a noodle/seafood mix. The teriyaki and lo mein I will do later
• Finished packing up the closet, and ran the rest of the work clothes through the wash to pack them as well
• Seriously considering heading over to Baker’s to start stocking up on dinner options: breakfasts and snacks are pretty well covered. For a while. Also Crystal Lite drink mixes

Brief relaxation time. The Terminator just swore he will not kill anyone. That’s good to know.

There’s still a lot of time left in the day. I’m hungry.

Ciao!

It’s the final countdown!

I don’t think that mini-shakedown trip is going to happen, unfortunately. There’s too much to get done! I will, however, need to do another shopping trip all the same, once I figure out what I need to buy. Or I might just wait and pick it up at the outfitters in Harper’s Ferry. That’s starting to look like an attractive option.

Not much done hike-wise today, but leaving the job was quite an emotional jolt. And – well, kinda tired. Between that and dropping into the single digits on the countdown… yeah, that sense of urgency is coming up strong now. I figure that I will finish packing up my closet tonight. I no longer need work outfits, so I can finish that task off now.

My co-workers entertained all today by playing appropriate songs at loud volume at random points during the day. I was greeted by “Safety Dance” as I walked in, and serenaded out by “Taps”, followed by “Everything is Awesome”, the unofficial team song. I spent a lot of the day doubled over laughing. And, okay, the eyes leaked, but I think that is natural.

Ciao for now!

Well.

I have to admit, physically I am less ready than I was at the beginning of March, and I’ll pay for that. But I will walk myself back into shape.

Not a lot to report tonight… After all, Dad, Tom, and I died in a secret Russian nuclear bunker tonight, after we failed to Escape the Room. Ghosts can still enjoy ice cream though; we are proof of that. 🙂 We had a lot of fun, though we all were left with the burning question, “How did we miss the briefcase?”

Tomorrow is my last day at work. I’m glad we did stuff outside the house tonight, it kept me from getting sentimental/moody/panicky. Maybe it just delayed it, but anyway, I’m glad it did.

Ciao!