Last-minute preparation
In eleven hours, I’ll be on the road towards Alaska. After nearly half a year of thinking, pondering, and planning this thing, it’s finally time to lace up the shoes, clip in and go.
But first, there’s a ton of last-minute things to do tonight in preparation for departure tomorrow. First on my agenda was to locate my pocket knife. It’s a nice, basic Swiss Army knife I’ve had for years. I had it out on dresser a week ago or so and now it’s disappeared. I’ve been looking for it for the last three days and I am really stumped as to where it is.
I was whining about all of this to my neighbor Paul the other day and and also when I saw him at the coffee shop this morning. Well, I was just about to hop in the car this evening to go buy myself a replacement pocket knife when Paul knocks on the front door. In his hand is a brand-new Swiss Army knife almost identical to the one I lost. What a great guy and what a great send-off gift! Actually, it had a few tools on it that my missing knife didn’t have — scissors, tweezers, a package hook (whatever that is) not to mention knife blades that are much, much sharper than the ones I’m used to. I’m going to have be be careful.
Also on my agenda tonight is to pack all my gear up. Actually, I packed last night to make sure everything fit. It did and it actually came in about 48 pounds. I unpacked again tonight so I could post a photo here of all the gear I’m taking. Laid out like it is in the photo, it’s hard to believe it all fits into my four panniers (approx. 5300 cubic inches). But, there it is.
And these are the panniers it all has to fit into.
