Wednesday, October 01, 2008

COUNTDOWN BEGINS

Photo from Vacpacker

Six months from today, I start hiking. Six months from today!!

So I'm going to start preparing in earnest (as if, up till now, I'd just been pretending.) Steve is going to be mailing me a box every two weeks. So, starting now, I'm going to start filling those boxes. If I get a box every two weeks, and spend two weeks filling it (drying food, etc.), that should take me up to Starting Day.

I won't be taking two whole weeks' worth of food at a time; I'll be stopping in (or detouring into) towns every 5 days or so, and I'll pick up replenishables there: cheese (keeps a week unrefrigerated), a few eggs, a little fresh fruit. But I can go more cheaply and nutritiously if I start hoarding pre-purchased shelf-stable things now, like bags of beef jerky and nuts. I figure on needing three 1# bags of frozen vegetables, dehydrated, a week. They'll take up hardly any room or weight when dried. I'll dry up 3 bags now, add a bag of walnuts and a bag of beef jerky, some dried fruit, a cup of olive oil in a plastic squeeze bottle, a couple boxes of instant rice and/or mashed potatoes, a zip-loc of powdered milk, a week's worth of instant coffee, and weigh 'em, along with a block of cheese, and see how much the week's stash will weigh me down, and what size pre-paid priority-mail box it will need. Then I'll modify.

I'm a champion at modifying. I modify way better than I solidify.

2 comments:

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I took a mini-course in dehydration with a backpacker who once dehydrated an entire Thanksgiving dinner for a multi-day hike in November. She did turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, the works. It's pretty amazing how versatile the dehydrator is.

Once you're ready to get started, be sure and post info on how your friends can send you care packages along the way! :-)

Dee said...

You are so organized. I cannot wait for you to go and then report back to us at sometime. What do you plan to do about that? Will you write when you go into town every 5 days or will you wait until you get home? I am so excited about you going. How is your foot feeling?