Trip

i am taking a trip. not a journey; not a vision quest; not any of those existential terms some folks are wanting to call it . . . i'm taking a road trip. at this point, all i know for sure is that i hope to have my car packed and pulling out of austin sometime around 1 june and arriving in lemmon, south dakota within the next week or so. from there, who knows. i might turn left at the bakery or i might keep heading north (better pack my passport in case i go too much further north - to the land of our grandmother as black elk says).

cj and i have the tent, thermal pad, sleeping bag, and tarp figured out. nice to have an expert in the family. he's also going to help me to make sure i have all the "gear" i need - first aid kit with the right items; basic cooking items; etc.

the next most important thing to me is the shoe situation. i have three pairs of shoes that i bought around 3 months ago in preparation for this trip (learned the hard way when ali and i went to italy that you don't break shoes in the day before you're leaving). the only problem on the shoe front is that i've done so much walking and climbing since i got them that the tread is already wearing down on one of the pair of keene's. but there's a great young woman at whole earth who works yosemite from july - september who gave me some really good advice today and i'm going back tuesday or wednesday to try on another pair of hiking boots and they may give me my money back for the pair of merrell's one of her co-workers told me would be sufficient for the hiking i planned to do which, in her opinion, won't begin to cut the mustard (or the shale or granite or whatever the trail's surfaces are). she's also going to help me with a few other things as to clothing. REI is having a sale this week so i was able to get an insulated, lightweight waterproof jacket, fleece jacket and another top that should be all i need for the colder nights and/ or hikes bearing in mind the 30 degree sleeping bag i'll have with me.

i spent most of this evening with my topographical map, my basic map of the united states, and the adventure guide map i got from national geographic trying to plot out my route. as it's based on getting to lemmon and trying to see as many of the places i've wanted to along the way and from there, it's a bit tricky. i stopped when it became overwhelming. tomorrow's a new day. and i have to remember i only have 6 weeks for this particular trip but between "black elk speaks", "where lightning strikes", "empire of the summer moon" and james harrison's books, it's really hard to sort it out - plotting my route after lemmon based on the sacred and important (at least to me) places that they mention that i want to try to visit. at least everything's in the western half of the u.s. that said, i may get to lemmon and simply turn right around and come home - as my friend wendy said, who knows, i may get to lemmon and see a sign that says "go home to austin."

so, despite having a WTF do you think you're doing panic attack a little earlier, i'm pretty excited - i just can't believe i'm really doing it. some of my friends have asked me to keep them posted via this blog (or travelblog one of them called it) i don't know if i'll be able to as most of the places i'm hoping to see are rather remote. i guess there's connectivity in between but was thinking it might be nice to pretend email, web, cell phone aren't there - even send a postcard or two with actual stamps. i know i won't be brave enough to turn the cell phone off - there are 4 people i want to be sure can reach me if need be. and there is the most remote chance - like 1 to 99 odds - of my possibly getting to meet phil deloria in wyoming. worth keeping some kind of connectivity open.

every store i went to today i tried to buy bear spray. this had not crossed my mind as i figured the hikes and trips i'd be taking wouldn't be so remote that bears would be a problem but the only time i've turned on the t.v. in the past 3 weeks the pbs show has been about bears in north america. then when i purchased my latest map i accidentally picked up the book next to it which was entitled something like "bear basics." then, last week at a doctor's office, i picked up a national geographic or smithsonian magazine and was leafing through it when i came across an article about how bears are becoming more and more aggressive toward humans - even black bears. road trip or no road trip, i'm paying attention. when i told cj i couldn't find any bear spray he said, 'just wait until you get closer to the mountains, mom. they'll have it at the gas stations.'

just like i went to every outdoor and book store in town to try to get an old-fashioned map of the u.s. of a. that's all on one big piece of paper. just when i gave up, i found one at the shell station up the street. duh.

so it goes . . .