Well hello there my wonderful friends, just checkin in to inform Y'all of my latest whereabouts, along with whatever other random details get spouted out- AND OF COURSE, to make sure you all know that I made it safe and sound to the warm beautiful Austin Texas! I know you were all worried, but rest assured that I am in good hands with these beautiful strangers in this wonderful city.
I won't give much away about my present experiences, as I tend to take notes on them to use for both writing blog posts as well as the novel; but I was good enough to capture a few pictures here about the meticulous process of packing your life on your back (as taught to me by the great Mark Olsen, whose CHARACTER PROFILE has yet to be posted), as well as present to you my latest personifications in giving name to one of my most important worldly possesions, my backpack!
So when traveling around after my time in North Carolina, I became very attached to my backpack, and have since then felt the urge to give it a name that signified that importance appropriately, because "backpack" just didn't do it for me. And that was how the great "La Salida" came to be known. Although I liked the name "Departure" for my bag, I needed to find some way to spruce it up, "La Salida," was what I came up with.
"La Salida" means departure in spanish, and I figured what could possibly be more american than spanish culture, right? RIGHT!
Here she is in all her glory; La Salida. Definitely what one might kindly call a "big girl." All in all, shes stacked in all the right places.
She looks better from the rear in my opinion...
So this is what I was looking at the night before departing for this latest leg of the trip. How the hell would it be possible to fit all this crap in my bag?! Believe me, I was stressing out quite a bit.
The first matter of business was to put my clothing into order, as they take up the most space, and were probably the things I would be most willing to compromise if I ABSOLUTELY couldn't fit everything. This entailed the carefull folding of each article of clothing, and the equally important process of deciding what made the most sense to bring.
Presto chango, Re-arrange-O! Everything MUST be put into bags, which are later put into a bag, which is put into my backpack, La Salida. This portion of my trip was mainly city and closer to domestic than my earlier travels through Florida, but as I was taught by the great Mark Olsen- the bagging process is necessary not only to ensure completely dry clothing if your stuck in the rain, but also, to organize your bag to ensure that things remain tightly packed and organized. My bag La Salida, was heavy enough, and it was not an option to add another 30 pounds of rainwater taken in through my wet clothing.
Once put into the ziplocks and secured with rubber-bands or ties of some sort, kneel down with all your weight upon the bag to allow ALL the air out through a short corner of the partially unzipped bag. This is basically the poor mans version of air tight bags, and works quite efficiently for what I need. Check out how thin these bags are?! Thats allot more clothes than it looks like, trust me.
And here we have in a tightly bundled, well organized, neat, clean pile: two pairs of Jeans, a hooded sweatshirt, a pair of sweat pants, 8 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of underwear, 3 undershirts, a long underwear shirt, 3 T-shirts, 2 collared shirts, and a partridge in a pear tree! (plus the additional outfit that you wear upon leaving)
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