getting ready to go

Today was a day of chaos. We were printing out our itineraries, packing the car, returning packages to UPS and all that stuff you got to do before you leave town for 56 days!!! Packing was a cumulative effort over the last month--it's hard to pack lightly when you know that not only are you going to be gone for 56 days !!! but you are going to be going places with different weather and different expectations (fancy restaurants in NYC). But, Asha and I managed. We got all of our stuff into one suitcase (we do the rule of three: one that we wear, one that is dirty and one to put on tomorrow) and one dop kit. We also packed a huge box of snack food for hiking including popcorn from Dale and Thomas, gobstoppers, mm's which are great for hiking because they melt in your mouth and not in your hand (not), and, of course, trail mix. We've got a selection of movies and of series (Six Feet Under, Friday Night Lights, and a couple of new ones we aren't sure of).
We did a good job this time around labeling our boxes in the car after lots of practice and trial and error: we need one box that goes into the hotel each night (cereal, plugs for phones, a movie), one box for snacks, one box for hiking stuff (including fanny packs, peanut butter, laundry soap, etc.). In the past, we've had to unpack each box trying to find what we are looking for. We are trying to smart pack this time around. We'll see if it works.
I'm finding this blogging to be tough. Who cares? I guess we'll just post the stuff and people can read if they are interested and bypass it if they aren't.