This site has now been retired. I've moved to my new site Silverknife, where you'll find new blog posts and all my latest projects and photos. These pages will remain for at least a while, as I know some of you are still looking through the archives, but I'm reposting my travel journals and many other articles on the new site. Come and check it out.
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First, a dumpstering update. 
A brief stroll last night ended up as a 2.5 hour walk round the edges of town, and met with a bit of success. Behind that little stand of shops where I first opened a bin, I found one which was stuffed with discarded items from what was probably one of those charity shops which sells its own housewares. There was a bunch of cleaning and kitchen stuff (mostly rubbish), various odd cushions and things and some china, of which I snagged a blue and green sugar jar in near-perfect condition. Obviously I won't be keeping it long given my plans, it's more of a souvenir than a useful salvage but satisfying. I would have had more of a scout around, but a bunch of drunk guys were playing some kind of game round the corner and I felt a bit exposed.
And on the way back Old Faithful provided me with a chocolate doughnut for the walk and croissants for breakfast (they were delicious). 
The interesting thing is, I thought Old Faithful was a sandwich shop bin, but when I came round the to front and checked properly it turned out to be a little supermarket - I'm definitely going to have to dig a bit deeper in future (the pastries are always on top) as there could be all sorts of interesting scores in there.
Second, HOLY CRAP I'M COMMITTED TO THIS MADNESS! I just booked my airline ticket! I had hoped to fly out the night of my graduation (Friday the 13th of July - good choice of day, eh?), cos I thought that would make a great story. But as usual money concerns have to come first, so I'm flying on the Sunday. I'm flying from London Stansted into J. Munro International just outside Toronto, Canada baby!
So now I can start planning the thing in earnest. I'd been getting a bit apathetic about the whole thing and wrapped up in my current activities, so it's a nice boost, and now I know dates I can start planning around them. I've added the flight and Burning Man to the itinerary, expect a good few updates to the planning parts of the site soon. I've already switched the Places to Go section (redundant with the Itinerary) to a Things to Take section for packing lists, items still to get and maybe some fun skill list stuff.
Right now it's a stunning morning, sun blazing, cool breezes coming in through my open window, and I'm basking in a little mullet rock (Def Leppard right now) and thinking in a more focussed way about preparation for the trip. Specifically I've been thinking about ways to get around once I'm out there. Obviously cheap transport and hitching are going to play a large part - if possible I'd like to avoid paying for transport entirely. But I was thinking it would be good to have some portable transport of my own. I've toyed in the past with rollerblades or a skateboard for moving around more quickly, but either would be impractical given my large pack etc (and my horrible sense of balance).
What struck me as I looked for more compact forms of transport was that there's one way of moving around which is perfectly compact, economical, flexible, always available and free - legs. Okay, yes, sounds a bit simplistic. But it's all about how you frame things. I love the compact, the portable, the multifunctional. It's partly a geek thing. I like condensing functions into more efficient packages - I was overjoyed when I could bung my cellphone and get a palmtop that did the same job, combining two jobs in one device. I love my Cybertool because it does the job of a whole bunch of tools in one package. I got excited thinking about skills because it's like accumulating invisible, infinitely portable tools with you! And part of the joy of the simplifying process is continuing that theme of condensing and reducing, having all these facilities in easy reach.
So what could be a better step than training my body to be faster and more efficient transport? I've done moderately poorly with exercise programmes over the years. I did freeweights for quite a long time, but then my daily routine changed and I dropped out of the habit and never got back to it. I bought a bike and resolved to ride every day, but as soon as the weather turned nasty I dropped out. I'm in pretty poor shape right now, I'm well overweight, my muscles are a joke and I'm less than agile. But all the walking is starting to have an effect and I feel better for it already. I know I need to get in shape before the Big Trip, because I plan to walk everywhere. But now I can frame the training process as refining my body into a tool, I can get excited about it too! As an extra incentive I'm going to start posting my weight and waistline here on the blog, so I can't hide from any slipbacks.
Weight: 94Kg (Erk. But actually that's a kilo down from last week...)
Waistline: 39 inches. (Jaysus.)
Haven't yet decided what my training regime will be - obviously walking and running will be a big part of it. Once I'm in reasonably good shape I'm going to need to train army-style with a weighted pack. A good start would probably be to cut back on dumpstering doughnuts, even if I'm earning them with a walk. Wish me luck! Now, onto that journey planning...
Oh, last thing: A great piece of writing I found some time ago, well worth a bookmark. It's been in my bookmark folder for about a year, and now I've started reading it meshes perfectly with my thinking and planning at the moment. Computing Across America was written by a man who essentially went from chip designer to a nomadic writer. He took a bit more kit with him than I will be (a bike with four computers on board, solar panels, multiple radios etc.) but so much of what he says fits with what I'm planning right now. And it's nice writing too (if a bit flowery in places).
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