Today was the original target day for leaving. Thank goodness I am not ready. It is raining today. Although I am used to setting up and breaking camp in the rain (my two least favorite chores on the road), and probably would have set out today had I been ready, it would have been chaotic. You see, when I first set out, there are several heavy containers I have to load onto the roof rack by lightening the load and then repacking the contents on the roof rack itself. Since I do not have any covered loading deck in my condo, lots of things would have gotten wet, and it is discouraging enough when things get wet on the road so I do not need to start off with wet stuff. Rain -and possibly the hurricane- are forecast for this week, so when I am ready and rested, probably around Wednesday, I will look for the first dry day to set out. I am in no hurry, although today’s wet cold weather in DC gave me a preview of what I am in for on the road if I wait too long to leave.
Today, among other chores, I am recharging all of the electronic devices I will take with me, 10 or more of them. In the Defender, I have four recharging outlets, which allow me to charge seven devices at the same time while driving. (On OTR 1 I had none – I did not even take a cell phone or GPS with me. When I wanted to make a call or check my email, I usually stopped at a local library to do so.) The biggest challenge is finding the right cables to those devices that I do not regularly use. I have a small pouch labelled “unknown charging cables” that I have no idea which devices they charge, so I take them all with me just in case. I think I will also spend some time labeling the cables so i do not have to find them by trial and error.
The containers that take the most time to pack are the electronics bag, the garage, the console, the first aid kit and the wardrbe (clotes bag). Of course, if I forget anything I can always buy it on the road, but I want to minimize the amount of time I have to go shopping during these trips as I lose valuable time that could be spent on the road or getting into a campsite before sunset.
Back to packing.
