i'm so easily amused...

kelly and i went to the gas station last night and bought powerball tickets for the $125M lottery. she said if she won, she'd buy my truck and let me keep it and then send me hikin'. i said if i won, i'd buy her house and let her keep it and then go hikin'. needless to say, today we're just $3 poorer than we were yesterday.

i discovered this morning that the $25 rain jacket that i bought years ago at wal-mart is packable. it stuffs into itself! that's freakin' amazing! no wonder it was $25, haha. regardless... i think that'll wind up being the one i take on the trail with me. we'll see...

i stuffed my sleeping bag into its stuff sack and packed it this morning. i'm gonna pack the tent in later and just kinda fiddle with it. i'm so ready to get out of chucktown.

the guy who test drove the truck last week just came and picked it up to take it out on the highway for a second drive. "dear God, please! thank ya! love ya! bye!"

also, as something to get my mind off the crappy weather here in charleston today, here's a littie video i ran across a few weeks ago.

Green Tunnel from Kevin Gallagher on Vimeo.

3 outta 3

i just ordered my sleeping bag. :) i bought the campmor +20 down bag in the long length because it was on sale for $10 cheaper than the regular length, and i read that the regular length was only good if you're 5'6" and not a centimeter taller. i figure since i'm 5'6", i'll give myself some extra room for the next day's clothes at the bottom of my bag. so now i've got my big three... my bag, my pack, and my shelter. for some reason, i guess i feel like the more i buy, the closer i'll be to leaving when i want to.

i'm still pretty apprehensive and antsy about getting on the trail, but i'm trying to look at things the way my friend jessica put them the other day. i'm trying to trust in the fact that i'll get on the trail when God wants me on the trail and that He has good things in store for me.

there's a full moon out tonight. i sure wish i was cowboy campin' underneath it somewhere in georgia. 

thus far, i've spent $72 on my pack, $225 on my tent, and now $110 on my bag. $407ish. technically, i overspent $20 on the tent because i bought the footprint separately and it came with a footprint, so when i take my stuff back to jackson, i'll stop and exchange it for $20 in some sort of gear at the rei store in atlanta.  so $387 for gear so far. not too bad, right?

my ad starts in the paper for my truck tomorrow. hopefully, this weekend will be a successful turnout for the selling of my truck. fingers crossed and praying, praying. 

to organize my mind, just a brief list of things that i'll need to take care of/get before i head out: 

build and test an alcohol coke can stove

get swayze to the vet to update her bordatella

register her microchip

buy her pack

get a set of trekking poles

get a sleeping pad

figure out her gsmnp boarding situation

figure out how much food she'll eat each day

figure out my layering situation
make an eye doctor appointment and order more contacts

call the student loan people!! tomorrow!! (i've forgotten about this one)

gear talk

so i don't have any gear. at all, really.

i'm thinking that if i'm really gonna do this, i should spend the next couple of days/weeks/whenevers researching gear and making a packing list. i guess i'll start out with a sleeping bag. that's pretty basic, right?

so i'll need one that will keep me super toasty warm. i'm such a wimp when it comes to being cold... i went camping once with a group of friends out by a lake and i had to be at work the next morning. i woke up at 2 a.m. because my face was so cold and i couldn't get back to sleep. i packed up my stuff that night and drove home to sleep in my warm bed for a couple of hours so i'd be able to function at work the next day. i'm SUCH a pansy when it comes to the cold.

so... i'll start checking out the forums and reviews and i'll decide on a sleeping bag first. =)

here are a few people are throwing around:

1. alps +20 this one weighs a little more than 3 lbs but it's only $65! and all the reviews have been great on it. i figure, too, that being rated for 20 degrees, it'll be able to keep me warm? i just think it's awesome that it's only $65. almost makes me want to buy it now. =) side note: booo... it's for people up to 6'6". =( that would give me an extra 12 inches of wiggle room... something maybe i shouldn't have? o.O

2. mountain hardware +15 found this one as well. it's only a 2#er, and it fits up to 6'. i read somewhere that it's nice to have a little extra space at the bottom of your bag for when you want to stuff clothes for the morning down at the bottom to warm them up overnight. this one's $205, though. =/