FRANTIC HOURS

Why is it that when you are packing or moving, you always get caught up in unexpected, tedious tasks?

Ben and I have been living in a basement for the past 7 months, and somehow, we have accumulated quite a bit of clutter! Let me re-phrase that - Ben and I have had the opportunity to dwell in the most amazing basement ever. When people inquire about our living situation, and we drop the word "basement", people get the wrong impression. It sounds like we are living in a dark, damp, concrete, and mold infused room because that is the usual state of affairs in basements around the Pacific Northwest. No - this is a wonderful, spacious, well-lit (basically studio) apartment belonging to Nancy, Ben's step-mom. Without her generosity, and allowing us to invade her space, we would not have been able to save up enough money to do this hike. THANK YOU Nancy!!! You have helped make this voyage possible!!

basement wall decor

Luckily half of our belongings (maybe more than half) are already in storage units, seeing as we were forcibly ejected from our home in late August due to a landlord who decided to (unsuccessfully) sell the house from under us. We moved in to the basement with minimal baggage, yet... it seems like we have a LOT.

The past few days have been a mad dash to tie up all loose ends, pack and move. We are putting everything we own in a storage unit and when we return, we will not have a place to live! I love this freedom. I'm excited to see what unfolds upon our return.... (I shouldn't be thinking about the return, we haven't even started).

Okay, so, apparently packing and moving and prepping and getting ready for this trip has really been a series of irritatingly small and unforseen tasks. For instance, why didn't I anticipate having to clean out the "drawer full of cords, chargers, and small unidentifiable items"?? Why did I have to spend an hour verifying the contents of every stray cd? Next time I move I am going to set aside 3 full days to sift through every photo, song, drawer, mystery box/bin, and cord. It's the cords that get me every time. What time is it - 3:00am? Better get to sorting tacs, safety pins, rubberbands, and scribbled notes. WHERE DO THESE THINGS COME FROM? It's as if, while living amongst the clutter, our eyes become accustomed to seeing them and decide to omit them completely from our sight.

So that is what we've been up to. I haven't gotten the haircut I had planned, compiled the vital playlists, or tended to the ACTUAL chores at hand (such as packing and unpacking my backpack, buying the last minute items, double checking everything related to the trip, etc.) but instead have spent countless hours on things that I had not even imagined. Like when you spend 3 hours at the "Quick Wash"--2 nights before departure--drying your sleeping bag because you realized it is used. This is an example of a chore that you think will be a breeze, but turns into an entire days worth of work. Ben lovingly washed the sleeping bag for me, in the proper manner - washed in washing machine, realized it needed some special products, and proceeded to wash it again in the bathtub upstairs - and tried to dry it in our home dryer. This is not something that is recommended, and for good reason. We ultimately had to lug it to the laundromat in the night and wait for it to dry. Unanticipated events! So when we got home we celebrated by packing up our last food boxes and drinking a beer!

cheers

ETA / "Hold for PCT Hiker" on each box! It feels real!

!!!!!

Yogi, the brilliant woman who wrote the guides we could have studied, recommends to make each of your mail boxes "unique" in some way so that it is easily identifiable as yours.... so, Ben and I both have neon duct tape.

very good, Ben.

Oh! And we finally got our bounce boxes organized and taped up! This, for me, was a complete nightmare and disaster. I don't know how many times I taped it up, ripped it open, tore it apart and reconstructed that thing....

bounce box explosion (disregard the instruments - they are not coming - they are just a few of the many straggler possessions we have yet to deal with)

 I've been jumping over this for (what seems like) months....

Bounce Box still life (didn't arrange this - this was just how the pile materialized)

woops, ate all of the peanut butter filled pretzels that were meant for the trail. great.

These are my absolute favorite thing to eat, strangely enough... I bought 3 or 4 bags of them from Trader Joe's and have eaten every bag except one. If anyone wants to know a good treat to send me on the trail - IT IS THESE!

One thing we have accomplished in a timely fashion is our back-up gear bins. Ben and I are both leaving behind a bin of all of our back-up gear. They contain things ranging from crucial gear items we WILL need mailed to us at some point to things like hand sanitizer (that is probably more hassle than it's worth to send it). We have fastidiously catalogued every. single. piece. of. gear. we. own. just in case. Apparently I have about 90 things in my bin, and it's probably a little excessive, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. We have no way to know what we will need out there, and I hear that it is not much and that we will most likely be THROWING things away/sending them home, instead. BUT - I am prepared. Maybe I'm the anomaly that will need that "floral bandana" at mile 500.

#68 in my back up gear system

 Obsessive? Maybe. Good planning? Yes!

And... finally.... a photo of Ben holding a banner made by his kind co-workers at Oblation Papers & Press...

hell yeah!

More soon! I should not be spending precious time blogging or contemplating the packing. But in the end, the feelings, photos, words, and (even though often unpleasant) experience of packing & moving chaos will be a fond memory. Even if it is brutal in the moment.