Pre-Trip

Written September 28, 2005 – Day 0

In a few minutes, I will begin my journey. I’m going through every emotion in the book. My stomach is in a knot, but this feeling is why I travel. I think I’ve said just about everything that needs to be said, but one last time: Thanks for all of the support. I hope this site will stay interesting enough to keep up with on a regular basis. No matter what happens from here on out, I’ll always remember that I took the risk to live out my dream. OK, I’ll stop rambling. Adios!

Written September 24, 2005

For my last weekend in the US, I went to my parents’ house near Minocqua in northern Wisconsin. It’s a nice, quiet place built on a small lake and surrounded by lush forests. I think I would get bored there rather quickly, but at least there are a lot of potential outdoor activities like fishing, hunting, and swimming to partake in.

Luckily for me, boredom didn’t have a chance to set in because this weekend happened to be “Beeforama” weekend in Minocqua. Large crowds of people gathered on the city’s main street to watch would-be chefs dress up in various cow costumes and parade their sides of beef for all to see. The parade was easily the shortest parade I had ever seen. In fact, only one lane of traffic was blocked off for the parade! It also goes without saying that it was the first beef-themed parade I have ever seen. After the parade, everyone quickly marched to the food tent where they were able to buy beef sandwiches and judge the quality of the beef for themselves. Did I forget to mention that a large percentage of the onlookers were inebriated? It seems fitting because after all, how could anyone think up such a festival sober?

Only four days remain until my trip. The feeling of being overwhelmed is now long gone and a bit of reminiscence has set in. I’m actually going to miss my family and friends while I’m gone. I’m sure the next few days will involve a lot more sad goodbyes (as if there haven’t been enough already), but I’m still really looking forward to getting out of this bumming around phase and onto my journey.

The other day I filled my backpack for the first time with the stuff I thought I would be taking on my trip. Getting all of my gear into the pack was a daunting task, a battle of wits between myself and an inanimate object. I lost round one due to a disagreement between my sandals and my sleeping bag, but I kept my eyes on the prize, and round two worked out in my favor when I finally managed to squeeze it in all at once. Total weight: 45 pounds. Total room to spare: El Zilcho.

I figured I’d probably want to buy some stuff along the way, so with no empty space, my backpack was too heavy and too full. I took everything out, laid it all on the floor, and meticulously added to the empty backpack only the things I needed to survive. Round three made my backpack light enough to take anywhere with ease. Total weight: 27 pounds. Total room to spare: Enough for a bowling ball. Too bad I gave mine away.

Traveling would have been pretty easy with only 27 pounds on my back, but without a camera or laptop computer, the memories of my journey would escape my head far too quickly. My light- and word-capturing devices and accessories weighed 13 pounds. I deemed these items necessary and added them back in, while leaving out life’s little luxuries. The compromise of round four was a clear victory for me. Total weight: 40 pounds. Total room to spare: Enough for a few bottles of tequila and some painkillers for the impending herniated discs.

Today I gave hiking with my full backpack a try. I traversed three miles of roadway in 45 minutes. At the end, my shoulders were a little sore, but my overall condition was surprisingly good. Of course, I was hiking on a flat road at a low altitude. I imagine it won’t be so easy when I attempt to hike a vertical mile on uneven rocks in the thin mountain air, but at least my proof of concept was a success.

I think my 40-pound backpack will work out. It may slow me down a little, but I should be able to manage. The best part is that I will be able to take my nifty gadgets with me to capture the greatest moments of my journey for all to see. I haven’t even left, yet I can already feel the dew forming at the Gate of the Sun as the crisp morning air whisks away the dark sky of the night, revealing the greatest secret of the ancient Inca world.

My last day of work was very easy. I just had to cancel all of my accounts, sign some papers, and shake a few hands. I was done by 10:00 AM. My area had a picnic afterwards where I got to play some kickball and disc golf, and watch a bunch of *insert adjective here* co-workers tough it out in a game of tug of war . The picnic was a good event to have on my last day because I got to relax and say goodbye to everybody I worked with.

On Saturday, my softball team had its annual party. We ate some good food, drank a few beers, and had some good laughs. I have been told that I can come back and play with them again if I want. Maybe the offer was given because I haven’t missed a game or practice in five years. I sure know it’s not due to my stellar hitting.

The last few days have been spent saying goodbye to my friends. I still have two weeks before I leave, but having lived in two different states doesn’t afford me the ability to have one big going-away party. I’m now back in Wisconsin trying to get everything in order for my trip and visit with the rest of my friends and family before I leave. There will be many more goodbyes in the days to come.

I’ve been really busy moving out of my apartment and finalizing some stuff for my trip for the last week or so, but in the last few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It’s unbelievable how many people are suffering as a result of this disaster. Thousands are dead and hundreds of thousands are homeless. It makes realize how powerless human beings still are, even in this age of incredible technology, to the forces of nature. It also reminds me how lucky I really am.

Several thoughts went through my mind after hearing of the destruction. My first thought was, “How can I go on this trip when people are suffering?” It just didn’t seem right for me to travel around the world while people were dying in my own country. I then thought, “Maybe I should just cancel this trip and volunteer to help.” But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed wrong to do so. I’ve worked and saved and planned and invested so much time and money into this trip that it would be a terrible waste to throw it all away now. Maybe I’m just selfish, but I feel like I’ve earned this trip through all of my hard work. I could try to postpone my journey until a time when there is no suffering in the world, but that will never happen. So in reality, it’s now or never.

The next thought I had was that maybe I could drive to New Orleans and volunteer before leaving on my trip. Unfortunately, I only have three weeks before I leave (my plane tickets are non-transferable) and New Orleans is thousands of miles away. I would spend a week driving across the country, and I have a lot of stuff to take care of at home before leaving. There’s just not enough time to do something like that. So what else is there?

I guess I have to be realistic. I can’t save the world single-handedly. A very smart person pointed out that there will be others in need of help in the places I am going, and while they aren’t going to be on the nightly news, my time would be better spent helping them. Therefore, I have donated money to help the victims of Katrina, and I will volunteer time to help the local people I will be visiting. I feel that this is how I can make my best impact. I’m not writing this to brag or to tell anyone else what to do with their lives. I just want to show myself that, given the circumstances of the world around me, I am doing what I can do to help.