Bag It!
Preparations continue. Tomorrow is the first day of August, The Month. Twenty days until departure.
I bought a cheap suitcase on EBay to hold my camping gear, but, while it had a nice vintage vibe, it was completely un-aerodynamic. Further, its dark-brown leatherine exterior promised to bake anything within whenever the sun got busy.
Enter Version 2, a moderately-large, allegedly water resistant duffel that holds all of my camping gear comfortably. (Rarely see those three words together.) I have a self-inflating pad, a light-weight sleeping bag, a one-person tent and an inflatable pillow. Oh, and a battery for my CPAP machine so I can breathe while I'm sleeping off the grid. The duffel is squishy and can be made to be relatively aerodynamic and it is yellow so it will reflect more sunlight. Oh, and it matches my yellow brake calipers.
I've modified my drivers side door card so I can actually bend my leg now. I've added satellite radio, four USB ports, a new radiator, and have a few spare parts. I think I'm getting close.
[Update, August 5: In a rare moment of clarity, I've realized that I can put The Yellow Duffel in the passenger footwell for the majority of the trip. I will have a passenger (my sister Kathy) only from San Jose down the coast to Encino. The rest of the trip I will be able to more easily see out the back.]
What's This All About?
Many years ago, when I was a sophomore in college, I got an urge for adventure. The idea was to get a go kart, modify it for use on the highway, and drive it from coast to coast. I was sure that sponsors would be climbing over themselves to fund the venture.
Like most half-baked ideas, that one didn't pan out, giving way to the exigencies of coursework and, let's just call it, "college life."
That summer, however, I was invited by a long-time friend, Rob Shultz, to join him and a couple of his college chums in a cross-country trip. The plan was to drive to Boise, Idaho and sign on with the USDA Forest Service as smoke jumpers. The money was good, we were told, and prior experience was not required. Riiight....
The four of us piled into an Ermine White 4-door Corvair and headed out from eastern Pennsylvania. Fueled by cheap gas and caffeine, we made it to Boise in short order, only to be told that, this being a record wet summer, no smoke jumpers or fire fighters of any kind were needed. Alas.
We decided to make lemonade and traveled on to the Seattle World's Fair. I remember whole families giving the four of us a wide berth as we passed. We hadn't bathed in more than a week.
We continued down the coast stopping here and there. I'm sure that at some point we attended to our respective toilettes.
We parted ways with the two chums around Santa Barbara and Rob and I continued on a relatively straight trajectory for home. We were gone about three weeks. The only photos I took were taken while underway. Youth is wasted on the young. That said, the Corvair performed flawlessly, safe at every speed.
I've done several transcontinental trips in the intervening years, by plane, train, automobile, and bus, accompanied and solo. I like the call of the open road.
Well, 50 plus years on, I will be driving an age-appropriate go kart, a 2001 Mazda Miata, cross country.
This will be a record of the trip.
