Supplies, Part 1

I've heard from just a few people concerning possible places to go.  I may not be heading anywhere in particular for a while, but that's fine.  I'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other, leaning on Lily, leaning on the memories of Lily, always moving another step down the road.

Between the visit to Raggedy and this business with the Masks, I haven't had much time to talk about wandering much.  My personal problems aren't going to help anyone.  But maybe this will.

I keep everything I own in a backpack.  It's one of those big outdoor sporting ones.  I don't really own much anymore, though.  Most everything I have is essential.  I'm not going to go through everything right now, though.  Just the basics and the things that strike me as most important.

Apart from Lily and the backpack itself, my tarp is probably the most valuable.  It's a necessity for creating quick shelters.  It's also pretty much the entirety of my bedding.  No blankets.  No pillows.  No sleeping bags.  Those are all things I'd love, but they're all bulky comfort items that take up too much space.  I'd love to be able to have at least a pillow, but I try to avoid anything that's not absolutely necessary.  I can roll up some clothes for a pillow if I'm desperate enough.  It may not be comfortable, but it keeps heat in and it's versatile and durable.

I only have about two spare changes of clothes.  It's disgusting walking around in dirty clothes all the time, but I can't spare the room for much more than that.  I have three t-shirts, three pairs of jeans, one pair of hiking boots, a warm coat that's not too bulky, and five pairs of socks and underwear.  Things change a bit depending on the season, too.  During the summer, I'll swap a t-shirt for a tank top and a pair of jeans for running shorts.  During the winter I'll add a sweatshirt and some heavier pants, as well as gloves, a hat, and a scarf.  Of course, that's also why I try to head to the south for the winter.  The amount of exposure I'd suffer in the northern states could kill me if the weather got bad enough, even with warmer clothes.

I carry some food on me.  Mostly canned goods since they last pretty well, though it's never fun to eat cold beans straight from the can.  Sometimes, if I'm up to it, I'll start up a fire to heat some of my food up.  I have a can opener on my Swiss Army Knife, which comes in handy a lot.

Speaking of the knife, it's one of the most useful tools I have. I got the best one I could find and I don't regret it at all.  Not all of the tools work the greatest, but they work well enough to get the job done and the fact that it's so compact is a must.

And of course, there's my laptop and my mp3 player, the former to connect me to the world and the latter so that I don't go crazy.  I listen to a lot of audiobooks (I found a good site for some free ones) since they don't actually take up space and I can listen to them on the go.

Those are just a few of the things that I find most valuable.  There's more, of course.  I'll get into those later.  For now, though, I've finished my coffee and I need to get moving so that I can find a place to sleep for the night.