Where is Spring?

Temperatures today reached 43F with promise of near 50 tomorrow.  I’m itching for spring.  Unfortunately the ground hog saw his shadow, so temperatures and dropping to highs in the 30’s for the foreseeable future.  Didn’t anyone consider putting a blindfold on the ol’ hog?

Plans are still moving forward to for out trip this summer.  Here’s our Packing List so far, in an Excel spreadsheet.  We are right now working on the major items, and plan to start gathering the misc. items together and checking them off the list.  We just ordered a stove this last week.  It’s a Primus Omni Fuel for its ability to use many different kinds of fuel – including white gas, unleaded, diesel, canisters, and jet fuel (like we’ll find jet fuel on our trip).   We ordered it from someplace cheaper, but REI has a better description.  Since we don’t want to take three weeks supply of fuel with us, we liked the Omni Fuel.  Keith looked over the Backpacker Magazine reviews and chose this one as the best option for our trip.

Speaking of stoves,  If you want to be real economical, you can make your own alcohol stove or buy a cheap one:

The next major items we need are rain gear, a good sleeping bag & pad for Keith, final eccessories for the bike, and the appropriate repair kit w/tools.  We have some of the tools, but just need to round them out for self-supported touring.  Where did I put that left-handed monkey wrench?