Along the way I explored websites of the ultralight community. Brawny and Rainmaker's site stands out. Dirtbagger's Deluxe I remember. & Backpacking Light. My del.icio tag shelter shows some of link trail.
Finally I returned to the Shakespeares of ultralight, Ray and Jenny Jardine.
Where I am now: I have called my Point Loma grandma about a sewing machine she had mentioned I could borrow, and I submitted the following order to Ray-Way:
| Quant. | Item | Each | Amount |
| 1 | Bomber Hat Kit-L | $21.95 | $21.95 |
| 1 | Pkg2 (tarp book tarp kit) white | $70.90 | $70.90 |
| 1 | Long Option for Q1P | $12.95 | $12.95 |
| 1 | Quilt-kit 1P Deluxe gold | $74.95 | $74.95 |
| 1 | Free Siku | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| 1 | Thread Pro | $6.49 | $6.49 |
| Shipping | Priority | $13.62 | |
| Total | $200.86 | ||
Nearly within the $200 budget there, but I had to leave out the net-tent. All that anyway is probably enough of an intro to sewing stuff. And I expect I'll order the
which will add $25 to the total spent.
I forgot to add that I also ordered
This should let me leave the green jacket I have been wearing behind (comparatively heavy and no longer water-resistant) and give me some good, light, though maybe not very tough, rain, wind, & bug-resistant pants.
So that's probably it. The only remaining money-involving Internet project is to get the violin listed on ebay.
All that equipment should let me leave behind / retire: my old bag, my bivy, my blue ground tarp. The blue tarp is nice though because it's cheap and tough. My only ground cover now will probably be two trashbags I carry along. Plus I can put the mosquito mesh (and maybe the tarp) under me if I don't have it up. I haven't been using a sleeping pad, which I find to be fine if I'm out in the forest and away from packed ground.
Using a tarp instead of a bivy signals a change in style for me to focus more on the camp than the journey. The bivy was nice because I could find a spot big enough to fit in, throw it down, crawl in or sleep on top of it, and have some shelter from bugs / moisture. But I can still do that.
The difference will be that I should have decent shelter in significant rain (though maybe there will be no more rain till winter) and what shelter I do carry will weigh less.
I plan to make the two-person size of tarp. So if I have only one visitor, s/he could share bug netting & tarp if bugs or rain were an issue.
Partly because of money I decided to make the 40-degree rather than the 28-degree quilt. But that should help remind me not to linger in areas where it is getting cold--one of my main shelter strategies is to be where the climate the way it is requires less shelter.
I am planning and investing in what will be my home. These things I'll be making will be the only things I'll have and will carry. I will most likely be getting rid of my old gear.
At the same time I can't spend so much on these things that I would be devastated by their loss: my pack or gear could somehow get trashed, lost, or stolen. Different than just buying things, however, I'm taking the opportunity to devote myself to Jardine, to learn from him, to learn to sew and to make these things. So if I lost everything, it would be easier to make more or make something different.
While I haven't seen Brawny mention Jardine, she and many other ultralighters appear to be evolving in their own ways the Jardine example.
In the past I wouldn't futz with all this. I'd grab what would let me get out there: blue tarp, trashbags, old sleeping bag. But now that I'm planning to be out there long term, I have the time and reason to be truly materialistic. I'll have only a few possessions, devoting care to each one.
Example of the Originers: I value remembering Eorsch, the primitivists at Twisp, and others who do the same kind of preparation for a 5-week trek, but do it using primitive/origin materials and technologies. None of the fancy stuff I'm getting or making is really necessary. So . . . am I misleading myself? Or is this a newly helpful synthesis of origin and modern technology?
Life!
So that's it! For three + days now I've nearly ignored the place and body where I am, focused entirely on setting in motion (getting the orders in) what will let me get out of this place where I am. Once I'm gone from here I won't need to walk around suburbia for exercise. I'll walk around the forest, as I was so recently doing.
Brawny's site reminds one of the value of that kind of life!
I doubt these past few days have been all that healthy for me. Had the pools been open early I probably would have exercised more, but their hours are not as good weekends and holidays. And I'm focused on preparing for the time I no longer walk around the city (as I would have to do to get to the pool), but the woods and trails.
Peace,
Colin
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