Rarin' to go

I'm semi-busy with taking care of niggling little details before heading out roughly the first week of June; stuff like:

• Trying to find the old-fashioned "strike anywhere" kitchen (wooden) matches - there's a plentiful supply of that size in strike-on-box, but it's proving somewhat tougher to find the good kind. Why do I have this suspicion that the product safety protect-us-from-ourselves bunch are involved?
• Making sure my GPS data logger works as advertised. I was thinking about an actual GPS unit, but learned that the ones in my price range stiff suffer from one notable defect: the software for them (and data formats) is pretty much exclusively Windows-based. Manufacturers of hardware that can be hooked up to computers are still having trouble accepting that the whole world doesn't use Microsoft (or, sometimes, rarely, Macs); it's something I'm used to, running Linux. Don't like it, of course, but I'm used to it. So instead of buying somebody's nice GPS unit, I went with a basic data logger that actually plays well with my Linux laptop. Too bad for you, Garmin.
• Enlarging my collection of ebooks (now up to 1200+) and movies (178 and growing).
• Checking all my gear to make sure it's in good shape, like re-sealing the seams in my tent, that my assorted tie-downs aren't frayed, etc.
• I've got the basic non-perishable supplies topped off (i.e. alcohol for my stove, T.P., etc).
• I've got maps for the places I'm going (USGS, suitable for land navigation).
• All my assorted batteries are fully charged.
• Anything that can be damaged/destroyed by water is inside a watertight container.

And so on. It isn't anything major or bothersome, since I take care of my gear as I go along; what I'm doing now is mostly to kill time, actually.

One thing I have added to my gear is something called a KnotBone. It's something so simple and versatile that it actually impressed me -- particularly considering the price. I haven't gone all gung-ho with them, but I did buy a package of my own to give them a "real world" try.

Anyway, once I hit the road, I'll be posting as often as I can, with links to my GPS data and geotagged photos.

UPDATE 20110515: just using this update to see if I can include a link to a Google Earth file. The file is just the results of when I took my GPS data logger out for a test drive, and doesn't have any noteworthy significance.