Pre-departure

I may not have done as well as I intended to do. I've done horribly, in fact, at least in terms of losing weight. Otherwise I'm just about ready to embark on my journey. I have my pack, my boots are broken in, I have a mess kit, a sleeping bag, and I got my tent last week. It's a Tarptent, the Scarp 2, so the seams weren't sealed but it was no big deal to do that. I was suprised at how spacious it is. In my experience, a two-person tent is more like a one-person tent, but the Scarp 2 is nice and roomy with plenty of space for me and my pack inside if I don't want to leave it in the vestibule.

I tried it out last weekend and was satisfied, except one little thing. They recommend painting some strips on the floor inside the tent, using the seam sealing mixture once it's set up more and gotten thicker, and I can see why. The yard must have a slight slant to it where I set up the tent, because I started sleeping in the middle of the tent and by morning I'd slid to the outside edge. So now I need to mix some more silicon and mineral spirits and paint my tent floor.

Last weekend I was visiting my parents in Wichita and decided to test my ability to hike with my pack. Now, there are no hills in Wichita, but there is a nice nature park near their house with several miles of trails -- Pawnee Prairie. I rolled up my clothes and put them and everything else I had (except the tent, which was drying) and went hiking. It took a while to get my pack situated because I had forgotten the steps to getting it fitted in place right, but was able to figure it out eventually. I filled up my water blatter and spent a couple hours walking around with my loaded pack.

I got pretty tired by the end, but I was not sore. My pack works great! I was just tired from walking. Consequently, I've decided that's how I'll do my Camino, at least starting out. I can walk a couple hours, then rest for while.

Anyway, as they say in Spanish: Sí, se puede!