5x10 ain't as big as you'd think...

I've decided to hold onto some stuff, actually enough to set up an apartment when I finally land. When I went up to the storage facility today and lifted the door on my 5x10 unit, I discovered that 5x10 is really really small. It didn't help that it was also eight inches shy of five feet. I went online and found a 10x15 unit in Bernardston for only six bucks more per month. I'll deal with it all tomorrow. It occurred to me today that I am clearly conflicted about my original plan to want to chuck everything and just hit the road. I'm inclined to think that it was a combination of sour grapes and the obvious anxiety from having to deal with an apartment full of stuff. Even in the best of circumstances, I struggle with this sort of thing. OK, so I can justify $75 a month for just the peace of mind that I took the sensible approach. The idea of giving it all away and taking a pay-it-forward approach is still tugging at me, but I'll keep that option in reserve for the time being. I finally moved all of my long accumulated recycling up to the recycling center by the high school. I had a ton! My friend Doug has always enjoyed reminding me that "It's not recycling until you take it somewhere". Well, it's finally done.

So the official departure date is Thursday, May 22nd at 10:00AM (Indiana Jones opens the night before). First stop: Keene NH to get a last hug for the road from a few friends, then up route 9 towards Concord. I got some really nice bicycling maps from the NH Department of Tourism that will come in handy in getting me off the main roads. I'm planning on using as many rural routes as possible. I'm not at all a fan of traffic noise, much less having to constantly keep one eye in the rearview mirror. I did some more work on the bike today and made another adjustment that will allow me some additional cargo capacity. Space is really tight but I have just enough as long as I stay organized. The food situation has been bothering me too. I picked up a dehydrated meal by Mountain House and had it the other day at my Sisters. My three nieces and I shared the meal, we had four spoons digging into the same foil pouch. Well it turns out that the meal was great, but the 2 portion package contained 2600 milligrams of sodium. Why??? OK, Mountain House is out! I am now experimenting with a nice salmon, rice, and vegetable meal that I can do for under $4 and only takes about 15 minutes to prepare. I'll post the recipe once I have it perfected.

Here's a photo with my Nieces taken on one of my test runs down to Massachusetts. We made hot chocolate with my new stove: