Walk to PEI

Being unable to swing the details to spend my 1st 3 weeks retired walking the Appalachian Trail, I have opted to walk the 250+ kms from my house in Halifax, NS to the Confederation Bridge, PEI. Sounds simple enough. Nice, laid back secondary roads, fair amount of stores, gas stations and motels along the way, early spring weather.

I'm bringing a 9 kg pack with a winter-weight sleeping bag, mat, rain gear and change of clothes, plus a cell phone and camera (for all the highlights).

My sleeping places will be a few motels and your basic on the ground in a sleeping bag.

Why am I doing this? I want to break the mental tie from a 23-year career job, see how my body handles everyday distance walking and see just how uncomfortable I'm willing to be at my advanced age. When I did this stuff in my 20's, the ability to be uncomfortable made a whole lot of other options that much simpler. I have to be a lot tougher than I am currently to do the sort of travelling I want to do in New Zealand (Walk and Wwoof my way from North to South for at least 1000 kms).

This trip will be a good test of my gear setup, my headspace and my aging parts. The 'on the ground' conditions will be a good test of all the mental mojo.

Everything else fits inside a 40 liter bag (the blue one showing in my profile picture.) Weight is 9 kgs with .5 liter water, 1 day food and a few morning porridges and hot chocolates.

GEAR

40 liter knapsack
Waist pouch for camera, map and change
15 liter waterproof liner bag
Cat's Meow winter-weight poly sleeping bag
Self-inflating mat
Cell phone, watch, camera, 1-cell radio
Compass, whistle, foil blanket, multi-tool, candle
Map, book, glasses, pen/pencil, Therma-rest repair
Rope, cable-ties, sewing kit
Water bottle (.5 liter) and chlorine tablets

KITCHEN / FOOD

Butane/propane stove, pots, gas, matches
Cup, spoon, knife, can opener, scrubber
4-5 packets of porridge, tea
Multi-vitamins
1 day of food (apple, pasta or soup, chocolate, nuts, bread)

CLOTHES

Body - Hat, t-shirt, shorts, socks and boots
Rain shell, pants, gaiters
Sandals
Tights
Skull cap and balaclava
Bathing suit and towel
2 poly hats, light & dark
2 wool socks and 1 poly liner
2 poly gloves
2 spare tops (short and long)
2 underwear

MEDICAL / TOILETRIES

Band-aids, moleskin, alcohol gel, compression wrap, Vitamin I
Gauze, tape, Murine, asthma inhaler
Toothbrush/paste, floss, vaseline, sun lotion, toilet paper

Walkin' Down the Road

Well, here it is. When I turned 50, I decided that I had to change the track of my life. My kids were getting all grown up, my wife and I had agreed to separate after 25 years. I had been working at Dal for 18 years. It was time to start thinking about how I wanted to spend the next 25 years of my life. No real plan in place, just the thought that since you only go through this life once, I had some ideas in my head that needed some serious consideration.

I am now 54, and about to turn 55 in a few months. I have made a formal announcement of my retirement plans from Dal and have spent the last year or so working on the house, with an eye to leaving it in my wife's care for 6 months to a year.

well, I'm walkin' down the road with my hat on my head
had to leave my mama in my big brass bed
well, sun is shinin' on me and you know it sure feels fine

The basic plan is to go out West and see my brother and sister for a few months, hopefully generating some $$$ by planting trees for the summer. More than likely, I will fly to New Zealand using an around-the-world ticket through Star Alliance. This will use up a major portion of my available funds, so needless to say, I will be working most of the time that I am away.

When I was younger, I always figured that a person needed 3 things to travel when they were older (time, money, health). Since then, I have added one more requirement (mobility). I have spent my last 3 vacations in Ireland, Vancouver Island and Cuba. In each case, I walked, not just to get somewhere, but as a big part of my recreation. I have put in over 500 miles this year, just walking to and from work

I hope to spend a good 6 months in New Zealand, working on WWOOFing farms. After that, it's really up in the air. Hopefully, I'll get to Botswana to see David Young and Cairo to see Brian MacDougall. And of course, back to Ireland.

The themes I want running through my life are simplicity, serendipity and synchronicity. What does all that mean? I'm working on it.

I hope to use this blog to track my travels. Just how online I want to be while travelling is still really up in the air. I've been online since the concept existed and I use the Internet like people use a phone. It is a very cool time to be connected. But it has a cost, in time and in headspace. We shall see.