Mission Accomplished

It’s official. After some trial and a bit of error my bags are packed and I’m ready to go. It’s slightly more than I hoped to carry, but at 43 pounds, I’m confident I can haul my pack all over Africa if I have to (and, well, I plan to).

Just what does two years worth of supplies look like? Here’s a random sampling:

o Four bottles of SPF 45
o Three packets of macaroni and cheese powder
o 750 Ibuprofen
o Six packs of Imodium
o 200 Tampons
o Eight Razor blades
o 30 pairs of underwear
o Nine tank tops
o Six pairs of socks
o Iodine tablets
o Two Nalgenes, a collapsible water jug and a lifetime filter
o Five sticks of deodorant
o Uno
o Two Frisbees
o One Jump rope
o 500 hair ties
o Three tubes of toothpaste
o A ball of twine
o Two headlamps
o Two adapters
o A Leatherman
o 120 wet wipes
o One roll of toilet paper
o 12 passport photos
o One stick of Deet
o 10 gigs worth of memory cards

Regardless of how much I pack or how many lists I make, I'm sure they'll be things I wish I'd remembered and others it would have been better to forget. But today, one thing's for sure: if it didn't make it into my pack, it's not coming with me.