Travel Day 1

Hey there from Indiana! Most of these travel posts will be fairly short, since we spend a lot of time driving, mostly. Garrett (a fellow undergrad) and I exposed Penny (our professor) to the wonder that is Cards Against Humanity. And then we all cussed at the harsh right angles in I-90 in Cleveland. We're currently stopped in a hotel in Fremont/Angola area, and plan on driving some more tomorrow. And doing some more Cards Against Humanity.

I just had some really EXCELLENT macaroni and cheese, which has so far been a pretty big highlight of our travels. But this is only the first day of a 40 day excursion, so there will almost certainly be more.

Will keep you all posted, and I hope that you all had a nice Thursday!

T -3 Nights

I managed to get all of the supplies that I can't buy from normal stores today! Hand lenses and a proper field book for note-taking were the last things I was waiting on, aside from a climbing helmet (for the caves) and an air mattress (which I'm borrowing from a friend). Can I just say that science is really expensive sometimes? And I'm lucky that my family (and a few friends) is willing to help with the costs, I can't imagine funding this by myself. Yikes.

Anyway, tonight I'm packing away all the supplies I will not need until we get to Natural Trap Caves in Wyoming. Tomorrow, I'm helping my professor and a classmate pack up the truck we're going to be driving out in on Thursday, and Wednesday I'll probably be cleaning up the apartment and finishing up some things at the lab before we go. Hopefully I can use all the milk I still have in my fridge. Maybe I'll just make a lot of rice pudding and give it to people? I don't know.

I do wonder if I'm packing too much in terms of clothes. Then again, I sweat an immense amount, and shirts usually don't last more than one day without becoming Extremely Disgusting™. But this has also been my experience mainly in Rochester, where humidity is high and AC is expensive, while back home in Salt Lake it wasn't humid and there was a swamp cooler. This will be a fun experiment, of sorts.

All I need to do now is buy supplies for the first-aid kit, and some long socks. I'm debating whether or not to wear my hiking boots or pack them away. I still need to break them in, but packing them away will also be helpful. Also, how should I pack away everything? Suitcase or duffel bag? How many bags? My professor said that a suitcase is really helpful, because then there's a table-type thing to use in the tent. Hrmm.

I better go finish packing. Will probably be posting tomorrow evening again.

T -8 Nights

I have a majority of my field gear bought. I am eating up the rest of the food that's in the apartment I'm subletting. My tarantula hasn't eaten, so that's still something I need to make sure happens. I should also make sure that I have rent payment plans set up, which might be more tricky for a future me to figure out while I'm in the field. But also, eh, I'll leave that to future me.

I'm feeling excited, but also do not have very much foresight in terms of expectations I have. This will probably be the first time I will be seriously camping away from immediate access to civilization, which I am very excited for. But I also feel vastly underprepared, in a way. As much as I loved camping with my family and church groups, there were not very many opportunities for understanding how to do things in survival situations. I have also never done any real geological excavating with proper tools and handbooks and the like. I don't really know what to expect, other than probably at least one major sunburn and lots of dust and desert dryness.

Well, I guess I better go make one of those "for those of you who are stumbling along this blog" post/page things. Will post every now and again as departure day comes closer.