Two weeks ago we had a packing party. This entailed packing all your gear up, taking it to the meeting room, unpacking it all and then repacking it to take home afterwards.
What's the reason behind this you may ask? Sounds kind of silly doesn't it? Well, it was a good idea for a couple of reasons.
First - I am now sure that all my gear will fit into my Kilimanjaro duffle bag and that I am within the weight limit. They are a bit squidgy about what exactly the limit is, but it has settled on 25 - 35 lbs, including your sleeping bag. All in I am at 28 lbs with a few small items still to be added. NOTE: this does NOT mean I am looking for more things to take with me. What it does mean is that I don't have to jettison any of my six lbs of snacks.
Second - We all got a chance to look at what everyone else is bringing and decide if they have better ideas/ taste than we do. One lady was taking pictures of my sleeping socks (TMax from Mark's Work Wearhouse - warmest socks you will ever wear). We got to debate the merits of round compression sacks vs. uncompressed square packing cubes.
Third - for the two members of Team Antelope (my team) that attended, we got to decide who was bringing what team gear. Of course, the ones who weren't there got saddled with all the hard to find, heavy, large volume stuff, while those of us who attended got the easy, light gear to contribute.
I now have two huge piles on my downstairs table - one that's going in my carry on and one that will be in my checked luggage because, of course, how we pack to go up the mountain is not how we pack to actually get to Africa!
Currently nine sleeps left until we fly off. It has long seemed that departure date was a long ways away and now, all of a sudden, it is just around the corner. My list of things to do is very short, which I find quite scary because I'm worried I have missed something. Still, my conventional pre-vacation advice is always - "you have a credit card, they have stores" and I'm going to stick with that line of thinking.
The training.....
I've had my orthotics for over a month now and I am seeing improvement in my feet. They still hurt after about 2 hours of hiking, but the soreness doesn't last as long as it used to and it doesn't bother me the next day. I have also had some accupuncture and massage. I think my feet will be in good enough shape to get me to the top and back down safely.
I have done my last training walk outside. I nailed my layers for very cold weather and am comfortable with the clothing choices I have made. With the very cold weather and the icy conditions that currently exist here, I am getting more afraid every day of injuring myself outside and have since decided to finish my training in the gym. This also means I can do my final laundry now and actually put things in my suitcase.
I have been doing indoor stairs again and am pleased to say I actually learned something and did not overdo it the first time. I am gradually working my way up (no pun intended) to longer sessions.
Stay tuned....9 sleeps left!
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