Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Plans within Plans

The tentative 2010 schedule is now to do Physh camp Olympia the first weekend of May. Stagger through La Cloche Silhouette in the burning heat of early July and then hit the ‘Dacks in the crisp fall air.

In between I want to get out and do some Geo-caching. I still haven’t settled on a GPS though. I know more or less what I want but the question is can I afford it? I need to sit down and do the financial outlook for 2010 to match up to my schedule.

Who knew stepping off the rails would require so much planning? I suppose I could just do whatever I feel like but really I think that will lead to either a voluntarily permanent debt induced indentured servitude (the exact state of affairs I’m trying to escape from) or at best a massive delay in my escape.

I’ve got to find that balance that will allow me to set off on the road I want to be on as soon as I can without sacrificing the now.

This weekend I’m heading out to spend a small fortune dragging my anchor(s) to Toronto. I’m sure by Sunday night I’ll hate my mountain of stuff even more. Which might be good. It might make it easier to part with even more of it.

I hope.

Yeah, it’s a pretty complicated love-hate thing that I have with my stuff at this point.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Big Smoke

So here I am in the Big Smoke. It's big. And it's warm. I'll have to switch back to my September coat.

Did the GO train Subway commute today. This mass transit thing is not for the poor. I guess the poor are supposed to stay home and watch TV or something. And it's pretty time consuming as well but all in all not too bad. At least I got to sit down and relax which makes it better than driving by a long shot. I'm going to pester the manager about moving to an off peak schedule, probably 10-6 in the hopes that it will help the commute. As a bonus if I go in late I'll be able to stay up all night getting wasted!

The house is nice. And spacious. Good thing too. The Boss has a ton of stuff and when my ton of stuff is added to it the house will be full. Then the Boss will start selling my stuff that I have in duplicate of hers. I'm sure she'll sell a few of her things too for show ;)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

The long and winding road

Even the road to the start point of the road can have many twists and turns. I’ve already been diverted from the AT to the Camino. Now it look like the financing has evaporated for the time being.

We bought land. Nice land and lots of it. At a good price even. But this means no Camino in 2010. Three months of leave without pay plus the expense of the trip is no longer financially viable.

I’ve got mixed feelings. I’m very glad to get the land now and at this price but I’m a bit sad that I’m going to have to delay my big trip by at least a year. I am still determined to go on a long distance hike (or two) it’s just that the time lines are changing.

So now I’m looking at 2011. That’s not too bad – the next oil crisis is only predicted for 2012 and even that assumes a swift global economic recovery. So in 2011 things should still be affordable.

For 2010 I will need to come up with something smaller. Less expensive and that will fit into my paid vacation time. Probably another go at La Cloche Silhouette. Or possibly the Adirondack Trail that I was going to try this fall but that got derailed by my imminent transfer to the GTA (which happens this weekend BTW).

On the bright side I should be in for a Physh Camp 2010! I'm looking at a return to the Booth Lake area maybe around the first weekend of May.