A great many people seem interested with my facial hair of late. Before I decided to walk across the United States the only creatures who were ever concerned with this were dogs. Dogs love facial hair. I imagine to a dog it is an odiferous cornucopia of wonder and joy. I have been told I have a way with animals; that they seem to instinctively like me. Many times I have befriended a dog that I was told did not like people. I am not sure about other species, but as far as dogs are concerned the secret to my success is the goatee.

But now people are interested in my facial hair. Mainly they seem curious if I plan to let it grow out on my journey. I have to admit there is a sort of mystique to the idea of starting my trip clean shaven and ending it with a wild grown out beard. I have given this matter much thought. I really would love to do this but after consideration I fear I am just going to keep the goatee as well as I can.

The main reason for this is heat. I am mainly going to be walking in the spring and summer. I will also be going through several deserts. Beards are already hot and beards in high summer heat are doubly so. I have grown a full beard before and it has a tendency to go a bit out of control even when I try to maintain it. I fear letting it loose with no way to contain it might be unleashing an unspeakable horror on the world. So I shall carry a razor and do my best to keep my current appearance. Maybe when I get back I will let it go for eight months just for fun. Well… eight months or until it devours a cat.

I did a blog post about gear before with pictures and such but I am actually going to make an official list today. Those items I feel you might want to know more about I will hyperlink so you can read more about them. I might drop a sentence or two why I chose the particular item but I will try to keep it short. I will also be updating this from time to time. Any suggestions of things I may have left out would be greatly appreciated.

The Stroller a/k/a TARDIS – I chose this one because the seat reclines all the way down essentially creating a huge basket. I have had some comments that carrying gear in a stroller is creepy. I used to think that as well but not carrying fifty plus pounds on my back changed my mind.

Clothes

-Water-resistant conversion pants x 2

-Under Armour-esque Shirts x 5

-Pairs of socks x 5

-Underwear x 5

-Pajama pants x 1

-Pajama shirt x 1

-Gloves x 1

-Cool hat! x 2 –I have two cool hats and am torn as to which I will take. One is a wide brimmed sun hat which is probably more functional but the other is an Indiana Jones fedora and… well… you know. I also have a Jayne hat for when I need to feel brave.

-Reflective vest x 1

-Travel towel x 1

-Hooded waterproof jacket with removable lining x 1

Camping

-Tent

-Sleeping bag

-Heavy duty camp air mattress

-Stuff sacks – I have to sing the praises of these things. Most of the clothes and camping gear are in a stuff sack that can have the air pressed out of them so they get pretty flat. It saves on room and they can also double as a pillow.

-Camp stove

-Camp trowel

-Camp mallet

-Can opener

Assorted Gear

-Bear Vault (for food)
-Bear Spray

-Knife

-Leatherman Multitool

-Flashlight

-Head lamp

-Small electric lantern

-iPhone (4s, if you must know)

-Nintendo 3DS

-Solar Charger – I have had a lot of questions about charging gear. This thing is awesome. I have already field tested it several times and it really is amazing.

-Rechargeable battery backup

-”Business” cards

-Hand wipes

-Duct tape

-Bungee cords

-Rope

-First aid kit

-Glow sticks

-Waterproof tarp

-Toiletries

-Safety pins

Food

-I am not really going to make a list here as it will always be changing. Ideally I want to carry things that are light and also high in protein and calories. I will also be carrying roughly 2 gallons of water on me at the start, which I will obviously increase once I hit the desert.

And that is about it for now. I am sure I am going to be thinking of things over the next month or if you have suggestions please feel free leave a comment below.

I am thirty seven days away from my start and it is time for me to start begging for money! I really wish I did not have to do this but sadly everything costs money. I am pretty optimistic about the campaign and had a huge amount of help from many people putting it together. You are going to see a fair amount of emails and tweets from me in the next 45 days regarding fundraising, and for this I apologize. The more money I raise, though, will not only cover my expenses across the United States, but hopefully will also be more money donated to Child’s Play at the conclusion of my walk.

I want to give a huge thanks to Colin Campbell of IGN. He interviewed me yesterday about the walk and is publishing a story about me either today or Monday. I could not ask for better coverage and am pretty nervous about this. I thought I would be lucky to get a few interviews here and there during the walk and here I am already talking to IGN. Eep!

Things are about to be put into high gear during the weeks leading up to my departure. I have to find a good pair of starting shoes. The shoes I have been wearing are awesome but sadly not at all water resistant. I would even go as far as to call them water absorbent. So I shall have to find something else.

I am going to start checking and re-checking all of my gear on a weekly basis. You can never be too prepared. On Monday I am going to post an itemized list of everything I am taking with me so far. This way if I am forgetting anything obvious maybe someone out there can give me suggestions. Thanks in advance to anyone who took the time to look at my indiegogo campaign!