One week

One week before I say goodbye to air conditioning and electricity (mostly).. Can't wait.

The Channel Islands are a chain of islands not too far off the coast of Santa Barbara and look incredible. However boat rides can be very tough to get, and expensive. I'm giving serious thought to kayaking out to the eastern-most island of Anacapa (12 miles off the coast) and camping in the national park there. I probably won't do it unless I can find someone else, or a group of others to go with. If I can't find a group, I will likely ferry out to an island, camp out, and kayak between the chain.

Camp site bookings

Booked quite a few campsites over the past week or so. I'm really interested to see what some of these are like. The grand canyon sites will be very interesting; as well, my california sites so far are basically on cliffs (bluffs) overlooking the pacific.

9/7/2007 - 9/8/2007: Grand Canyon - North Rim: http://www.us-parks.com/grand_canyon/north_rim_camping.html
9/8/2007 - 9/10/2007: Grand Canyon - South Rim: http://www.us-parks.com/grand_canyon/south_rim_info.html
9/10/2007 - 9/13/2007: South Carlsbad State Beach: http://www.goingtocalifornia.com/pages/state-parks-beaches/san-diego-county/south-carlsbad-state-beach.html
9/13/2007 - 9/16/2007: San Onofre State Beach: http://www.goingtocalifornia.com/pages/state-parks-beaches/san-diego-county/san-onofre-state-beach.html
9/17/2007 - 9/20/2007: San Clemente State Beach: http://www.parks.ca.gov/mediagallery/?src=../pages/646/images/san_clemente146_420x176.jpg&SearchPerformed=0&RecordPage=7&id=5342&page_id=646&displayCnt=8&searchThis=&thisTable=&searchWhat=&viewtype=4&previousView=1

YES.

A machete and a 300-watt blowtorch

I'm dropping dough for this trip like there's no tomorrow, but you never can be too prepared. The good news is that my only remaining necessities are dried & canned foods, a machete, and a good knife. I figure not too many folk will try much on a dude with a machete sticking out of his backpack.

The latest of my purchases was a solar-powered 300-watt battery charger (to keep my laptop & cel charged quietly) from EarthTech. It also has jumper cables and an air compressor attached; the thing almost seems custom-built for my trip -



I'll be interested to see how this sucker works.