Cool feet and dry clothes

I'm hoping this will be the last post about the aquisition of gear, and that from here on out any 'gear' related posts will be in relation to actual usage. I've wrapped up a few more purchases as I inch closer to closing the bag, opening the door and walking through it. Originally I thought that I would take only the new Salomon (XA Pro 3D XCR) shoes and a pair of cheap flip-flops for walking around, however after testing out the Salomons a bit I decided to reconsider. Don't get me wrong, the Salomons are great, and I'm sure will prove to be worth every penny, but they do tend to get pretty warm after a bit of walking. As a result, I thought that it might be nice to take another pair of shoes that would allow me to still do a fair amount of walking, while keeping my feet cool in the process and so I decided to purchase a pair of Chaco ZX/2 'performance sandals'. I haven't been a huge fan of these in the past, but have several friends (mostly hippie extremists) that swear by them. Based on my limited experience, they should be perfect for the above stated goal.

Another item which I wasn't entirely sold on taking, but finally decided to order (thanks to some input from my buddy Adam) was a travel clothesline.

After trying on a couple dozen, I finally managed to find a hat that fits my oddly shaped, oblong head: the Mountain Hardwear Fast Pack Cap. I'm also happy to report that my Mountain Hardwear Compass Shirt long-sleeve finally arrived this week and it's great: fits well, is comfortable, fast dry, looks good (meaning normal).