Who Knew…

Now that I have all my gear organized, time to concentrate on what I’m going to eat. Typically if it doesn’t cook in a microwave in under 4 minutes I don’t eat it, I exaggerate for effect but it’s not far from the truth. By comparison, getting all the excursion equipment was child’s play.

As I did with my gear, I’ve created a planning spreadsheet and listed each of the 15 days broken down as follows:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Snacks

compiled an itemized list of everything required including condiments, spices and drinks, I don’t want just be drinking water for two weeks.

I won’t need to cook every meal and anticipate there will be some that I stop at restaurants for, even still that’s somewhere between 30-40 meals that I have to pre-plan and carry along.

One of the downsides of doing this trip solo is I have to carry EVERYTHING, I really don’t think there will be enough room for equipment and food for 15 days.

Couple of options…

Pack enough food for around 5 days and re-supply along way, shouldn’t be too much of an issue, there are many places along the Trent to get more supplies. Also means I can vary the menu along the way and can have more days with fresh food like vegetables and non-dried fruit.

Alternative, split food into groupings enough for 5 days and pre-mail care packages to either a specific lock or post office box with instructions to keep onsite with an expected pick up date. I’ve heard this can work really well if you plan properly. Has the side benefit that I could also include more clothes to save me from doing laundry. I can’t take 15 changes of clothes so this way I could take the new stuff out, re-pack with old stuff and ship back home. Logistically I’m not sure if this is too much of a hassle, at least considering it.

I will probably wait until I do a test pack with a kayak, Swift Canoe doesn’t open until may so I’m a couple of weeks away from doing that. Once I know how much room is left over I can make a final call.

Might even bring the fishing rod, fresh fish might be a nice change.