Indeed, between having work and doing various tasks, time is flying by.

Both Dan and I are now getting all the things we need out and our bedroom is a wee bit of a mess! I have a bag that contains things that I must take in carryon. Then I have a stack of things I know can go in the (sadly) checked luggage, including new trekking poles. Why new, you might ask, since we already have excellent poles? Well, Dan got ours out yesterday and we realized they don’t collapse small enough for our smaller suitcases! I, at least, will be taking a smaller case, while Dan will have to see if all his clothing and gear will even work in the small one. (Men’s clothes take up more space, wouldn’t you know?!) I did a bit of a search and found some, via Amazon, that will work (15” when collapsed!) and reviews said that, for cheaper poles, they were pretty good. I ordered them yesterday and they were outside our front gate early this morning. (Sigh: I have clear instructions about leaving things inside the gate. Oh well.)

Next up is a bit crazy; We have to pack our suitcase with everything we won’t be taking on the Great Glen Way walk. We need to be sure everything will fit in the suitcase that gets transported from place to place by a company that is doing that for us (Mickledore takes care of arranging all that). If it all fits we are set for that. THEN we redo the packing for our flights, so that the essential things that must not be lost will travel in carryon with us. Some of that isn’t necessary for the trail (like charging gear and whatnot), but we do need it with us during flights and layovers and we definitely don’t want to lose it. For carryon we will use our daypacks and the “personal item” we are allowed when we fly United. Our second leg getting to Glasgow is on Lufthansa and then we are actually allowed two carryon items plus our personal item, but weight is the issue there. At that point I will probably have to take my camera out of the daypack and carry it as the second carryon piece. Crazy, right? I wish airlines could all have the same rules, but that’s never going to happen, I’m sure.

Anyway … to clarify: first we pack as if we are on the walk, then we repack as if we are heading to the planes.

Meanwhile … this was bound to happen, I suppose, pessimist that I am … my back went out last week. The day it happened — all because I was changing the guest bed sheets — I could barely walk. The second day improvement had happened, but it still wasn’t great. Gradually, though, it felt better, with only minor twinges. This morning, however, it went bad again. Not to the “can’t walk” stage, but not good at all. So this week I have to be extremely careful. The house won’t get as clean as I’d hoped, but I’m sure our housesitters will understand. AND Dan’s hip has been giving him problems!

Ah, timing! But this is one reason we decided we MUST have our trekking poles with us.

I will now put on an optimist’s hat and say, “I’m sure all will be well.”

My pessimist voice is arguing, but I’ve put him out the door and I’m not listening! Instead I’ll pray that, indeed, all will be well. 😊