Backpacking food

Keep it simple: freezer bag cooking, everything dehydrated, super cat stove...

Super cat stove and windscreen at left; meal at right

Freezer bag cooking means that you carry most dehydrated food in single portions, each one in a quart freezer-bag (regular baggies are too flimsy). It’s just a matter of boiling water, pouring it carefully into the bag, adding a little olive oil (from your little plastic bottle), and then putting the carefully sealed bag into a “cozy” (I use an insulated bag from a dollar store) for 5-10 minutes. It’s all pre-measured, there are no bowls or pans to clean, and it’s all very light. The freezer bag cooking site is at http://www.trailcooking.com/ and includes good info on dehydration. I use a Nesco 5-7 tray dehydrator (http://www.nesco.com/products/Dehydrators/). Dehydrating at home means overall better healthier food, and over time saves money.

The super cat stove is a cat food can with specific-size holes punched at measured intervals. Denatured alcohol from the hardware store is the fuel (I carry mine in two small Gator-Ade bottles). My windscreen is strips from a aluminum turkey pan from the dollar store. It takes about 30 ml alcohol to boil 2 cups of water. Instructions are at http://zenstoves.net/LowPressure.htm (have a look around Zen Stoves site – lots of good info). It is important to not use the super cat on top of duff or other flammable material, AND general burn bans apply to the super cat.

Breakfast staples include freeze-dried scrambled eggs (the only such pre-packaged trail food I carry) with pita bread and cheese. I put the eggs into freezer bags at home and divide 2 packages into 3 freezer bags (with some of my dehy jalapenos or salsa). I also carry oatmeal in freezer bags tarted up with milk, sugar, cinnamon, dried fruit, etc. Some days I just have an energy bar + hot chocolate. I’ve begun having some protein drink (see below) with breakfast. 

In the Wind Rivers - can you feel it. Stove with pan left front

Lunch and snacks are quick and include trail mix, energy bars, almonds, and half a Snickers candy bar. There are many excellent dried fruits and berries available in bulk at several stores, and these are good along the way, as is jerky.

Dinner includes (everything dehydrated) marinara with hamburger and angel hair pasta (all pasta is angel hair b/c easiest to dehydrate), chili with burger and pasta, mashed potatoes (Idahoan brand – so good!) with cheese, various dried sauces such as Alfredo and chipotle cream (when pre-measuring, add dry milk if milk needed) with pasta, tom kha with chicken (get soup mix + dry coconut milk and serve with instant rice or pasta) (dehy chicken [use canned to dehy] takes >10 minutes to rehy in a cozy). I bring cheese for half my dinners and have found that pepper jack lasts at least 2 weeks in the mountains. I add EV olive oil to almost everything for taste and >calories (carried in a small plastic bottle from REI). A wide variety of freeze-dried vegetables are now available in bulk from various stores – I don’t eat much of these as I like to take in lots of calories, protein, and carbs when backpacking.

Bread: I used to bring soft tortillas, but now I use bags of pita bread chips or something similar (such as flat bread) as they are lighter and more varied – I expel the air in the bag via a pin hole, bash them up some to make a smaller package, and put scotch tape over the pin hole. I also take smaller (not the smallest though) bags of Doritos, Fritos, etc. and treat them the same as the pita chips.

Pasta with onions, peppers, olives, chicken, etc. All dehydrated at home

Prepared trail meals: REI, Campmor, and retail stores sell prepared meals from brands like Backpacker’s Pantry, Mountain House, and Richmoor. Few people rave about these, though generally, they’re okay. Two-person meals are the best deal. It’s a good idea to re-package them in freezer bags to save space and decrease trash to carry out. An internet source (real people, in Austin) that gets good reviews is Packit Gourmet: http://www.packitgourmet.com/  Packit Gourmet has some good pointers on their website.

Protein drink: I use Walmart brand whey-based protein drink as part of my work-out regimen at home and have begun taking some, mixed with dry milk, when I’m backpacking. I mix up ~500ml (with cold lake/river water) every day, have a little with breakfast, and the rest mid to late morning. This seems very helpful to maintaining my strength and energy along the way.

Coffee: Starbucks instant coffee packets are the best, though there are now some pretty good packets from other makers. Hot chocolate is always good.

Other: A package of cooked bacon pieces goes well with several things. Spam comes in single-serve packs and ain’t bad (nor very good). Olives and similar foods can be well-rinsed and dehydrated, as can fresh basil, jalapenos, salsa, etc. I chew several sticks of Doublemint gum along the trail every day. Gum is essential in the desert. 

Sources of information:

Backpacker forum food section http://forums.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?

Freezer Bag Cooking http://www.trailcooking.com/

Packit Gourmet http://www.packitgourmet.com/

And Google, of course.

Rosary, women, my generation, it’s the economy, trance…

We were moving her from the wheelchair to the table where the procedure would be done. He was doing most of the lifting and I was on the other side of the table just kind of stabilizing things. I looked down, past his ageing head bent over his wife and I saw her face, like so many other faces I’ve seen – people who are dying, gaunt, the bones in ever sharper definition, and her eyes staring as we eased her back on the table.

Rosary from Nora

She said she finds herself saying the Rosary she learned in her childhood in an orphanage. I asked her if she would like a rosary now and she said yes. I asked a friend where I could find one, and she had one made and brought it over the next day. Very beautiful. I think I’d like one too.

__________

I was thinking about an ancient gender role that I’m sure most will agree is very, very far out

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopus, and Mary Magdalene.” (John 19:25) And it’s still true today, that women are so often there at our comings and goings – the midwife, the L&D RNs; and at the end, nurses, whether in acute care or hospice. Now, even a lot of the chaplains are women. Of course there are men there too, but have a look: women are doing most of the heavy lifting. Honor and Glory.

__________

CK and Melvin at Follow Your Bliss

In my life I’ve seen and played some small parts in the most amazing generation in the history of the world. We brought you civil rights, rock & roll (the real thing, not Frankie Avalon), the youth movement, the sexual revolution, the consciousness revolution, women’s liberation, hospice, environmental consciousness, and gay rights. We fought and died in foreign places. We saw the Kennedys and Martin Luther King gunned down. We were beat down and got the fuck back up in Mississippi, the Stonewall Riots, Chicago, Kent State, LA, and so on. We turned on and worked harder to change the world. Some died and some went to prison for their beliefs. We actually redefined sex roles frozen for millennia. And it’s still happening now, in the third generation of this generation.

Of course there's a huge amount to be done - many, many lifetimes worth, but what a start!

__________

The Welcome Lights on the arbor at our front sidewalk

The Morning News published this letter from me: There is an endless stream of anybody-but-Obama conservatives saying the real issue (other than who marries whom) is the economy and that’s what we should be talking about. Okay. Let’s talk about the role of banks running hog-wild through this nation’s economy in how we got to this place. Let’s talk about JPMorgan Chase as the reputed best of the lot and their efforts to further deregulation. Let’s talk about the role Bush and Cheney played in getting us to this place. Let’s talk about increasing student loan rates and Congress slashing everything but loopholes for the rich. Let’s talk about the incessant truculent whining of the super-wealthy and their hunger to have more, more, more while the middle and working classes do most of the real work and pay a disproportionate share of taxes. Yes, let’s talk about the economy.

__________

An email to Jeff: M, one of the people involved in the scene in Austin put on his first psytrance park party. He asked several people, including me to help and we did. I baked some excellent cookies and brought the gazebo and a few decos. L, M’s brother drove to Dallas from Mount Pleasant and then I drove us to Austin.

It was good: good music (actually outstanding music), good vibes, nice people, good food. About 50 people came. There was a little bit of an underground vibe to the whole thing. For me it was momentary dancing and mostly hanging out, getting to know people I’d met before and meeting some new people, just a very nice time, and like I said, it was M’s first time to put a party on. It’s kind of like we were a little crew. We’re also putting on a pot-luck at Embodied Awakening.

Grosbeak in our back yard - an unusual occurance

Everyone is looking forward to Embodied Awakening in late June. Soooo many good things happening there. It’s from Atrium Obscurum, the people I’ve been working with; same-as Deep in the Heart of Trances. I hope you guys are coming. Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky…

__________

I can see it, clear as day!

In some important respects, my adult life has just been bookended with President Obama’s coming out today in support of equal rights. A happy day! In 1964, when this song came out, I was 20 years old, wandering, trying to figure it all out, learning about new things, like rock-climbing, civil rights, war, being a man. In 1966 I went to war, in 1967 I came home, in 1968, Chicago… The Whole World is Watching! What a time I’ve lived in!

When the Ship Comes In

CK at DMZ, 1967

Oh the time will come up
When the winds will stop
And the breeze will cease to be breathin'
Like the stillness in the wind
'Fore the hurricane begins
The hours when the ship comes in.

And the seas will split
And the ship will hit
And the sands on the shoreline will be shaking
Then the tide will sound
And the wind will pound
And the morning will be breaking.

Oh the fishes will laugh
As they swim out of the path
And the seagulls they'll be smiling
And the rocks on the sand
Will proudly stand
The hour that the ship comes in.

And the words that are used
For to get the ship confused
Will not be understood as they're spoken
For the chains of the sea
Will have busted in the night
And will be buried at the bottom of the ocean.

A song will lift
As the mainsail shifts
And the boat drifts on to the shoreline
And the sun will respect
Every face on the deck
The hour that the ship comes in.

DK and CK at the Pacific Ocean, 2011

Then the sands will roll
Out a carpet of gold
For your weary toes to be a-touchin'
And the ship's wise men
Will remind you once again
That the whole wide world is watchin'.

Oh the foes will rise
With the sleep in their eyes
And they'll jerk from their beds and think they're dreamin'
But they'll pinch themselves and squeal
And know that it's for real
The hour that the ship comes in.

Then they'll raise their hands
Sayin' we'll meet all your demands
But we'll shout from the bow your days are numbered
And like Pharaoh's tribe
They'll be drownded in the tide
And like Goliath, they'll be conquered.

We’re not done yet, but today is a great day in the march toward freedom in America.

Backpacking to take list

David at Big Bend

What I carry for ~10 days, plus food. Totals about 40 pounds. Obviously I'm thinking about the next trek.

Need?

Rope?
Crampons?

Ice axe?

Clothing (Permethrin spray every year)

1 T shirt REI

1 Long Sleeve Shirt (Synthetic)

1 Thermal long underwear top and bottom

1 Cotton underwear

1 Trousers

1 Fleece

1 Shade hat 

1 Gloves (Wool/Synthetic)

1 Watch Cap (fleece or wool)

1 pair Socks (Wool/Synthetic)

1 Boots
1 pair gaiters

1 Rain Jacket & Pants

1 Down Jacket & stuff sack

Wind River Mountains: Titcomb Basin

Extra clothes (socks, underwear, lg underwear)

Crocs for camp and crossing rivers

Shelter

Tent – stakes, poles

Tent footprint

Sleep

Sleeping Bag

Sleeping Pad

Tyvek

Kitchen

Stove (cat food can - photo below)

Fuel Canisters x2 with 250 ml alcohol each

Cozy

Heat tabs and can

Pot/Bowl/Cup

Spoon (Lexan)

Foil Windscreen

Ziplock (x1 Gallon size for trash)

Bic lighter (mini)

Cooking tarp, stakes, rope

Bear vault

Packing

Pack

Rain cover

Pack Liner (Trash Bag)

CK at bottom Twins Glacier after a long glissade

Stuff sack for clothing

Stuff sack for food

Stuff sack for essentials

ID, Cash, Visa and Permit(s) holder

Webbing/Lashing/Bungee

Ziplocks (x4 quart and x1 gallon)

Essentials

Trekking poles

Knife

Batteries

Fire – Bic & matches

Ice ax

Light (Headlamp, Photon)

Whistle

Nylon Cord (50’)

Bear Canister

Duct Tape

DEET – 100%

Sun Screen

Sun Glasses

Notebook & pens

Camera with new batteries

Navigation

Map

Compass (adjustable declination)

Watch

Grand Canyon: 3/4 way down, storm coming

Spot

Hydration

2L Reservoir (x1) - Platypus

1-2 1L Gatorade bottle (if desert)

1L Nalgene?

Water Purification (Katdyn pump, chemicals)

First Aid/meds

Rx meds

Sleep

Fiber

Cox-2s, ibu

ABX cream

Bandaids

Moleskin

TAC cream

ACE

Tweezers

Suture set

Hygiene

Hand Sanitizer – Repackaged

Chapstick

Paper towel 2/day

Toilet Paper, towelettes, Vaseline, hand sanitizer, trowel in Ziplock

Tooth Brush

Kitchen: seat, super cat stove, alcohol, cozy, etc. 

Tooth Paste

Floss

Car

Wood mini-platform

Pillows, big and small

Sleeping bag

Foam pad

Flashlight
Fan

Light screen

Map/Atlas

Books

Ice chest

Ice

Coffee

Chair

Phone charger, phone

Change of clothes x 2

Hand Sanitizer

Little notebook, pens

"Butterflies!" "Lots of butterflies!"

On a still evening the fragrance is intense in our front yard, the porch, and even into the house. The fragrance comes mostly from Confederate jasmine and the roses Buff Beauty (1939 - year of introduction) and Maggie (unknown)..

4/19. I’ve been watching for fireflies and tonight was the first night they were out around our house.

4/20. A mother and child about 3-4 years old were walking by the house. The child exclaimed “Butterflies!” His mom responded, “Lots of butterflies!”


Photo: The walk up to our house. The rose on the arbor is New Dawn (1930) and there in another rose with smaller blooms in the right of the photo - Marie Pavie (1888). Blue and white flowers are larkspur, an old-fashioned annual that reseeds every year.

4/22. I was sitting on the front porch and a blue jay landed on the edge of the porch, then quickly flew away. A few minutes later I saw the first hummingbird I’ve seen this year. Aha! I put a wide shallow container of water at the edge of the porch. That will be the 4^th of the sources of water we maintain for birds.

I was watching a television program called Children’s Med. It’s about Children’s Medical Center in Dallas; it’s about life and death and things that are part of those: fear, hope, agony, joy, waiting, the most meticulous work imaginable, and so on. And the staff – some heavy-hitters, people spending years on the edge, people with vast knowledge, people who push the clinical envelope all the way past the known frontiers, people of mercy and compassion… One of the nurses said, “I can’t think of a higher purpose.” It amazes me that I’ve worked with some of those people and I’ve taught some of them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw6pJHktST8&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL4DD2FD95512F136C;

Sending time with Leslie (today we tried Colonel Kababz – chicken tika masala, an eggplant dish, naan chicken biryani, onion, potato pastry all for $8); working in the yard; baking cookies, bread, a most amazing flourless chocolate cake; looking to the mountains, to San Francisco, to dancing in the forest. 


Photo: A nice front porch to sit on, seeing (through the roses and other foliage) our quiet street. I made both the tables >40 years ago, the blue and white ceramic incense burner we bought in Saigon; the big pot once held "100 year-old" eggs; there's a kaffir lime tree, fossils, a split rock from the incredible Wind River Mountains, a small Burmese temple gong...

In the garden; retirement

(From email to S) When you get out of your car, the plant with large leaves on your left is Swiss chard, going to seed. The tall plants with airy foliage and delicate white flowers are cilantro going to seed. Down lower, the plant with purplish flowers is sage. On your right, the plant with grayish foliage and many small flower spires is old-fashioned lavender. The tall plants with airy foliage and spires of mostly blue, and a few white or pink spires are larkspur – an old-fashioned annual that reseeds itself every year. That's one place on the median strip. Photo: Passiflora (in back garden)

Over the past two weeks, out front, I‘ve planted tomatoes (Big Bush and Big Bush Early Girl) and peppers (serrano and jalapeno); divided and transplanted the big clump of lemon grass, some garlic, rosemary, Mexican tarragon; and planted some sweet alyssum. I’ve been working on the soil (the most important part) for years. The Texas mountain laurel is at the end of its spectacular bloom and so is the rosemary; the wood sorrel (oxalis) is an undulating carpet of little pink flowers on mounds of leaves like clover; and some of the roses are blooming (Katy Road Pink, Maggie, Archduke Charles, Marie Pavie, Cecile Brunner, and Buff Beauty), as are lavender, sage, and most of the iris. The larkspur is spectacular.

The landscaping crews call our house “la casa de las rosas.” All of the roses in the front yard are old garden roses; for example, Cecile Brunner (the sweetheart rose) was introduced in 1881, Old Blush in 1752, Archduke Charles sometime before 1837, and so on. Photo (below): Front yard, with Katy Road Pink blooming in foreground

In the back, I’ve cleared a densely overgrown area of the garden and planted pole beans, cantaloupe, basil, cilantro, tomato, pepper,

and for flowers, so far, I’ve planted stock, zinnia, and moonflower. All of this against a backdrop of a magnificent growth of passiflora in full bloom. The rest of the back garden is pretty overgrown, with several peach trees (need to thin the fruit), several roses blooming (Tiffany, Fragrant Cloud, a coral-colored rose, Lady Banks, Marie Pavie, and Zepherine Drouhin – my favorite), herbs growing very well (rosemary, oregano, savory, garlic, and several others), San Pedro growing slowly, and there is a great stand of peach-colored bearded iris.

Retirement

The main things happening are Leslie and I just hanging out and traveling together (Asia and Cali). I’m backpacking, baking, gardening, and increasingly involved in the local psytrance scene. But the main thing is being with Leslie.

A basic day

• Coffee together in bed, talking, watching the birds and Chubby the squirrel, I get a leg rub, we plan our day.
• To the gym – 30 minutes all-together with 20 minutes on the Stairmaster, getting ready for a trek in the Winds. 45 pushups, this and that machines.
• Work in the garden – major projects going on. I’m clearing and digging an area that’s been overgrown for years. I’ll grow beans, cantaloupe, squash, and basil in this new area; roses, other flowers, peaches, garlic, herbs, tomatoes, and peppers are growing elsewhere.
• Meanwhile, Leslie is working on David’s retirement plans.
• To lunch with Leslie – Aw Shucks to split a catfish basket.
• 15 minute nap
• Then Leslie lies down for a back and leg rub, then a nap.
• Garden


• Internet
• Working on some bread – two “no-knead” country loaves, one with pepper jack cheese and one plain. I’ll bake tomorrow.
• Dinner with Leslie
• Hanging out, partly with Leslie, partly alone - internet, looking at maps (plotting out routes in the Wind Rivers), reading

Other days/other things: I go to Bible study almost every week and church school some Sundays. Leslie spends a lot of time working on the business parts of our life and is still usually involved in helping someone else. She and I have found so many great places to eat, like Ban Cuon Thang Long, Pho Bang, IndoPak Café, First Chinese BBQ, and of course, Central Market, so we have lunch out together almost every day, though about once/week we each have lunch with a friend. Most weeks I have dinner with my brothers, usually at El Taquito. Photo (above): Back garden. Pink roses are Tiffany, red roses in back are Zepherine Drouhin, red roses at left front are actually coral-colored and I don't know the name, iris to the left, and the small flowers in lower left corner are native columbine. Photo below taken from street in front of our house. Blue spires are larkspur, white flowers are iris, I don't know the name of the yellow flowers.

Planning: travel to Cali to be with David, maybe elsewhere too, like Boston, maybe Nepal; trance events (yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky); backpacking, including a short hike in the Sangre de Cristos and a 10-11 day trek on the Glacier Trail in the Wind Rivers –

“an epic journey” according to my guidebook.

Ahh, Leslie

I sent this to you almost exactly a year ago. And here I am again, saying...

(Click here to hear it) There were trains, and we out-run 'em; There were songs, and we out-sung 'em; There were brighter days, never ending; There was time, and we were burnin'; There were rhymes, and we were learnin' – There was all the love two hearts could hold.

And after all this time, you're always on my mind; Hey I could never let it end, 'cause my heart takes so long to mend; The dream that keeps your hopes alive; The lonely nights you hold inside; And after all this time, you're always on my mind – I still want you

There was rain, that we outlasted; There was pain,

but we got past it; There were last goodbyes, still left unspoken; There were ways I should have thrilled you; There were days I could have killed you – You're the only love my life has known.

And after all this time, you're always on my mind; Hey I could never let you go, a broken heart that heals so slow, could never beat for someone new, while you're alive and I am too; And after all this time, you're always on my mind – I still love you.

And I could never let it in, 'cause my heart takes so long to mend; The dream that keeps your hopes alive, the lonely nights you hold inside; And after all this time, you're always on my mind – I still want you; Hey after all this time, you're always on my mind – I still love you.