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[All of my worldly possessions for the next three months - what have I forgotten?]

What have I forgetten? Most travelers only have to go through the angst of wondering what "article of highest importance" they've left behind once for any given trip. Because the motorcycles shipped out first, I get to stress over this twice, first when the bike was containerized, again now that I'm faced with the reality of shipping myself and my luggage overseas.

As you can see, the "kit" takes up a significant amount of floor space, but volume-wise, it will all fit into two 41 liter panniers, or a total of about 3 cu/ft (for those of us not yet blessed with the metric system). To be clear, I will be wearing most of the riding/protective gear, which takes up a lot of the "floor area" you see in the photo above. And, let's face it, since we've paid-for some sort of sleeping accomodations every night, I don't need to take such bulky items as a sleeping bag, pad, tent, cooking gear and food, but, when's the last time YOU spent 10 weeks with only 3 cu/ft. of "stuff" to define your total world?

And, in case you're wondering, the little "BMW Oilhead GS Tricycle" in the photo is an actual BMW product, and was a retirement gift from the fine team of people I had the honor to work with at my former employer. Perhaps I should have taken it - it requires a lot less in the way of fuel, oil, and spare parts than the one I'm actually riding for the trip! Or, given my retirement status, maybe they were just trying to tell me something....

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[Another view of my worldy possessions]

I depart Seattle via Northwest Airlines on SAT 27 APR 2002. This will be my last "Stateside" update, you'll hear next from me in Asia!

Mike M. Paull
22 APR 2002
LAT/LON N47.71718 W122.37428