Making Room (or Trying to, Anyhow)

Packing clothes for a five- to six-month (or longer) road trip involves waaaaay more hair-splitting and decision-making than I’m comfortable with. While I was working I might have, say, 15-20 “business shirts” hanging in the closet — not counting the dozen or so which might be in the laundry basket after a couple weeks. So now, suddenly, I’ve gotta think, Let’s see: say I want to get everything into no more than one big suitcase for extended stays and one “go bag” for overnight stays… Suppose I want to pack for 2-3 weeks between laundry cycles, averaging 2-3 days per shirt (keeping them in rotation so no strangers would ever see the same ones twice… So I should be able to get by on maybe five shirts? In varying combinations with different undershirts, and of course socks and such? It’s hard to think in these terms. (Aside: yes, I know — this is very much a First World problem!)

You better believe the anguish is not confined to my own wardrobe. (You should see The Missus practically weeping as she packs away pairs of shoes for storage while we’re gone.)

It’s kinda funny to think about those old Hollywood movies in which people board a train for a two-week trip to California, say, and a porter follows along behind them, pulling a dolly piled high with trunks, suitcases, duffel bags, hatboxes, maybe a potted plant…

The problem of course: our “closet space” en route — the interior of the car — is so constricted. Besides clothes, shoes, and toiletries, we also need room for:

• the “car emergency” stuff I mentioned a couple days ago, and the “passenger emergency” stuff I haven’t said anything at all about;
• a cooler;
• my camera-gear backpack;
• a couple full-size pillows, maybe a blanket or two, and a “travel pillow” (I think that’s the technical term for the little thing The Missus likes to have on long trips);
• various electronic devices (laptops, phones, Kindles, and the cords we might need to charge them all);
• entertainment for the stays of more than 1-2 nights (cards, board games, Nintendo Switch, and the Roku and Chromecast devices which will let us watch all our regular TV)…

…and that’s just the stuff I remember off the top of my head.

Anyhow, we spent today boxing up (or holding for donation, or throwing away) the clothes we definitely will not be taking along with us in a couple weeks. All of this stuff (plus much else, of course) will end up in storage for however long we’re gone. I can’t speak for The Missus, but I can’t help wondering why I bothered accumulating it all in the first place.