Down to the wire

Oh boy...a little overwhelmed. A lot of loose ends to tie up and I leave North Carolina tomorrow! I'll be heading up to DC to spend my last 3 days in the States with friends and family. Pretty excited....cookout with Alex and friends tomorrow evening, tour of the Capitol on Saturday.
Packing up 24 years worth of belongings in 4 days is proving more difficult than I imagined. It is hard to distinguish between what is worth keeping, what is necessary to keep and what is merely fodder and byproduct of my pack-rat nature. I'm making pretty good progress however and should be all done by tomorrow morning. A few odds and ends to go out and buy today:

• A pair of footwear. I don't know whether to get another pair of Saloman trailrunning shoes or a pair of Keen sandals. I'm leaning towards the shoes because they'll be better in cooler temps and the last two pairs I've owned were some of the most comfortable and durable shoes I've had.
• Assorted repair kit gear: tube, chain, new barwrap, bolts
• Cable and lock
• Frank Sun, a filmmaker friend of mine, encouraged me to get a small HD camcorder. I'm torn on this issue. I totally agree with him that having some of this on film is almost a necessity, but then again...that equals more batteries/chargers, more memory cards- just more to be concerned with in general. I'll check them out today and decide
• A international converter/charger of some sort. I've considered the Solio solar charges...I'll check those out today as well.
  

After I get those last pieces together I have to pack it all up. The bike is pretty much boxed...just have to throw in some water bottles, bungees, lights and whatever else I decide then tape the box up. I can't figure out how to deal with the camping gear and clothes. I guess I could do what I did when I flew back to NC from Portland. I bought a giant military duffel and just put everything in there. It is that or a box. I'm afraid either way I'm gonna get hit with charges from the airline since they changed their policy from when I booked the flight. Bullshit.
I just got back from the dentist. She was not very happy. Apparently my lack of checkups has resulted in some pretty sensitive bleeding gums, so I'd better stay on top of the brushin' and flossin' out there on the road. I felt bad because she kept saying that when I get back I should check in with her, but I honestly don't know when/if I'm coming back! Speaking of health, I've got to go try and hunt down 90 malarial pills. Apparently no pharmacies around here stock that many. Great. I may check UNC hospitals if I have to go over there to pick up John tomorrow. I also need to go make copies/scans of all my documents before I leave.
As you can see, I've got a ton to get done today! Hopefully I can knock it all out so that later I can have a few pints with a couple of folks I haven't gotten to say bye to. Also supposed to cook up some duck breast for dinner...luckily that's a pretty quick, simple recipe. Alright, that is all for now; I'll drop another post once I clear town I hope. Until then "Go n-eiri an bothar leat"!