If you could do it all over again ...

We've been asked a lot of 'What would you change/do differently?' questions from future thru-hikers, friends and family since our return from the Pacific Crest Trail.

And what better way to address this semi-constant question then through our blog. The question varies a bit, but the root is the same: Would you do anything differently if you were to hike the Pacific Crest Trail again?

1.) Go lighter. This is easier said than done. We already had pretty light packs - 11- to 12-pound base weight - but I think there were a couple of items that could have stayed home.

2.) More cowboy camping. Our tarp tent would still be with us throughout the trail. I would have packed some Tyvek as a ground cloth and camped underneath the stars more often.

3.) Cathole preparedness. I have come to the conclusion that a trowel is essential, especially north of the desert. The ground is rooty, rocky and harder north of Kennedy Meadows General Store, mile 700ish.

4.) A few more food drops. We SHOULD HAVE shipped to Snoqualmie Pass, White Pass and Skykomish in Washington. I will have a post listing all of our food and data drops soon. Just be sure to add the ones I listed above, especially Snoqualmie. Super overpriced food.

5.) To bounce or not to bounce? Our bounce bucket, which held extra first-aid stuff, batteries, vitamins etc., etc., was incredibly helpful in the beginning. It lost its usefulness somewhere in Oregon and I should have shipped it home from Ashland, Ore.

6.) The first day. We had way too much crap with us for the first 100 miles to Warner Springs section. I would only carry enough food to get to Mount Laguna General Store. The store had plenty of food and good variety.

Voting for vagabonds

It can be tough voting if you've been in the woods for five months. Think of all of those hundreds of stories about Obama, McCain and even Hilary earlier this summer that we missed. How can I possibly make an educated decision about the candidates?
When I reentered society I thought, should I start from the beginning? Or simply pick up today's newspaper and forget about any relevant news stories that came out this summer?

As a journalist and news junkie I went back. But I seriously doubt if this is typical vagabond behavior. For one, it's not really realistic. Who has that much time? Oh yeah, I do.

During my search of the political archives, I stumbled upon these news gems. I know I am much more informed about issues now that I've read stories about Las Vegas strippers dressing up like Palin and how numberology proves that Obama is not the anti-Christ.

This is what happens when presidential hopefuls kick off their campaigns 20 months before the actual election. The news hole must be filled!

In celebration of Election Day - the first one in 10 years that I haven't been working as a reporter - I have posted a few more fun and weird political stories.

• Focus on Family Action pulling a video from its Web Site that asked people to pray for rain "of biblical proportions" during the Democratic convention
  
  
• New york Daily News hires a Palin look-alike to walk the street of NYC
  
  
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offers talks with "black man" in the White House

I also would be remiss to not offer up some interesting political stories from my friend, blogger and reporter Rob Mentzer. Here's his blog: http://amillionmonkeys.blogspot.com/

Or go to his pre-election links on his blog at the Wausau Daily Herald, his day job.

Finally, this has nothing to do with the presidential election, but any political ad that compares a candidate to R. Kelly is brilliant.

Here are some other odd political ads. And by odd, I mean really bad.

It's a wrap! Sort of

It's been six weeks since we finished the Pacific Crest Trail, so I guess it's over. It's no longer appropriate to camp in my mother-in-law's yard.

Our vagabonding ways must come to an end.

And hey, what better time to be out there looking for a job, right? It's not as if there's an economic meltdown occurring.

On second thought ... Maybe now is not the time to stop roaming. Maybe it's just the beginning for us.

We should probably wrap up our Pacific Crest Trail stuff before I start talking about a new adventure. I received a number of e-mails or comments from people who followed our trail journal or blog. There were lots of questions about the trail. I'll answer them as best I can over the next few days. Each post will try and address a different question so people can focus on one subject at a time or skip it all together.

For example, I got a lot of questions about pooping, which is sort of odd because it's pretty straightforward. But hey, I'm here to help, so keep your eyes on the blog for a post on pooping in the wild.