Keeping It Simple, Stupid

From the beginning of the trip to the end, I was hellbent on keeping things simple, to travel light, meaning to hold what items we brought to an absolute minimum. We brought no tent, only sleeping bags, of course. But the dictum went far deeper than that. Roger’s first complaint to Otto, in fact, is when he enters his bedroom at home and sees tons of items sprawled all over the floor, saying, “I thought we were going to show the world what roughing it really means.” Roger and Otto obviously had already talked about the hazards of clutter and extra weight, but Otto has a tough time complying. His backpack surely weighs more than Roger’s two bags put together. He’s not as spartan as his friend. Roger is far from done with the “travel light” mantra however. Since the Great Salt Lake he wears no underpants, calling them “mangy.” At least twice he is shown reducing what is in his bags. Once is in Hanford (the time he discovers Abbie Hoffman’s book stolen). The other comes in Huntington Beach. The latter purge he eliminates one of his two bags, explaining to Otto, “I needed a reduction in aggravation.” That meant a lot of his extra clothes. Later, in Las Vegas, he buys a new, smaller Jeri-Pak to replace the Yucatan bag which got soaked with gasoline. After cleaning out “torn maps, crumpled napkins, and snack crumbs,” he declares, “As long as I arrive home with my diary, I don’t care if I arrive home nude.” Now that’s going all the way. Clutter author Brooks Palmer writes, “It’s pointless to hold onto things that no longer support you. They take away from you, rather than give you energy. You ask yourself, ‘Is this piece helping me, or hurting me?'”