The adventures and various works of a photographer, road tripper, former patron of the local arts, aspiring app developer, and late night coffee drinker and conversationalist.
I've been spending quite a bit of time lately working on my long-neglected road trip travelogs and photo galleries. While going through related memorabilia and papers, sorting items into piles of what to file away versus what to discard, I stumbled upon my old pre-departure checklist from 2024. I make one of these lists before every significant out of town trip as a safeguard against leaving something important behind, a practice I began following a near "missed opportunity" in 2010. About two hours into a drive from my then-home in Allen, Texas to Hoopeston, Illinois, I realized that I'd left a critical piece of kitchenware destined for use at my friends' home back at my apartment. I ended up purchasing a new one at a Target store in Texarkana, an option that, while a bit pricey, was still better than the alternative of turning back and making what should have been a single day's drive up north take two days to complete. I started making my pre-departure checklists shortly thereafter.
I generally begin a list two weeks ahead of my departure date, adding individual items as they occur to me rather than trying to think of every single entry all at once. I've learned from experience that allowing this additional time makes me less likely to overlook some item I need to take along or to forget something I need to address at home. The following list may seem overly comprehensive, perhaps to the point of fastidiousness, but in reality I've become fairly expert at packing things efficiently for a couple of weeks on the road.
(Some items have been censored for privacy and/or security reasons)
