It's A Weighty Matter, Or It Matters That It Is Weighty (June 14, 2015)

The craziness that is rattling around my brain today is, how to weigh my scale. I have weighed each item individually, to the level of weighing the shampoo bar and separately weighing the container for the shampoo bar. By the way, someone said the square container for the shampoo bar worked better. I tried that. It weighs more than the round container. Also, when the round shampoo bar is put into the square tin container, it makes a disturbing clunking noise in my backpack. I discovered this yesterday on a hike. Maybe the person that suggested the square container shipped her stuff ahead. Hey wait, maybe I should do that, instead of using the round container. But I digress.

After weighing each item individually and making selections based on weight, I put everything in the pack and weighed the pack with everything but the water container in the pack, then everything and the water container, and then everything and the water container filled with water. I was at 16.2 pounds with everything. Yikes! I don't weigh 162 pounds. So I ate like a fool to try to gain weight, but I can't get up to 162 pounds. So I have to start eliminating stuff, like my underwear. After all, I am going to be wearing clothes. But then I thought about the times when I will pack a snack or two. Oh dear!

This is me in 2013 with a 20 plus pound pack

So I decided I should eat like crazy for the next two weeks before I leave and try to gain more weight and I should take my scale with me so I can weigh items I put in  my pack and weigh items when I take them out of my pack. That way I can keep a running tally. But now I need to weigh the scale to see how much weight it will add to my pack. I could eliminate the pack and save about 3 pounds. I could just stuff everything in my sleep sack and heave it over my shoulder. That would hinder the use of two poles, so maybe I would use just one pole. Then I got to wondering about the weight of the poles. I'm only lifting them (carrying their weight) when I lift them up to place them by me, then with the next step, I am pushing on them. so do I count half their weight?

I can't figure out how I did three Caminos without a scale. Or how I carried about 20 to 24 pounds with water. I was doing it wrong. Worry, worry, worry. I do so want to do this spiritual thing right. What if I fail spiritually? Will I come back as one of those bugs, I so dearly love, on the  Camino? Maybe I would be a snail and only have to worry about the weight of my shell. But how does a snail weigh its shell, does it have a snail shell scale? These are weighty questions.