Road Warrior Prep

Entered: in vim | Date: 20201115

Note of Thanks

Thank you to those persons who reached out via email, and to visiblink for mentioning me in your phlog. I appreciate all of you.

Gear

My new job is one of pretty much constant travel. This leads me to many thoughts of gear. I have a lot of gear, but need to decide what is needed and what is allowed in modern airports.

I think I am going to actually use the molle backpack I bought in 2016. It was manufactured by SOG, and is plenty roomy. I have a molle water bottle pouch I will pair with it. In the pouch will be a 36oz water bottle with an 18oz nesting cup. This should be legal if I go through security with the water bottle emptied out. I have made a mini first aid kit housed in a small leather envelope from Hide & Drink. I feel naked without a pocket knife, but I can pack that in my checked luggage. I cannot decide between my Swiss Champ SAK and my Leatherman Wave so I'll likely pack both. I need to cut down my possibles pouch to a smaller and legal (for airports) setup. I have a lot of things I likely will not need in there, a lot of redundancies. Do I need a millbank bag, a compass, 3 lighters, char cloth tin/flint & steel, fixing wax, or ferro rods? Likely not. Maybe one ferrocerrium rod and a 1/2" roll of gorilla tape... things to figure out. I am not going camping, just to customer sites to perform maintenance, true. I feel better with some of these items on my person.

I have a leather dopp kit, but will need to stock up on travel sized containers and items. I like a full sized toothbrush, but everything else can be bite sized. I shave my head, but I do require beard care items. I won't spend too much time screwing with this part, it is pretty straight forward.

Sidenote on the State of the States

It is crappy that the American people have allowed their rights to be so eroded, because I hate traveling without a firearm. I'll be researching solutions to this issue (such as obtaining the magic two CCLs, traveling through the NE United States and other Dem strongholds is still difficult when armed even with these credentials). In Wyoming, a concealed carry license is not required for adult state residents. I always assume that everyone around me is armed.

Wardrobe

I wore a uniform at work for the 15 years I was in the oil field. Do I have the clothing I need to present myself properly in this industry? IDK. I am going to play this one by ear.

Mindset

I think this is mostly already handled. I have traveled plenty previously for work. I do have the bad habit of being a shut in. I go back to the hotel room after work and veg out. This is a great opportunity to see things, go places. I would like to make myself leave my room and go experience the country. Maybe I could attempt to camp while out on the road? My mentor at this job is a good friend of mine I've known for fifteen years. I'll have a chat or two about this.

Overall I am pretty damned stoked about this new career. I intend to make it just that. Looking for work is shit, and I'd of course like not to do it again.