And here it is… (drumroll please?…) the final fit out of the FJ Cruiser, all packed and ready to go!  I had one last job to do in putting my bed together, because I could only get a memory foam mattress in standard sizes, which made it perfect in width, but about 10 inches too long.  So I opened the fabric cover, cut off the excess, and then stitched the cover back together.  I used to do a lot of quilting, so this was a quick and easy job.

After putting the mattress in the FJ, with sheets, blanket, and pillows, this looks pretty inviting!  Now that I see it in the vehicle, the 6 inch thick foam is probably more than I needed, and I hope it doesn’t limit my headroom too much.  I think maybe I was still thinking in centimeters when I got this…

I’m all packed now, with the left drawer holding my clothes and personal stuff, and the right one acting as my kitchen, with a few small camping items as well.

Up front I’ve kept the passenger side fairly clear, with only the inverter on the floor, and because I’m me, a first aid kit in the door pocket.  Under the hinged platform in back I have my backpack and sleeping bag, spare clothes I won’t need often, and a document box with a few books and odds and ends.  Once I’ve removed the back seats, the platform will be a bit lower, and so the front seats will slide back a bit.  They’re fine for me now, but a tall person wouldn’t be comfortable.

From the driver’s seat you can see that I’ve splurged and gotten a good sized Garmin GPS to help me navigate, and of course the fuzzy dice given to me by my friends back at D2D!  Hi guys!  Under the platform in back are my tool box, a folding chair, and a small folding table with telescoping legs.

So there it is.  I think I’ve done everything I need to prepare for my trip, or at least for the first stage of it, so tomorrow I’ll be getting on the road.  I’ll be heading north and east, with some potential stopping points in mind, but with no particular agenda.

If you’ve been following my blog so far, you may remember that I planned to do a shake down trip to the Smokey Mountains before embarking on the real adventure.  I had forgotten about the July 4th long weekend, however, so opted to not do a shake down, and just head off after the holiday in order to avoid the worst of the traffic.  Perhaps it’s fitting anyway that I should be starting my trip right after Independence Day.

I’ll be trying not to plan more than a day or so in advance now, and it’s strange how difficult it is to take things as they come!  I’m someone who likes to have things at least roughly planned out ahead of time, and that’s served me well in the past — for example, all the planning I did for this trip has enabled me to get through the FJ fit out quickly.  But now it’s time to do the opposite, to not make detailed plans, and to take the world as I find it.  As much as I’m enjoying being here and as friendly as everyone is, I still feel like a stranger in many ways, so I hope that the world I find is kind to me.

I go forward now with some trepidation, knowing that this leap of faith, this flying without a safety net (or at least a spreadsheet), is really the difficult part for me.  People will ask me if I’m excited or happy now that I’m about to start, but I’m not really able to answer those questions yet.  I more know that I’m in a happy and exciting situation, than that I feel those emotions myself.  I think that will come with time.  I hope it will.  It will.  It will.

Note:  By the way, my next post will be from the FJ, somewhere on the road.  Since I didn’t do the shake down run, I’m just hoping that all of my power and data arrangements will work fine.  But if there’s a delay in hearing from me, it’s probably because there’s been a glitch in my system somewhere, and I’ll be working on fixing it!  Stick with me, I’ll be back before long!