It's about 2 p.m in San Francisco

I've completed the first leg of my voyage. The flight from Boston wasn't bad. United Airlines flight 173 left the runway right on time: 8:20 a.m. I sat next to a older white man, a retiree with his wife who owned a cash register company and now has houses in New Hampshire, Montana, and Hawaii (where they were headed). He was missing most of his index and middle fingers of his right hand. He was chatty, which was good for the most part. He had an annoying habit of interrupting my reading (but not my sleep, thank God). Speaking of God, he kept mentioning his Church in passing, so I wasn't surprised when he slipped me a pamphlet as we were landing on the West Coast. He had been to New Zealand 15 years ago, so I certainly enjoyed getting his opinion on the country that I will be in 18 1/2 hours.
The past few days have been quite hectic for me; I've been packing furiously and trying to say bye to some people I haven't seen in 6 1/2 years. Old grade school friends. Packing for a trip like mine is much more difficult than a vacation or pretty much any other travel experience. I needed to pack enough to be completely self-sufficient for a month- I needed to satisfy food requirements (stove, pots), sleep (sleeping bag, ThermaRest, bivvy sack, rain fly), water (CamelBack, Nalgene, iodine tablets for water purification)...etc. And it all had to fit into a 4000 cubic inch internal-frame pack; the weight had to be as low as possible. Quite a challenge...
People are waiting to use this kiosk. Best of luck to all in your travels, studies, and adventures. Please do keep in touch. Love, Sean