First Jedediah Smith Trail 1822 — 1824

Day 41: September 25th, 2009 Pittsburgh — Munich

Today I have slept better. Around a quarter to eight I finally wake up. My shoulders are totally tensed. I don’t know if it is coming from the bed or from working on my car. I quickly get ready. This is faster today without taking a shower. Then I have my breakfast. Unfortunately, Helen doesn’t had the time in the morning to drive over to Eat’n’Park, because she takes a friend of her to the mechanic. She has an appointment for brakes etc. at her car.

This is really sad, because it could have been a nice ending for my journey. But this way I have now coffee and cinnamon bread. Then I have a stop at the bathroom. The next number two business will not happen before being back in Munich. But with my fruit platter at the plane, I definitely feel better.

Additionally, I take some of my granola bars with me, which I have bought at the beginning of my trip at Kuhn’s (I think): The TLC (Tasty Little Chewies) from Kashi (Trail Mix), which are real granola bars, and the Apple Crispy Granola Bars from Pampa, which are also not too sweet. For the first time I was able to find something reasonable…

Then I pack the rest of my stuff in my suitcase. Now it weighs 44lbs and I am allowed to have 50lbs. Therefore, everything is perfectly set up! Finally, I put all my electronic stuff in my backpack. I also repack my little DV tapes. The ones, who were too much, have been put in my blue bag. But it gets so much filled up that I am almost not able to put it in my backpack. Therefore, I take them out and distribute them in my camera bag: Four of them can be fitted at the front and two at my shoulder pod beneath the video camera.

Now I am better able to close my backpack and the pressure on my laptop will not be too high. Finally, I have everything nicely stored away. Now I have the time to quickly write down the last couple of lines for my diary. Then it is time for waiting. I think, we will probably leave home around noon. Maybe even a bit earlier, because of the G20 meeting. This means I am facing now two hours of doing nothing. Let’s see if I will continue writing at the airport…