"And of course on the AT you must lug on your back everything you need. It may seem obvious, but it came as a small shock to me to realize that this wasn't going to be even remotely like an amble through the English Cotswolds or Lake District, where you head off for the day with a haversack containing a packed lunch and a hiking map and at day's end retier from th ehills to a convivial inn for a hot bath, a hearty meal, a a soft bed. Here you sleep outdoors and cook your own food. Few people manage to carry less than forty pounds, and when you're hauling that kind of weight, believe me, never for a moment does it escape your notice. It is one thing to walk 2, 000 miles, quite another with a wardrobe on your back."
This is a paragraph from A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I just started reading this book and I am going to try really hard to finish it. As of now I am on chapter two. Anyway I thought this paragraph really helped describe the magnitude of living in the woods and having to carry your belongings with (on) you. The picture is one that I took while Jack was going through the process of packing up before he left home. The constant argument Jack and my mom had was why he couldn't take ALL the food and other items she kept buying with him...the weight was adding up! When we were visiting the boys in Damacus alsmost every conversation revolved around or ened up being about how much stuff weighed, what they could do without, and how other people were packing up their backpacks. Now I understand why that topic of conversation was so important.
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