Stuff

What do you bring on a road trip? Part of the reason for traveling is to escape the burden created by all the stuff we have acquired, but we seem to pack enough to recreate the very places we wish to escape.  I wonder what the minimum is.  The fictional Jack Reacher (Lee Child) seems to have it down to what he is wearing, a credit card, and a toothbrush. I could probably do that, well except for my AAA card, driver’s license, a bag with my prescription medications, spare glasses, a cell phone, GPS, laptop, maps, a few changes of underwear, and gifts for people we are visiting along the way. See how it creeps?  I started out a lean traveler and ended up a Walmart!  The stack pictured is our system for deciding what to bring.  If it fits into one of these bags it comes.  If not we do without or there will be a real Walmart along the way.    Or we will find another bag.