Packing and apartment detritus

With only one full day left in beautiful Cincinnati, Ohio, it's time to get this blog-thing started. Today's theme: getting rid of stuff.

There are those boxes of stuff that accumulate over two years. I've always been terrible about "editing" my life and am an admitted clutterbug, but ten months in Israel followed by two (or more?) months on the road requires condensing everything. From a two bedroom apartment to a bicycle that will carry everything is a bit of a leap. Thus far, I've donated 15 small bags of clothing, three large garbage bags of kitchen things and a big box of shoes. Books I cannot give up have gone into storage courtesy of good friends and family. Furniture has been sold, donated, and given away to aforementioned good friends and family. Nate is currently running around tying up loose ends, with the new camera in his pocket, so I can't share with you the chaos of the apartment. Gosh, what a disappointment. Because I love lists, I present for your reading pleasure my packing list. Aren't you excited?

The following items are packed and ready to go:

Clothing
5 shirts
1 long sleeve wool jersey
1 short sleeve wool jersey
2 pairs cycling shorts
5 skirts
2 dresses
5 pairs Swiftwick socks
4 underwear (discussion on Patagonia and Ex-Officio AWESOMENESS to follow)
1 raincoat/windbreaker
1 fleecy coat-thing
1 smushable hat
1 really big scarf that doubles as a blanket or skirt

Shoes
Born loafers
Teva flip flops
Keen commuter sandals

Camping/sleeping
1 thermarest camp pad
1 Mountain Hardware Raven tent
1 teeny tiny pillow
1 yurt sack sleeping bag

Bicycle stuff I'm responsible for
2 Ortlieb roller pack front panniers
2 Ortlieb roller pack front panniers
Marjorie Binghamton, The Bicycle (you can see pictures of her at the page of awesomeness)
1 Ortlieb backpack converter

Personal/don't smell like a teenage boy things
12 bars of Liggett's shampoo soap
10 Nature's Gate SPF 50 sunscreen
1 Dr. Bronners peppermint bar soap
1 toothbrush
2 toothpastes
4 flosses
1 deodorant
1 travel towel


Electronics and such
1 Dell Lattitude D630 on its last legs (come on baby, just another year!)
1 camera
Assorted chargers and adapters

Other
My passport

The personal care, clothing, and shoes all fit into one of the large panniers, which will be attached as a backpack for carry-on purposes. The camping gear all fits into one of the small panniers, which will be stashed in the bike box as checked luggage, along with the sunscreen and toothpaste. Hurray for the age of asinine luggage restrictions. Electronics and identification along with other assorted sundry items will go into the other small pannier as my personal item for carrying on. Nate's list includes the fun stuff, like a couple of card games and all of our bicycle repair things, so you'll have to wait for him to entertain you with another list.

Tomorrow we're off to the zoo to say goodbye to our favorite creatures and to take one last walk around one of the most beautiful botanic gardens in the country. Thursday we'll be in Chicago and Monday we'll leave O'Hare for a long, long, long flight that will eventually touch down in Tel Aviv. As of right now, we're 90 percent finished with cleaning out and packing the apartment, so there will be a little bit of that, too.