Continuing my spending spree (which is thankfully almost over), I’ve added a Marmot PreCip Traveler rain jacket that I picked up on sale at the REI Outlet for $65.00. It’s windproof, reasonably waterproof, and only weighs 1 pound. I also picked up a cheap silk sleep sheet at the same time, saving $15 off the in-store price. It’s a goofy shade of green, but who cares? I’ll only use it in the dark. It weighs 4oz and rolls up to half the size of a regular sleep sheet — in-store pickup took care of any shipping costs.

A North Face Windwall windproof fleece was purchased on sale at REI for $75.00 and has been my winter jacket of choice. It really does cut the wind well, only succumbing at 40+ mph on the motorbike. Combined with the rain jacket, I’ve found it quite comfortable in temps as low as 30 degrees F — even on the bike.

For Christmas, my brother gave me a Leatherman Juice CS4 pocket multi-tool which is compact and has all the tools I need, plus a corkscrew. A buddy was giving me a hard time about the, ahem, size of my multi-tool — waving his hi-tech 500-blade wonder about. His had everything but a corkscrew — I pointed out that while his might save him from a crashed airplane, mine was much more likely to get me laid.

Another gift was this rocking iPhone battery, the Kensington Mini Battery Extender, which gives me another 3/4 charge and works as a backup charging cable. My next plan is to hack my iPhone to work with a Bluetooth traveling keyboard for times when I’m out of power on the MacBook (watch for a how-to article soon).

Edit: I’d be remiss not to mention my Dorfman Pacific All Season Crushable Hat. Crushable and lightweight, it’s a much-needed accessory for my bald head.

I’m getting close enough to my final load out for the trip that I’ll soon start test-packing and seeing how just how much this is going to hurt. It might be a good excuse for a contest — guess how much crap Wes will carry around the world?

See my original, interactive gear list here.