In the past I made very sure that some things were going along for the ride.

• At first I made sure there was a deck of cards. A  fine icebreaker if you are traveling from one seedy hotel to the next on the gringo trail.
• Empty notebooks to record the trip.
• As many books as could be physically carried.
• A wide selection of writing and drawing instruments.

The cards gave way to Scrabble and the selection of drawing items shrank. The camera and lenses joined the bag. And piles of special films and lenses. And the writing and drawing shrank even more. And the photography turned into snap shots with a digital camera. And the digital camera shrank to a cell phone. And the games and the drawing and the writing  and the picture taking disappeared.

The only item that remained constant was the tan money belt around my waist to hold the passport and travelers checks. I won’t need it for this trip.

So, what will be coming  on this leg of the journey?