View Single Post
Old 03-17-14, 11:06 AM
  #3  
staehpj1
Senior Member
 
staehpj1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 11,867
Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1251 Post(s)
Liked 754 Times in 560 Posts
I don't listen to recorded music when on tour. Why, don't I? Not sure, I just don't. I do sometimes listen to audio books. I also play music in my head and sometimes sing out loud.

That said, despite being a minimalist and ultralight packer, I am considering taking a musical instrument (and a fly rod too) on my next tour. I have been learning to play a few musical instruments since I retired and I also took up building them. I built a couple ultralight stick dulcimers with backpacking and bike touring in mind. One is 7.2 ounces and the other just a bit more.

I expect some folks will be surprised that I'd take those extra items given the lengths I go to in order to save weight. Since between the stick dulcimer and the fly rod it can be less than a pound of extra stuff and I think I can keep my gear weight quite low even with the extra items. I don't have the exact choices for my next trip completely scoped out yet, but I expect the base weight to be 12-14 pounds or so based on the totals from my last few bike touring and backpacking trips.
staehpj1 is online now