Gentlemen and Travelers

So this summer my friends and I are going to travel from New York, south, and then east to Georgia or Alabama, and mostly by foot—not hitchiking, and possibly a few coach buses, rides from people we know, but it's going to be a lot of walking.

But we are having some trouble with gear. We've decided to take our Opinel knives, levis, hanes white v-necks. I'm taking my panama hat, Persol glasses, but we can't really decide on shoes. All three of us are lovers of Clarks, but we don't know if those will be sufficient. We also want to find inexpensive bridle belts (or free-ish ones) to wear as we sweat and travel and get obliterated. If any of you can offer advice on the most SF approved version of transient/hobo gentlemen whilst still being efficient, that would be great—it would also be great if anybody would be able to put us up for a night! But yeah, if you have any suggestions, things we definitely need to bring, please let me know, and any help would be very, very appreciated.

P.S.—Mods, even though I am asking for style advice, I can understand why it might belong in travel, so if this doesn't belong here I'm sorry for the inconvenience and please move it.

Theres no reason at all good bridle leather leather will be remotely obliterated by this, its exactly what its designed to cope with. It might age a little faster than in an office but a little bit of TLC will take care of that easily enough and you'll have a belt with a lot of memories at the end!

Regarding the rest of your kit list, my suggestion would be Swiss Army knife or something similar for the trip. I have and love Opinols, but unless you go for the Stainless version the blades will rust badly if you get caught in the rain and if your going to get the stainless version it kind of defeats the object given the carbon steel blade is the point go an Opinel IMHO. A Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman etc will solve a lot more problems in more or less the same space.

I'm not that familiar with the current generation of Clarkes but lots of hard miles might be asking a bit much of the Clarkes I last had anything to do with. A tougher better lasted boot would be kinder to your feet I'd have thought. If I wanted something to look half decent I'd look at Trickers but given your probably going to be in the heat maybe something lighter might be in order. No foot no trip so comfort and stability rather than brand and looks is probably sensible.

Cant help beyond that as the climate you'll have is rather different to the UK but a good general rules for travel are buy good quality, don't take things you don't need and research what your going to take ahead of time, i.e. don't buy your boots the day before you go and expect to not have blisters! Also if you're walking in the heat remember that weight is not your friend, good quality light but strong things that you actually need are..

Hope this helps,

Charlie

The shoes you wear should reflect both the distances you will be walking and the weight you are carrying. If you are walking more than a couple of miles a day, and carrying more than about 10 pounds, you should be wearing some sort of sturdy boot with good ankle support. Personally I would look at a pair of Merrill or Vasque hiking boots, but ultimately you should decide based on fit and support, not brand or style.

I didn't mean the bridle would get obliterated, I meant that we would. We're trying to find bridle belts at a decent price, which is not totally easy.
I know what you mean about carbon steel—i've had my trusty opinel for a good while, and I like that I can sharpen it on a rock or with toothpaste and a book, and I know how to care for it in the rain, but yeah, swiss army may be overall a great idea.

Imatlas—i know what you mean too. I won't be carrying more than ten pounds—seven days worth of underwear and shirts, a book and a notebook, water bottle. The only thing that might jack it all up is the possibility of taking my macbook. The rest—first aid, snacks, etc, goes in a communal bag we will take turns carrying and it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The reason I like Clarks is that planation crepe is incredibly comfortable to walk on, and suede is a lightweight material becuase it's unlined. My friend suggested indy boots but those are too expensive for us, but if you could recommend any rather inexpensive and simple/utilitarian boots, that would be amazing.



NotoriousMarquis said:

My friend suggested indy boots but those are too expensive for us, but if you could recommend any rather inexpensive and simple/utilitarian boots, that would be amazing.

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You'll struggle to do wrong with Salomon - I've adventure raced across a lot of the UK in them. Very, very not pretty (in fact rather ugly) and probably not SF approved but your feet won't care and you won't have to go home half way because you have septic blisters

http://www.snowandrock.com/salomon-...ki-snowboard-outdoor-sports/fcp-product/24294

Of course, you will need to go with something classic. This is SF, after all.


You'll want a copy of this, too.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hobo-Handbook-Field-Living/dp/1440512272

Thats a good look because the cutoffs will be good for summer.



NotoriousMarquis said:

So this summer my friends and I are going to travel from New York, south, and then east to Georgia or Alabama, and mostly by foot—not hitchiking, and possibly a few coach buses, rides from people we know, but it's going to be a lot of walking.
But we are having some trouble with gear. We've decided to take our Opinel knives, levis, hanes white v-necks. I'm taking my panama hat, Persol glasses, but we can't really decide on shoes. All three of us are lovers of Clarks, but we don't know if those will be sufficient. We also want to find inexpensive bridle belts (or free-ish ones) to wear as we sweat and travel and get obliterated. If any of you can offer advice on the most SF approved version of transient/hobo gentlemen whilst still being efficient, that would be great—it would also be great if anybody would be able to put us up for a night! But yeah, if you have any suggestions, things we definitely need to bring, please let me know, and any help would be very, very appreciated.
P.S.—Mods, even though I am asking for style advice, I can understand why it might belong in travel, so if this doesn't belong here I'm sorry for the inconvenience and please move it.

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For gosh sakes choose your timing well. July through Sept in Georgia and Alabama are sweltering. Plan on covering ground early in the morning and after sunset if possible. There is a valid reason for the afternoon siesta in some climates.

I advise proper hiking boots. Also bring a wide brimed hat. Somberos would be effective but might not bring quite the right effect!



Gdot said:

For gosh sakes choose your timing well. July through Sept in Georgia and Alabama are sweltering. Plan on covering ground early in the morning and after sunset if possible. There is a valid reason for the afternoon siesta in some climates.
I advise proper hiking boots.

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Early rise as always. We want to do foot traveling early in the morning and late afternoon, probably 6-12 hours (walking days start 5-7am and end before noon, starting again at around 4pm). Traveling after proper dark is not an option for us, as one of the travelers can't deal with it and has made that very clear to us.

Well, now we know not to do it in clarks. We also want shoes that can look presentable though at the places we might be allowed to stay.

OH, and I have a nice panama hat that did well in the desert.

Alden All-Weather Walkers.



chimchiminey said:

Alden All-Weather Walkers.

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If I was going to do an AWW, which is tempting, Id be more likely to go with Indy boots.

Could you provide some more information? Are you hiking the Appalachian Trail? If not, what route will you be taking? Will you be walking along the sides of various back roads? What will you be eating? Where will you be sleeping?

And why are you all planning to wear the same things?

Frankly, it would seem to me you'd be best served by cargo shorts (due to the pockets) with a nylon webbed belt, polo shirts (they have a collar, are more absorbent) or tshirts made from tech fabric that can be easily washed and dry quickly, and proper hiking boots.



viator said:

Could you provide some more information? Are you hiking the Appalachian Trail? If not, what route will you be taking? Will you be walking along the sides of various back roads? What will you be eating? Where will you be sleeping?
And why are you all planning to wear the same things?
Frankly, it would seem to me you'd be best served by cargo shorts (due to the pockets) with a nylon webbed belt, polo shirts (they have a collar, are more absorbent) or tshirts made from tech fabric that can be easily washed and dry quickly, and proper hiking boots.

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Not hiking the appalacian trail—we're planning routes on surface streets, not quite back roads. AAA maps aren't that great for figuring that out, so we're struggling with this, and again, any help on that front would be really appreciated.

We will bus between some spots, such as from Durham to Charlotte. We know people or know people who know people in a bunch of these major cities, and will stay with them, and in smaller towns, we will stay at motels where our AAA memberships and ISIC cards can get us discounts. Eating depends where we are; we've traveled before together, but not like this, and made due on sandwiches and beef jerky, and the occasional splurge on a meal, so some variation of that.

We dont plan on wearing the same thing—we've always just worn the same thing by accident, and tend to wear similar outfits, so shopping together is just convenient. Hate cargo shorts, and much prefer t shirts to polo shirts, and we have a lot of synthetic running and wicking shirts from XC running days, so we'll be switching between that. When I was in Israel and in the desert, I used my XC running shoes, which I suppose will also be fine here. I guess we also don't know what to bring in terms of equipment, as we've never gone on more than a day hike without going back to a car.

BEFORE ANYONE SAYS THIS, I will go ahead and say it first—we do things on impulse, and in ways that are poorly thought out. It's what we do. So of course we are unprepared, and this is certainly the farthest ahead of time that we've thought about a plan of ours.

Sounds like fun, but this is definitely the wrong forum for this discussion. Check out backpacking forums such as backpackinglight.com and google for appropriate attire while traveling by foot. I also like verber.com for recommendations on both traveling and backpacking gear. Edit: Unless of course your only goal is to look good while traveling, in which case you came to the right place.

P.S. How is this my first post? Been lurking for a while, learning as much as I can as part of a sartorial awakening. Making a big move from Minnesota to NYC and need to refresh my wardrobe. /threadjack

P.P.S good luck on your travels and be sure to wear an awesome hat --> traveling isn't cool unless you look like Indiana Jones.

Wouldn't you guys be better off getting a POS car, throwing your *********** back and hitting the road Kerouac style?

lefty