A few months back the SuperTrip crew and a few friends had the opportunity to take in "The Invisible Children " movie and meet a few of the reps from the movement at the DFC . I had heard a little bit about the movie and caught a few glimpses of the movement, but I didn't really put the whole story together until I sat down and watched the documentary.

I usually peruse the foriegn section first whenever I hit up blockbuster, especially since I started planning the SuperTrip. When I came across this title it definitely peaked my interest... and when I read the back cover, I knew I needed to see it.

Its about a journey that begins with adventure in mind, but it ends up changing them forever. (As a side note, that statement is to be read with the standard deep voiced movie announcer voice characteristic of every epic movie made in the past 25 years)  Two friends, a crappy motorcycle and a rough route of exploration.

In some ways this could be a very similar trip to ours.  These guys were both pretty well off and living happy developing lives in Argentina, we don't live in Argentina though.

No, this is not a list of equipment necessary for robbing a bank... its a fairly detailed list of everything that I plan to take on the SuperTrip.... the technical term I believe is a MANIFEST... this is it.

We will have 4 packs between us, most of it will be duplicate clothes and similar items. The camera gear, tent, tent poles will get split up between us.

All told, I probably spent about $700 just in REI type travel gear... I hope I get to use it all again sometime...

You can read all about the equipment manifest here... 

We talked about buying a tent for some time. We did a little bit of research on costs and camping and it always seemed that camping = cheaper. We looked a bunch of tents that could house 3-4 dudes comfortably and everything was adding up to several hundred dollars through REI. Then Mark remembered that he had gotten this one tent for free from a work raffel or something... so we decided to try it out.

It's a pretty big tent, barely had enough room to set it up in my living room...

The Opportunity

In preparation for SuperTrip 07, Mark and myself (Shane) headed off to Chicago with gear in tow via train to get a feel of what navigating city life with our packs and a film mission would be like.

The Arnolds

The Arnold's are good friends of mine from way back when... Dave was my pastor back in the 20 something days of Nextgen at North Ridge church in plymouth MI, since then he and his wife had transplanted themselves into a very unique environment.

They moved from one extreme to the other... from a fully suburban, almost rural existance in a mostly white middle class super church of the midwest to an urban church plant in the heart of big city Chicago in what is recognized by many as one of the most diverse ethnic communities in the world.

Albany Park

• Drive 10 hours straight to New Jersey
• Get on a train to Manhattan
• Work your way to Time Square
• Get some pizza
• Watch the ball drop
• It starts to rain
• Go to ground zero
• Go smoke cigars at the rivers edge
• Sleep in a gun battery
• Watch the Statue of Liberty in the fog
• Get on a boat to Stanton Island
• Look at the Statue of Liberty
• Go back to Manhattan
• Go back to Time Square
• Look at big city
• Get on TV
• Go see big Christmas Tree
• Sleep on train
• Drive
• Sleep
• Drive
• Tell Stories