"We've all got it comin', kid"

I need to get ready for what's coming to me: I ordered several walk-related items, and they ought to be arriving sometime this coming week. Per advice I received from emailer Curious George, I ordered liner socks, which hiker/YouTuber Darwin on the Trail also recommended. Darwin also mentioned a thing called Leukotape as a better item to bring on a hike than moleskin, which I abhor.* So I ordered a roll of (rather expensive) Leukotape, and that's coming, too. GMarket currently says the Leukotape hasn't been shipped, but at a guess, it'll arrive either late this coming week or early the following week, right before I my big walk begins. Another thing I ordered, this time off Amazon, is orthotic insoles. I looked around at customer reviews and eventually settled on PowerStep Original Orthotics U-Shoe Inserts. I'm aiming for whatever comfort I can get while on the path; with my feet in their current state, this walk is promising to be brutal.

So there's my Big Three: liner socks, Leukotape, and orthotics. I'm pumped... although I do wonder whether the orthotics will actually endure the entire 633-km walk. At my weight, I'm pretty harsh on any footwear that has the misfortune of being used by me. We'll know more by the end of October.

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*Moleskin is associated with dealing with blisters. The hikerly wisdom on blisters varies from "just walk through it and don't fuck with it" to "pop it, clean it, and cover it with moleskin." Based on my previous through-hike down to Busan, and based on my experience doing around 600 miles in the Pacific Northwest in 2008, I'm firmly in the "don't fuck with your blister" camp: just walk through it. To me, it's insane that you'd want to break your skin and risk infection, especially with moleskin, which isn't a sterile dressing at all, and which often peels off when there's too much moisture. But Darwin's testimony, in the above-linked video, is that Leukotape will stay on your skin until you rip it off yourself: he wore it through miles of hiking, showers, sweaty feet, etc., and the bond remained perfect. While I'm still not a fan of popping my foot blisters, if I do so, at least I'll have something close to a "second skin" with which to cover the lanced area.