Kim du Toit’s Crossing America Challenge

The Challenge:

You have the opportunity to go back in time, arriving on the east coast of North America circa 1650, and your goal is to cross the North American continent alone, taking as much time as you need. When/if you reach the opposite coastline, you’ll be transported back to the present day.

Your equipment for this journey will be as follows (taken back in the time capsule with you):

* enough gold to buy a horse and a mule (or two horses / two mules, whatever), and provisions for the first five days’ travel;
* a small backpack containing some clothing and toiletries;
* a winter coat, raincoat and two pairs of boots;
* waterproof sleeping bag;
* an axe, a large sheath knife, a smaller blade, and a “toolkit” knife like a Swiss Army or Gerber Multitool;
* a box of 1,000 “strike anywhere” waterproof matches;
* a topological map, binoculars and a compass;
* a very small toolbox, including a firearm cleaning kit and a few spares for your firearms;
* and a U.S. Army First Aid kit.

Weapons:

* ONE long gun (and 800 rounds, but no scope)
* ONE handgun (and 1,000 rounds)

That’s it.

The question: which long gun, and which hand gun would you choose to take with you?

#1, I would be in absolutely no hurry to reach the west coast and be transported back into 2008, except to see my kids again. But I also reckon I could make my peace with them before I jump into the transporter, and I could figure out a way to signal them from three and one-half centuries ago and make sure that they invested in Google and bet on the Bosox to win the World Serious.

#2, my choice would again be the venerable .44 as the caliber for both long- and handgun. I see not much need for anything more involved than a standard lever-action Winchester carbine, and a thumbbuster Colt SAA model, both with fixed sights. I haven’t fixed on the mix between .44 Magnum, .44 Special, and .44 birdshot-snakeshot-mercury-laced-lead-bullet. But I can tell you that I’d be perfectly happy with naught but .44 mag. Yes, the random rabbit I have to shoot for food might require two rabbits being lined up perfectly for a decent meal, but this is 1650 North America. Food just isn’t going to be a problem, what with all the other supplies. Besides, who wants to kill, gut, skin, and cook a rabbit every damn day when there are 500 billion bigmouth bass ain’t never seen a lure? Freaking whitetails will probably be walking up to you begging to have their throats cut, too. No, your problem is defense, and large game for when you’re tired of bass.

#3, there are some really interesting combos in the comments.

#4, if I were forced into seperate ammunition camps, then it would be the .308 for the rifle, and the .44 for the pistola. The rifle would be the Steyr Scout if money was no object. And I’d probably stay with my trusty Ruger Super Blackhawk for the hand, but I’d want some bad-ass grips on it. Like, bois’d'arc, or something that just didn’t wear. Ivory would be good. I’d be tempted to go with a 12 guage shotgun as the long gun, too. Lots and lots of things can be done with the 12ga.

Hmmm…seems like all I’m missing from this list is the Steyr Scout (duh) and the .44 lever-action carbine.

And, really now, who’s guaranteeing that you’re not going to have to walk across America in 2008, anyway? That would be a good game, too, and it’s something worth throwing into the pot.

Today, I learned QuickBooks. I also re-learned why I both detest and admire Intuit. That was the first half of the day. The last half of the day, as counted by hours since awakening and expected to increase percentage-wise, has been spent entering mundane administrivia into Quickbooks. If I had to guess, I’d say that between government regulations and accounting, there are about 100 billion reasons not to ever even consider starting your own business. From scratch. In your garage. Nope, keep working for The Man, draw that salary, suck up those benes. It is fantastically easier.

I’m taking a break by looking at Toughbooks and their ilk. The state of ruggedized touch-screen technology is very sad. The mobile PC market has been practically abandoned, a virtual ghost town, with the advent (and adoption) of smartphones and telephonic PDAs. So these producers get ginormous margins on their stuff. And it’s stuff I need. Can I get net-30 on that, Mr. Panasonic? I’d suggest a ruggedized PDA, but I cringe at the thought of the price of such a beast.

If I do that, too, I’m thinking of going back to the enormous desktop tower PC as the TFG Mainframe, but this time running Linux. They’re now much quieter, somehow, and cloud computing has changed the game completely. I can almost run any operation from a Treo (and you iPhone nerds can just go worship Little Stevie some more and not comment here) these days.

I did get in a brief nap during the rain-delayed and rain-shortened Bristol Busch race. I’m tired of all the Cup drivers hogging up the limelight over there and in the trucks. I understand why they do it…if they ran lawnmower races on those tracks, I’d sure do it so I’d know the track felt. Still, I kinda want to see some new faces and hear some new stories. This will tell you how much my teevee diet consists of SpeedTV, too…can we let Kenny Wallace into the circus somewhere? There’s never been a more boring ‘personality’ consistently taking up air-time, and that guy wants nothing but an Audience. I reckon six-years olds and their parents will be acceptable to him.

There’s Tejano music wafting in through the window - welcome to Bexar Co. Or as I like to call it, Mexico Jr.