On A Road Trip

What they carried was partly reflected by their position in the group. and partly of their interests.

As the designated driver, Angela Jones carried a taste for road trip music, sunglasses, tolerance for the noise her friends were making, drivers licence, and a wallet that was heavy with coins to pay state tolls. She carried a barf bag and the responsibility of the whole vehicle and the passengers on it.

As a photographer, Chelsea Smith carried a Sony Nex 5T, a SIM card, which was 16GB without any pictures on in, but it always had some files on it. She also carried between three to five camera accessories, such as a tripod, stored her vast equipment bag placed neatly in the trunk.

As an artist, Jenny Renee carried a sketchbook, graphite pencils, a box of color pencils, a portable little paint set, a mind of creativeness and all the things an artist must carry, including an eye for perfect opportunities.

As the navigator, Amy Jones carried a map covered in the letter Xs, a GPS that she recently got, a list of all the places they needed to go, and a voice to scold the driver when her sister, Angela, missed a turn.
                                                                                                                                                               
As for the best friends on road trip, all of them carried the common necessity. They carried a smartphone. The phones ranged from different brands such as Samsung or Apple. Depending on their battery life, most carried a portable battery bank with them. It usually varied between 3000 milliAmp to 10000 milliAmp. Everybody carried sun screen, usually coming in a spray can variation, and caps. The weather was usually in the 80s, the sun pelting down, and heat waves simmering in the air. When the car windows are down on the highway, most carried a hair tie to keep control of the wild strands from hitting their faces and sometimes other faces. But Jessie Kun, who was paranoid, carried a giant floppy sun hat around trying to prevent every sun ray from hitting her face. The rim was obscuring her horrified face as the hat flew off; the wind on the Grand Canyon was just too much. Angela, who saw it fly into the canyon, recounted it being like watching a plastic bag drifting in the wind - just whoosh, then sideways, slamming against the rocks - not like in the movies where the object floats gently down like a leaf - definitely not like that. Angela said, the poor hat just got dunked into the river below.

The Book Excerpt 

"What they carried was partly a function of rank, partly of field specialty.

As a first lieutenant and platoon leader, Jimmy Cross carried a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45-caliber pistol that weighed 2.9 pounds fully loaded. He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.

As an RTO, Mitchell Sanders carried the PRC-25 radio, a killer, 26 pounds with its battery.

As a medic, Rat Kiley carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic must carry, including M&M's for especially bad wounds, for a total weight of nearly 20 pounds.

As a big man, therefore a machine gunner, Henry Dobbins carried the M-60, which weighed 23 pounds unloaded, but which was almost always loaded. In addition, Dobbins carried between 10 and 15 pounds of ammunition draped in belts across his chest and shoulders.

As PFCs or Spec 4s, most of them were common grunts and carried the standard M-16 gas-operated assault rifle. The weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 pounds with its full 20-round magazine. Depending on numerous factors, such as topography and psychology, the riflemen carried anywhere from 12 to 20 magazines, usually in cloth bandoliers, adding on another 8.4 pounds at minimum, 14 pounds at maximum. When it was available, they also carried M-16 maintenance gear—rods and steel brushes and swabs and tubes of LSA oil—all of which weighed about a pound. Among the grunts, some carried the M-79 grenade launcher, 5.9 pounds unloaded, a reasonably light weapon except for the ammunition, which was heavy. A single round weighed 10 ounces. The typical load was 25 rounds. But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus the unweighed fear. He was dead weight. There was no twitching or flopping. Kiowa, who saw it happen, said it was like watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something—just boom, then down—not like the movies where the dead guy rolls around and does fancy spins and goes ass over teakettle—not like that, Kiowa said, the poor bastard just flat-fuck fell" (pg 5).