Yo, Money! It's gotta be the shoes...

Lady in a turban, cocaine tree
Does a dance so rhythmically
She's cryin', and a singin' and having a time
and gee that cocaine tree look fine
—Little Feat, Sailing Shoes

This blog is not an endorsement of cocaine or any drug whatsoever. Lowell George took the shine off that monkey some time ago. He's dead because of it. This entry is an attempt to warm back up to writing more often -- perhaps in a Spring-like, annual fashion since it does appear I attempted this almost exactly a year ago with no success. Time passes but I find myself in remarkably similar position and desires. As has been mentioned many times before, there is no point in mourning time lost least of all at the expense of time spent in the present. So let's do this thing.

No, this blog entry is about shoes. Let's try again. From the top:

Well, it's one for the money
Two for the show
Three to get ready
Now go, cat, go
—Elvis Presley, Blue Suede Shoes

Suede Hush Puppies

That's better.

Fifteen years ago I had my first experience at urban backpacking riding the rails of Western Europe with my brother. I turned 25 years old in Paris that year and journaled the experience. We visited 11 countries in 9 1/2 weeks. It remains the best summer of my life. I packed everything I brought into a 50L Dana Design Bomb Pack: one swimsuit, one pair of shorts, one pair of pants, two wigs, and three pairs of shoes.

Even then my need for extra footwear seemed to outweigh that of actual clothing. I would never consider myself a shoe addict (although the Little Feat opener would make more sense in that context), but whereas I could wear the same pair of pants, the shoes had more narrow purpose. Reef flip-flops (quick drying strapped to the outer sides of the pack) for the beaches of Nice; Solomon trail runners (enduro beasts) for the long walks through Rome or up the glaciers of San Moritz; suede hush-puppies (stylish and compressible) for nights dancing on the island of Gozo (Malta). This is the dilemma of the gearhead of the foot and it has since only gotten worse.

For a future trip, I'm now looking at this unworkable matrix:

1. Keen sandals
   For the beaches and boats and other surf-prone areas. They give me the necessary arch support that flip-flops don't. These sandals were the bomb in Thailand, but smelled so bad after two weeks that I had to leave them outside overnight.


2. Saucony running shoes
   Running is not only great exercise and something I've come to enjoy, but it is also a great way to see a new city. It's a walking tour in overdrive. Mine have custom orthotics to save my knees and are very comfortable, but shiny white and flashy yellow highlights draw too much attention for all day use.


3. Vasque hiking boots
   For serious trekking, nothing beats my Sundowners. Purchased before I was vegan, these all leather boots are indestructible and so well broken in that, dare I say, they are comfortable on difficult trails with a weighted pack. For trips that involve multiday hikes, backpacks, and camping, I would never leave behind my Vasques. Of course, they're massive and with an internal steel shank, heavy.


4. Simple ecoSneaks
   My everyday shoe is comfortable, light-weight, and totally vegan friendly. I love their subtle yet stylish look. Totally basic and probably the most easily eliminated.
   
   
   


5. Faux-leather Justin shoe by Novacas
   My old hush-puppies have long since vanished and now that I'm vegan I would not buy suede again, but I need something to go out on the town. What if the salsateca has a dress code and no sneaker policy? Am I supposed to dance in hiking boots? These shoes are killer, but faux-leather is plastic-like and does not compress well. For such a limited use, these shoes take up a lot of space.

That's five pairs of shoes. Utterly unworkable with the new (unpurchased) 38L backpack I'm considering using. Seriously I would be only bringing shoes and the clothes on my back. What has happened to me? Why this scrambling need for more footwear? And, most importantly, how do I break this conundrum apart.

I have yet to arrive at a solution. The most straightforward would seem to be repeat my previous experience combining the running, hiking, and walking shoe into a single pair, but what shoe offers the trail support of the Vasque's with the weight of Saucony, and style of the Simple? Perhaps there are a pair of trail runners out there that might do it.

Another possibility would be to combine the dress shoe with the everyday shoe. Finding a stylish shoe that works as well on the dance floor as walking about the city might be possible. I've seen "travel shoe" recommendations that might work, but they also need to be vegan! The solution seems just beyond my grasp.

Finally, I may just forgo the Simples and the Saucony's altogether. I wouldn't get to run and I'd be wearing a heavy pair of shoes everyday, but it gets me back to the three pair ideal.

Like a Rubick's cube, the twists and turns continue in my mind. I hope to figure this out and post my solution soon.