I heard about the decaf Via, too, but I haven't seen it yet. My experience with Starbucks decaf is that it appears to have about as much caffeine as normal caffeinated coffee from other vendors. Starbucks caffeinated (including Via) has me climbing the walls! If regular coffee at night keeps you awake, I wouldn't use the decaf Via at night.

I'm a cafe au lait/latte drinker at home, but I have not found a dried milk that doesn't taste weird when heated, no matter how strong the coffee. There's also the problem of avoiding lumps. I won't use non-dairy creamer (too much of a purist, I guess). That's why I drink tea when I backpack. Cleanup is much simpler with tea, too--no milk residue! I especially like herbal tea after dinner. Coffee and regular tea both tend to act as diuretics, and I already have to get up enough times during the night without adding them to my evening diet.

Gerry, I suggest you try a bunch of different kinds of non-dairy creamer and dried milk (buy the smallest packages you can find) at home and see what works best for you. I would think that for a 2-3 day trip the Burger King or similar stuff would keep, unless it's really hot weather. You could keep them wrapped in something in the middle of your pack during the day to help keep them cool.