billstephenson, Thanks for the idea! Though part of the lure of the journey is having crossed the entire country by our own power. I worry enough about the safety of a pack animal crossing such a long distance of such rough terrain, let alone dragging our lazy butts! Yeah, I'm starting to think the intake requirements of a burro would make taking one with very risky, borderline unethical. The cart suggestion is taking ground. My university has a good engineering department, and I have a few connections there. I'm thinking of putting on a contest for someone to design a strong, superlightweight cart that we could build. Put a $100 prize on it and see what they can come up with.

The footwear debate does seem to come down to trail runners or hardcore boots. We might just have to try both on our shorter treks (10, 30, 50, 100+ mi) leading up to the big one.