And we're off
Workplace guidelines for personal blogging (and, believe it or not, I do try to follow them scrupulously, especially as they strike me as unusually fair-minded) stipulate I can't disclose travel specifics in advance. So, suffice it to say that we're headed for the shore, with plans for biking, hiking, and camping. I'm also excited that we'll be testing out our recently-acquired hennessey hammocks, which we're evaluating for use in conjunction with a possible July bike-touring week somewhere in Canada.
Back Sunday.
Back Sunday.
2 Comments:
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Anonymous said...
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- 5:33 PM
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Anonymous said...
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- 2:01 AM
Post a CommentYou know.....Far be it for me as one city kid to tell another city kid how to camp.......But I am less than in love with your Hennessy Single Malt Hammocks--no, not that one, I mean the other one.
While I am sure that noted backpacking enthusist Don McLean (Soldier of Fortune's own veteran of the Appalachian Trail (AT) Long March---I suppose) knows his onions when he calls the HH 'masterpieces of functional design,'...but I feel compelled to interject a responsible opposing viewpoint.
For those who do not know me, I really am not all that crazy about anybody or anything. So naturally, I gravitate to 'solo' products & experiences. In choosing a tent (or reasonable facsimile thereof), my selection was guided by an urgent desire not to replicate those bad old days of Boy Scout backpacking during the Nixon administration. Specifically, the shelter of choice by my scout troop was the 'tube tent.' Let me just say if I cannot opt to have Supreme Court Justices Roberts, Scalia, and Alito beaten with large sticks, I will be almost as satisfied if they are sent to spend a week on the more distant stretches of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in tube tents (Thomas, however, must both be beaten AND sleep in a tube tent).
I had narrowed my final decision to a few extremely boss bivy sacks, when I read a critical review of same. Apparently, the problem with the bivy is that when the weather is bad (ie rainy), changing your clothes in the pouring rain can suck ass. So, I wanted something that would keep out rain, mosquitos, wind gusts containing same, and not be built by Winnebago. My holy of holies turned out to be the Cabela XPG solo tent (www.cabelas.com and use the search function). That tent is a free standing dome. So, while not allowing me to engage in my favorite hobby of swinging cats, I can change my clothes or repack (using the vestibule) without being wholly at the mercy of the elements ie rain & nasty ass bugs. I am more than a little skeptical that a hammock will allow same. (A friend of mine who really does spend lots of time camping dismisses bivy sacks as 'bear twinkees').
I have three other criticisms of hammocks. First, maybe it's just my southern California experiences of desert life or a failure of imagination, but I seem to recall the hammock people I knew really struggled to find two trees that were 1) not too far apart, 2) not too close together, and 3) large enough to string those beasties. By contrast, free standing domes require only a little gravity to remain in place.
Second, I still don't see how that hammock keeps out the bugs & rain, even while you're sleeping. Maybe if the fly physically zipped on the hammock itself, then you'd have something--but from what I can tell in the videos, that's not the case....Moreover, just as this isn't my first rodeo, this ain't the first time I've see a hammock with a rain fly. In the immortal words of Gene Autry: big woo.
Finally, and I admit that I may be a minority in this viewpoint, but without going into too much detail, a lot of my life has been pretty goddamn miserable. So when I recreate, 'non-miserable' is a pretty high priority. Does that mean I 'camp' in a Winnebago? No, but that doesn't mean I go in survivalist mode like a damn National Liberation Front commando either. What I mean is, I'll give up my Big Agnes REM air mattress (available at REI & fine camping stores everywhere) when they use my gun to pry the mattress out of my cold, dead fingers. No, I am not Carol Burnett in Once Upon a Mattress--but have you ever slept on an REM air mattress? My vote for greatest improvements in backpacking technology since 1973 (non-food related, of course. And if you don't know what I mean by that, I don't have the words to explain backpacking 'food' from that era) are treking poles and the REM air mattress.
So, 'hammock schmammock' pretty much sums up my opinion.
But I can't wait until next week, when faithful readers of this blog can cast asside Mary Worth, Judge Parker, Rex Morgan, MD, Apartment 3G et al and hear all the juicy details about Camping with K....Oh yeah, and a review of the effacy of Hennessy Hammocks.
I remain:
Still surprisingly delicate at forty COUGH COUGH.
Bill Abendroth
I've made it official.
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