Disaster Moves You Forward

Yesterday was a day that started in disaster.

With great anticipation I gathered the boxes of tent poles and contact lenses that had arrived the day before- the last two items on my "big item" checklist. If you've been following along you know I've been giving an inordinate amount of time and energy to thinking about my tent. What you don't know is the contacts have been backordered for weeks and I am down to my last two pair. Great, I thought. I am in business.

I opened the contacts box first. I'd had them shipped overnight at great expense (relatively speaking), and was surprised to find they were for the wrong eye. I called the company as soon as they opened- spoke with a very pleasant rep who said I could ship them back and once they were received they would send the other eye. Timewise that's a non-starter.

We went back and forth, with me becoming ever more confused about why they sent the wrong eye. I felt stuck.

Next, the tent. I have worked to rehab the one I have, in part because it has good reviews online and also because Greg thinks the world of it. I grabbed the new poles, eager to test them out. Spoiler alert- the new poles did not fit, being 3" too long. And in checking the length against the one good pole, I found that said "good pole" was also broken. I made a call to Tammy at Johnson Outdoors for next steps. Full disclosure- she was wonderful and was flummoxed as to why they weren't the right size. She had me dig inside the tent to find the lot number- and low and behold, the tent was from 2008, not the 2011 version I had told her. I asked about the life span of a tent- she said it was about 8 years. I said out loud "Then why am I even bothering to try to make this work?" to which she said "I can give you a discount on a new tent" which I declined but thanked her anyway.

I'll admit it was all a bit overwhelming. I was in the muck, ready to cry. I had a few minutes of pity party followed by a new resolve. I went back to the contacts prescription and remembered I'd actually had to go back for a newer prescription earlier this year. I dug that one out and sent the correct information to Contacts Direct. I'm happy to wait for my refund- just give me sight without glasses, please.

I then headed out the door to get my Covid booster (#3), followed by a trip to LLBean where one tent was too small (and pretty expensive) and one was too big. I trudged on to REI in Westbrook where George hooked me up with a Half Dome 2+. I am NOT looking at reviews- I have made my decision and used what I know about what makes a good tent for me. I've set it up twice this morning and it's goes up and down easily. It will work.

All this before the booster slapped me upside the head and gave me crazy fever dreams all night. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Comments

Day 1- Ocean Beach to Alpine

Day 1 is in the books! Great day that started at Dog Beach and a back wheel dip in the Pacific. Tad, Kathy, and Charlotte met me down there. It was great to see them as we headed out. The ride was flat for the first 25 miles or so, but hot! Temps were in the 90s with blazing sun and clear blue skies. We separated out early into smaller groups. I found good peddling with Sue and Ann. We also crossed paths with Adam and Kelly, the tandem riders. Our route took us to through Mission Gorge regional park which was absolutely gorgeous. A nice pass that cut through the mountains and made it possible for us to miss an incredible climb. No worries; there are plenty more ahead of us. At 30 miles we made sure we were fully loaded with water and electrolytes. I’m not sure if I’ve ever consumed this much fluid in a single day. Then the climb began. On the map it looked evil, almost straight up. In reality it was less steep than it was long. It was 6 miles at about three or 4% grade. It d...

Day 53- Perry FL

We had a very windy night which made for a great sleeping. I set an alarm for 1:00 AM so I could see the Artemis unmanned moon rocket launch, but when I got up I found it had been pushed back and well, 70 miles, so I chose sleep over history. It was gray when we got up, and gray as we headed out. And chilly! I wished I’d opted for leggings over my shorts but was happy to have gloves. Small victories.The temp said it was almost 60 – my body threw the BS flag. I was cold all day. Not much to say about this ride. We had a 20 mile bike path that took us off route 98 for a while. We met another Bike traveler named Tony who had been on the road since June 26. He started in Connecticut and rode to Indianapolis, then back towards Pittsburgh where he rode the trails to DC. He then went to Key West and is now on his way to New Orleans. We asked questions about his gear (there wasn’t much!) and traded a few stories and wished each other well. We got off the trail and crossed the St Mar...

Day 46- Gautier MS

It was a perfect day for an 80 mile ride. We got up really early, planning to get on the road quickly since it was going to be dark by five and we had so far to go. This was no mean feet for me as sleep was hard to come by last night. My bladder woke me at one and four, at which time I was treated to Matt singing the song of his people. And I didn’t need my alarm because the water dripping from the condensation On my tent onto my face was hard to sleep through. Kelly and Adam were on the road by 615. We followed far behind, rolling out an hour later. The roads were awesome right from the beginning. Great pavement and low traffic throughout. Mississippi offered up some treats and some oddities. The first was as we headed into McHenry. On a one and a half mile stretch of road, I counted eight old fire hydrants. And hardly any houses. This roused my curiosity. I passed a man walking a dog and asked him about it. He looked exactly like I expected a rural Mississippian to look, except the d...

Search This Blog