backpacking | haleycomet365

I don’t really have any exciting workouts to report, (well, I do, but this post is long enough without talking about workouts…) but I really wanted to talk about my new sleeping bag! I’m very excited about it. Last month REI did 20% off one item per member rewards and everyone got their yearly dividend. We decided to wait since we couldn’t decide what we needed, and one of the associates told us there would be a big anniversary sale in May. Which is now.

We stopped by the Denver store yesterday on the way to the airport. We didn’t have anything in mind to get, but we knew we’d find something. With the (hopefully) new house and moving, I have no idea how much we’ll get to backpack and camp this summer, so we’re not in need of much. *sadface* Before leaving I wanted to go drool over my dream sleeping bag. I couldn’t find the bag anywhere! I was a little bummed, but said, “Oh well, the Springs store still has it and I can order online when I want it.” We started to leave and…there it was! On a special display for the sale. Whoa. So it was marked down from $330 to $250. BUT…BUT….they didn’t have anymore like the two display models (600 & 800 fill, 2 & 3 season). They had ONE women’s version left of the 3-season I had picked out. Well, it was marked at $380 and not ringing up on sale (I think the sale was only the ’14 models). The awesome lady said, “Well, the men’s version can’t be on sale and not the women’s. That’s not acceptable. How about a price adjustment?” So, she adjusted it down, “close enough” she said, and then with my dividend reward, brought the price down to well under $200. So, who scored this almost $400 bag for under $200? Me! SO excited.

So. This bag. Here’s a video!
The back story is that I’m a BAD sleeper. I wake up and can’t go back to sleep. I can fall asleep quickly when I’m tired (like when backpacking), but only sleep for 4-5 hours. I just can’t get comfortable, noises, etc. I have particular bedtime routines at home and HAVE to be covered in bed. It can be hot, but there better be a fan because I need to be covered. Has to be dark! Anyway, enough with my odd personality quirks & sleeping issues.

(display model, not the one I got)

When I saw this review of the Backcountry Bed last year, I knew I HAD to have it. I can roll around and pull the ‘comforter’ up and over me? Pockets for my hands?! YES, PLEASE! The unfortunate thing was that it wasn’t available last June before we started our section hike of the AT and I had to settle for one of K’s old bags.

Oh! Food! Can’t blog without something about food. K wanted thai as his “last meal” before a long travel week. I made curry Saturday and he wanted more yesterday. So, I found a place on Yelp and it was a dive. I wasn’t expecting that, but the reviews were great. And it was. I don’t know what kind of noodles they put in my curry (probably rice or sweet potato), but the menu had extensive gluten-free options and my HUUUUGE bowl was delicious. He got pad thai and this pic really doesn’t give the scale of how huge this bowl was.

So, if you’re into the outdoors…get to the REI sale! Some great deals. A 3-season down sleeping bag for that price? Awesome. K got a couple things he needed as well. He’s still into cycling and some other road sports, but I have really moved on.

Days like this I keep repeating, “I really need to sell my bikes.” They are just sitting in a room. I think I’ve ridding one of them twice in 2 years. I’d much rather get my pack or trail shoes and go out for 6 hours than ride my tri bike for any amount of time. Anyone want a Litespeed titanium tri bike that has less than 1,000 miles? I tried to sell it to one of K’s friends who is doing her first Ironman and will probably continue with the sport, but she lives in Lake Placid and wants to stick with a road bike for now.
Guess it’s time for Craigslist and/or Ebay.

A fortunate (or unfortunate) confluence of life changes and more free time than we expected, led us to the decision to “carpe fucking diem” (credit to Hollis, amazing adventure supporter) and run away for a while. We could keep the status quo and tread water for a while, or take advantage of the life limbo and do something fabulous.

A couple weeks of crash-planning, acquiring of gear, guidebooks, and getting boxes and boxes of food in order…we are ready to go.

Find someone that gets your crazy.

I’ve been hesitant to write about it because until the last few days, I didn’t know if we could pull it off. Sure, we’d gotten so much ready (and spent a lot of money: did you know that while the actual act of getting away to nature and living off the grid is cheap, the prep is not), but we were ready to scrap or cut down the plan if we got calls to relocate or interviews or…whatever. Or a self-inflicted injury that would scrap our departure. Like my toe situation. Or kicking a stair and jamming my toe–one day before we left. (totally happened)

I stopped by a friends house last week to borrow a dehydrator. We were chatting and I told her our plan (she just thought I had veggies to dehydrate), expecting a “you’re crazy” or “ohmygod.” Instead she smiled and said, “you know, we did the same thing. After Katrina, my gov’t job was in limbo. We were told to expect to not have a job, or if we did, we didn’t know when it would start again. My husband was out of work. So, in Houston for the evacuation, we went to the airport and told the agent, “with our miles, send us somewhere cheap, and we must have seats next to each other on the plane.” We ended up in Costa Rica for about a month, when he got a job offer and my work had contacted with a report date.” I was in awe. Why would you sit around and wait, stress, and start an unnecessary spiral into depression or anxiety? They had done almost the same thing.

A whole box of spinach from Costco. This is what it reduces to! And when it gets crushed, it’ll be even smaller.

Beet murder.

Mess.

A whole pineapple.

Due to purposeful life decisions, we have the “luxury” of being open ended in our adventure. We can’t put a price on the experience, and appreciative that we can do this, but we figure to make the investment worthwhile, we will be gone at the minimum of 2 weeks. I’m shooting for a month. 4 solid weeks. In my effed up mind, it seems more “hardcore” or “epic” (hate that word) to say we ran away into the wilderness for a month.

Turn a less than ideal situation into something good. It just might lead you somewhere you least expect.

Don’t worry, it’s not all healthy. Not shown is the macaroni, grits, and Ramen.

postal drop box

haleycomet365

365 days of workouts, Food, and hopefully some fun!

Tag Archives: backpacking

Monday 5/18/15: REI sale

“Carpe fucking diem”