7 of 12

Today was work day seven in a 12-day stretch. Ouch. I’m feeling rather burned out, but I’m going to watch the recording of the Formula 1 season opener in Melbourne if it kills me.

The two 12+ hour workdays in that stretch are the real killers. Having to teach (and be “on” the whole time) and hike for both days this weekend was also tiring, but both classes went very well.

This also gave me some more time in the field with my GoLite pack, which has worked well over three days of classes so far. I’ve not had it fully loaded, but I have had it loaded with more than I would typically carry on a class hike.

These were also my first two full days in my new hiking boots (REI Monarchs, more shoes than boots really) which I got to replace my trusty, trashed, 3-year old Vasque hikers. The Vibram soles are less grippy than the ones on the Vasques (which were awesome) but otherwise I’m happy with the Monarchs. They don’t have Gortex (I’ll explain why if anyone cares) and were very cheap, especially after my employee discount. I did toss out the cheap insoles right off the bat and replace them with better ones.

I’m looking forward to trying the shoes out in more varied conditions of temperature, distance, rain, etc.

Today I picked up my new Quarter Dome T2 tent. I’ve not had the time to even open it yet. My new sleeping bag (super cheap from an REI employee special sale) is expected in soon too. My last backpacking sleeping bag, pack and tent purchases were about 15 years ago, so it’s fun to have all the new toys to try out.

Now off to watch the races…