Hello everyone. I'm not dead and I haven't forgotten you. Very sorry I haven't posted in so long, I've been crazy busy since I moved. My work training was interesting to say the least but it progressed at a rapid pace, I finished sooner than expected. This gave me the bright idea to do a late entry in the school semester and take 3 classes....needless to say, I have been busy.
All is going well though I had to laugh after reading my last post. We ended up getting socked with some serious winter here over a 2 week period (plus periodic dumps of snow for weeks after), temperatures in the area dipped to -25 C (much colder with windchill) which is absolutely unheard of for this area. Pipes froze and then burst all over town, it was pretty crazy. The weather was no big deal but it did create some interesting events.
A few notes:
1. I was lucky. My house is up quite high on a hill, set on bedrock. I have a concrete perimeter foundation and a fully insulated basement. Even though my basement isn't heated, my pipes came through OK. I also added some pipe insulation but couldn't get any heat tape for love or money - more prep for next year.
2. I've never lived somewhere with such steep grades, I have always lived in lands of flat! We had a lot of ice and snow and I couldn't make it up the street in our rental car. The day we had to move out of the hotel and into our house, my bike got left behind and we left our bags into the car. I packed up a few personal items and we walked to our house. I went back for the car the next day and grabbed the bike a few days later.
3. 4WD can be your friend. We went wild and crazy and bought a jeep. I have severe buyer's remorse but there have been many days where cars were littered at the bottom of the street and I drove by them on the way home.
4. I quite like riding the bus. There was too much snow for me to even consider biking to work, I don't think I would have lived. I ended up taking the bus one way and then walking home or taking a cab the other, the bus generally only matches up with one direction.
5. Biking uphill is HARD!!!
6. Not a news flash but a good reminder, water-resistant just means a delayed soaking.
All this walking to and from work has been a good reminder of the importance of weight in a BOB. I've been carrying my Eberlestock Gunslinger II pack to work and I've really tuckered myself out. Some minimal survival gear, textbooks, lunch, sometimes a laptop, etc, it adds up fast and I am wiped out. All the more reason to carry it of course, it's good training for my fat a**.
Get in shape people and test your gear. You don't want to carry it for the first time when it's a real emergency, you want it to feel natural and normal.
BTW, love that backpack.
Anyway, I'm going to start posting some material, I have a lot of stuff to add, I hope I can get to it all soon.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone that reads and comments, I really appreciate it. I'm shocked to have over 10,000 views of the site, I didn't even have to tell my mom to get them, lol.
Take care all.
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