Date: 2006-02-23
To: A Wet Walk
Miles today: 0.0

Today I met Tinker. At the Reading REI store. (Actually, I first met him last year, but I had forgotten what he looked like.) I was visiting my mother in New Bedford, and on the way back stopped at REI at a pre-arranged time.I have all my gear, but Tinker needed a few things. We wandered the store, but he didn't have much luck. The long underwear was expensive for what it was, the store didn't sell either Esbit tabs or Gookinaid, and Cliff or Pemmican Bars were nowhere to be found.We chatted about the trail, about water filters, stoves, pots, rip off big companies, cottage industries, tents and tarps, and eventually we parted ways.Ten more days.In the evening, my wife went to work without her lunch. It was raining, but I felt like a walk. I also wanted to photocopy parts of a book I have of geology of the AT. I'm very interested in geology but don't want to carry the whole book with me. So I set off with the book and her sandwich in a backpack, the book protected with a couple of plastic grocery bags. I clipped my bike's red flashing light onto the back of the pack, threw in a headlamp, and set off wearing cotton pants, cotton shirt, but a waterproof jacket and poly gloves.It was three miles to where she works. First it poured, then it snowed, then it stopped. I gave her her lunch and started toward Staples. Then the snow really came down. I stopped in McDonalds for a restroom break and walked on.In Staples, I had to take off my jacket and hat as I was dripping water everywhere.But I photocopied about twenty pages I had previously marked, paid, buttoned up and went back outside. Only a mile to home.It had stopped snowing, sleeting and raining. Soon I was warm, even my legs with the wet cotton pants--all except my hands. The poly gloves were soaked, and my hands were cold. It was right around 32*. Halfway home I pulled my fingers and thumbs out of the glove fingers and made a fist. That was enough to make them feel better.But now I am concerned about the trail. I can expect cold wet conditions. Should I bring over-mitts? I have three sets of gloves I plan on bringing. A silk pair for sleeping only (always dry), a thin poly pair that I wore tonight, and a heavy poly pair for camp and/or extreme cold.But what about when it is raining. I don't want cold, wet hands.I checked the internet and found two pairs that I might add to my gear. One was at Dancing Light Gear, and the other at Backpacking Light. The latter were expensive, but seemed exactly what I want.I'll make a decision tomorrow. OH! I almost forgot. My tarptent hasn't arrived after almost two weeks and shipping should have been a week. I emailed Henry Shires, and found that my Tyvek ground sheet was backordered and would be in next week. Yikes. I hadn't specified a "need by" date so Henry assumed that I didn't need it right away.I asked him to ship it and cancel the Tyvek.He emailed back that he shipped it second day air at no extra expense. Wow. He also apologized for the delay, though it wasn't his fault. The tent will arrive tomorrow.I have heard nothing but nice things about Henry Shires, and my own experience has been great. After using my smaller tarptent in January, the front guy line came loose. I posted on Whiteblaze asking anyone with a Squall to measure the distance between peak and clip so I would know where to tie it. Henry saw my post, and told me to send my address. He sent me at his expense a new guy line, an improvement over my older one. The new one simply ties and the clip slides to the best position.So in case you can't tell, I highly recommend Henry Shires tarptents.