On the second morning, I awoke as we all do to a full bladder. And let me tell you, it was clearly very cold. Cold enough that my friend committed the cardinal sin of sleeping with his head inside his sleeping bag. But when nature calls, its time to move mountains, so up I got into the frigid cold to relieve myself. I didnt bother with all the clothing. I just put on my booties, a hat, and my down jacket. It was then I noticed something odd with my zipper. The slider was certainly there, but the zipper handle was missing. Crap. (I hadnt worn the jacket yet on this trip.) So in the rush of the morning chill and the over-sized water balloon inside of me, I quickly joined the bottom stop and forced the handle-less slider along the zipper teeth. Problem solved. After spending an inordinate amount of time relieving myself, I rushed back in the tent. I also decided to get a fire going in the stove to generate some heat. I thought it would be nice, judging by how my partners were tightly curled in their sleeping bags. Back into the sleeping bag I went to warm up, with everything I had on, except my booties. Soon, the chill in the air was gone, and we all emerged from our sleeping bags like butterflies out of their cocoons. Okay, the last sentence was over the top, but you get the idea. (And yes, we looked scary enough to look anything but butterflies.) The fire was stoked further before we slowly got to changing out of our sleeping outfits. The heat was welcomed, but wearing a down jacket at the same time was a bit much, so I proceeded to take it off. Thats when I realized I had a problem. The zipper wouldnt go down! I tried again and again, but it wouldnt budge. So I pulled it up further, thinking it just needed to catch or something. It moved up alright, but not down. What the heck was wrong with the zipper?? The constant manipulation meant the zipper kept moving further up with no relief. I was getting both worried and warmer. I started to wonder what it REALLY felt like to be the Michelin Man full time. I then called for help as I was making no headway with the zipper. What a predicament. Imagine the headlines, Man dies of a heat stroke in the middle of winter. Thankfully, Rob, who is amazing with fixing things, looked at my zipper and immediately knew what the problem was. Apparently, zippers have a lever that is only activated when the zipper handle is pulled down. This way, your zipper wont just open up on its own. Maybe its just me, but I had no clue - honestly. So here I was, almost zipping myself shut trying to get it to release without understanding zipper mechanics 101. After cutting off some loose wool threads from his pants, Rob eyed the needle, and voila, freed me from the impending inferno. Thanks Rob! Words of wisdom for the day. Know your *hit, or else, take someone who does. Good thing I wasnt solo tripping. Could you imagine?
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 10:00:00 +0000
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