Conquests of Tankbird

Hello, all!

So my Asolo Styngers are absolutely wonderful, except that I want some new insoles.  My Superfeet insoles are pretty good but (I think) a little worn after these years in my Merrells.  I have a nasty little blister on my pinky toe, left foot, but such is the price of breaking in new boots.  I wore them for a little hiking earlier this week, then about 3.5 miles yesterday with Chris, then another 2 miles today.  I did the Bray Loop trail today, which is very muddy and wet, and I totally ROCKED the tankbird name tromping through creeks and mud.

My boots are amazing for two main reasons:

1. They are really, truly waterproof.  I can wade in up to my anklebone and get no water in them, and they come out dry on the other side.  Like water off a duck’s back, baby.
2. They have a close ankle cuff.  That means that the little rocks I kick up DON’T get lodged in my shoe.  Wonderful!

They’re great for other reasons, too, but those two reasons really stick out to me.

Now, my pack.  Oh, I love this pack already.  It’s an Osprey Luna 70.  That’s last year’s women’s model large pack, so it was 20% off at Adventure Outfitters.  I wasn’t planning to buy anything when I went, since I hadn’t gotten the check yet, but I wanted to price packs.  Well Alec (one of the employees, or maybe a manager) was a great help.  He showed me the packs, and the Luna was (mostly) in my price range AND in the size I wanted, plus it was an Osprey like Chris’s, and he’s had nothing but good things to say about his Osprey.

Alec took the time to swap out the hip belt for me to get one that fit better, and then to swap out the shoulder straps (twice!) until I found a set that worked best.  Then he loaded it up with weight and helped me adjust it so it fit.  After all that, of course I got it!  I took it hiking yesterday on the 3.5 miles with Chris and again on the 2 miles today.  We weighted it down with about 20 pounds of gear I didn’t need (including a 5lb dumbbell) and off we went.  My back was pretty sore after the trip yesterday, but today’s was fine.  I have to get adjusted to carrying about 50lbs before August.  Craziness.

In other related news, it turns out Beaker (the original Tankbird) is a GIRL mourning dove.  She laid an egg Wednesday and another on Thursday.  Surprise!  We’ve been convinced for a year she was a boy.  She had the iridescent neck feathers, blue eye ring and dusky blue head feathers that supposedly indicate male gender… but laying eggs kind of overrules that.   I’ve adjusted the “What’s this page about” page to accurately reflect Beaker’s gender.

My check came in today, by the way, so I’m planning to go register for the rest of my courses and buy my gear.  Whoo hoo!