Managing Tevis stress

My living room is exactly the size of a 3 person dome tent. "How do you know that?", you say.

I will go on to tell you that not only is my living room the size of some minuscule, over-crowded camping spot, my bedroom floor (bed and dresser not withstanding) is the approximate size of a one person bivy, don't lean over the new camp stove when turning it on (even if you are trying to see the tiny ignition switch - you risk singing your eyebrows off), and above all - if you do insist on making your apartment into a back country campsite, at least have the decency to leave the blinds open - it will give your neighbors something to talk about besides the fact that there seems to be more than the number of allowed cats in that apartment......

The way I deal with stress (apart from sleeping and running) is to imagine getting away from it all. This usually comes in the form of an extended weekend trail ride. Since Farley and I are going to need a break after Tevis, I want to go backpacking - 1 or 2 nights. This form of stress relief doesn't work if I don't have the gear to actually do it....so I figured that it was worth whatever amount of money it took to make it possible for me to go backpacking.

Over the years I've accumulated some gear, but needed to finish up my kit. On my way home from a civil war thingy yesterday, I stopped into Bass Pro (REI would have been fun, but was HOURS out of my way) and bought the remaining items I needed. A LOT of money later and I have a backpack of gear just waiting for me. Even if I use it rarely - every penny is worth the stress relief just having it sit there.

Back to herding cats.