Busy week!
Well… as you can tell by now, it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to post. Quite honestly, I’ve been slaving away trying to get everything done so I can leave Saturday morning without leaving anything unfinished.
In all, it’s been a fairly productive week. I had to edit 3 BackpackGearTest.org reports for other people, and write 2 reports myself since the due date is right in the middle of the trip. I still have much to write on my second report, but I’ve been saving that for Friday while I’m at work.
I also decided to try my hand at making my own stuff sacks. I really wanted something a bit lighter than the one’s I’ve purchased in the past, but am not really willing to spend $6 - $15 for stuffsacks that I can make myself. I borrowed Kristie’s sister’s sewing machine and purchased some leftover nylon stock from Wal-Mart. I got 2 yards of fabric for $2 which is quite a nice buy since it’s usually twice that if not more. It took me a few times to get into the hang of it. One time I sewed the bag together without leaving myself a way to string it closed. A second time I stitched the bags bottom inside out so there was hanging thread all over. I managed to make 2 functional sacks today of which I’m rather proud. I weighted the first one, a small “catch all” style sack for my lighter, chapstick, meds. It was almost HALF the weight of the $6 Granite Gear sack of the same size. I’m sure a lot of this weight has to do with the fact that I didn’t put those little plastic drawstring clamps on mine, but thats ok. I don’t really need them anyway.
I also had a few long talks with Moosejaw.com this week regarding an order that was placed. I received a pack cover for Christmas that was a bit too big so I called them to exchange it. They said that I probably wouldn’t receive the exchange in time for my trip and that I should order another. Well, after ordering another one, the order wasn’t put into their computer correctly so I called again. Instead of canceling the first order, they reordered another one which also got billed to my account. Monday I received another email about both orders still, both were scheduled to ship, and both were supposed to be here after my departure date. I called Monday to straighten things out one last time and was pleased to finally get a hold of someone who knew what they were doing. He canceled both orders, refunded my account the correct amount, then placed a third order to be overnighted from the factory to Moosejaw. When I called yesterday,the lady I spoke with informed me that the package was at their business and that they would be overnighting it to me today. I’ve since checked online and my package is in transit and should be here on time.
My SatPhone should also be here today, so things are falling together quite nicely! Two more days and I’m outta here! 
