Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Walk Thoughts #195: random sparks

1. I dropped my phone and cracked the screen today. Everything still works, but now I have to worry even more about moisture/humidity seeping into the housing. I have a feeling the phone is going to die right as the walk ends. This means I'll need to get a new phone once I'm plugged back into civilization. My buddy Tom recently got himself a Samsung Galaxy S8, which looked nice and had nifty functions despite being pornographically large. I won't be happy about having a large phone bill again; I paid off my current phone late last year and have been enjoying low phone bills ever since. Going back to paying nearly $75 a month will be a pain in the ass.

2. Lots of garden snails on today's rainy walk. I'd have expected earthworms. Whenever I've gone on a creekside walk after a heavy rain, hundreds of foot-long earthworms have heaved themselves out of the soggy soil and dragged themselves onto the asphalt bike path. Not this time: I saw one or two scrawny earthworms, but fleets and armadas of snails. Go figure.

3. This is my final day of yeogwanic luxury before I camp for four days straight. I've somehow managed to avoid camping up to now (note for future trans-ROK hikes), but it's time to pay the piper. All the weight I've failed to lose will be lost over the next four days, I think.

4. Bumble bees, beetles, ants of all sizes, and various birds (especially those damn pheasants) have been my constant companions for every league of this journey except for whenever I've dipped into a large town or city.

5. Despite having owned my faithful Gregory backpack since 2008, I still don't know what some of its parts do. 2008 was before everyone simply went to YouTube to find tutorial videos for anything and everything.

6. My Osprey backpack cover proved useless today because it's too small to fit over my foam bedroll. And now that I've been through the one day of rain I'll be experiencing this whole trip, the Osprey's uselessness has become a moot point. A YouTube product tester advised me to buy extra-large next time. I'm thinking that, if I did have to use the cover again, I could tuck it inside the backpack to protect most of the contents. Clever, eh?

7. I have to charge both my cell batteries and my portable charger in preparation for the four-day camping bonanza. Joy.

8. The rain failed to give me any extra blisters. This is because I'm not an idiot who wears cotton socks on long hikes in wet conditions. My lone pair of 2008-era REI socks has proved equal to the challenge of this hike. I've got two extra pairs of socks (a gift), but I haven't needed them.




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