I let myself sleep in a little bit, but not too much. Walked to the mailbox to find a coupon from REI, which would have been perfect since I was planning to go to REI today anyway, but the coupon isn’t valid until the 18th. I watered the potato slips, which don’t look as happy in the dirt as they did on the window sill. And I did my exercises.
Then I showered and ate breakfast and finally got ready to leave for Boise.
No, actually, I delayed going to Boise by sitting around and updating the dates on my GoPro files so they would all at least be in the order that I took them. I could tell which day I had taken the videos, but there’s no way I was going to remember the exact timestamps, so I just chose times that put them in the correct order. With that task complete, I stopped delaying and left for Boise.
While I was driving towards Weiser, a semi-truck got behind me and really rode my ass. I was scared at times with how close that truck was to my rear bumper. I really need to remount the rear camera for times like this. It would fall back a bit and then rev back up behind me. Very scary and nerve-wracking. But I wasn’t going to speed for a bully.
I texted my friend who lives in Nampa to see if I could swing by and say hello. The timing worked out so that I could, so I did. I spent some time with her and her family which was very nice. Her toddler is talking a lot more than the last time I saw him, and he’s super adorable. I also got some recipes from her, and recommended a shoulder exercise to her husband. It sounds like he’s got a similar shoulder thing going on to what I’ve been working on.
Then I headed into Boise and stopped by America’s Best to see about adjusting my blue glasses. I haven’t been wearing them very much because they leave an imprint on the bridge of my nose. They tried to fix them, but I couldn’t tell if they helped because it takes a while for the imprint to show up. So I just went ahead and said I’d be back if it didn’t work. Spoiler alert, I’ll have to go back. They are still imprinting after I wear them all day.
Next up was REI. I had planned on getting some new trekking poles today; mine aren’t completely worn out, but they’re getting there. However, with the coupon coming in the mail, I decided to wait and order the trekking poles online instead after I get back from my next backpacking trip and the coupon is active. So I just returned the gaiters that had popped a hole along a seam, and then picked up other stuff that seemed like it might be useful. I got replacement gaiters, of course, and a compression sack even though they didn’t have the style I like. I prefer a flattener, and they had a squisher instead. Vertical rather than horizontal. I’ll give it a try. I also got a selection of food items; some for backpacking, others for home.
I liked that they didn’t put my stuff in a bag, instead using a shoebox for my purchases.
My next stop was Reggie’s Veggies. I figured I’d go there instead of Old Fashioned Fruits and Vegetables because it was a lot closer to REI. Boy, oh boy, was that a mistake. I could not believe the state of the produce being sold at that stand. Half the fruit was wrinkled, and some looked near to rotting. It was gross. I didn’t end up buying anything there.
My last stop was Winco, and I think I may have gone a bit overboard on that trip. But that’s what I get for shopping while hungry. I got some bars for backpacking, and some snacks for the same. I’ve got a new variety of non alcoholic beer, which I tried this evening and I’m pleased with it. And I got my breakfast sandwiches. I hope the the trip home in the cooler didn’t do them any harm.
I decided to get a protein yogurt drink as part of a lunch. The last time I tried a protein yogurt drink, I avoided the ones with monk fruit, because those have a nasty taste to me. This time, I decided to give one of those a try. Maybe they’d improved. Maybe my tastebuds had changed!
No, no they have not. I can still taste the yick from monk fruit. It took most of the drive home to get the taste out of my mouth.
I was very sleepy on the drive home. I kept the AC at max for most of the drive, and that helped. After Weiser, I started eating TicTacs to help stay awake. I’m not sure why I felt so tired, but I could have pulled over and taken a nap, I think.
I didn’t do much else for the rest of the evening. Other than cooking dinner and getting some of the food for my next backpacking trip set out. I think I’ll go for a run tomorrow morning. Just to get some conditioning in before the next trip. I’m going to be putting together all the gear for next trip through this week. My plan is to be totally packed and ready to go on Friday night so I can head over to Nampa on Saturday morning. I’ll be spending Saturday night with my friend so I have less of a drive to get to my trailhead on Sunday. It will only be a 3 hour drive from Nampa, as opposed to 4 and a half from Cambridge.
My phone pulls up pictures from today’s date in previous years, and I was out backpacking on this date in 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2023. And, possibly a year or two between 2010 and 2013 because I don’t have the pictures from those years. We didn’t have a good camera with us when we went to California and hiked a tiny section of the Pacific Crest Trail. I don’t remember exactly when that trip was. A very good day for backpacking in my history. So many pictures of Ambrose. I thought of him a lot at REI and at Winco. We would have done our “annual” REI trip earlier in the season if he had been alive. And I wouldn’t have had to do all the driving…