This past Sunday, November 11, my pal Cooper invited me to go hiking with an outdoor club. We counted off to see how many people we had and I was last, #58. Hiking in these mass groups sounds crazy but when you’re dealing with this huge population, you get big groups and my last trip was around 90! It works well as the odds always increase that someone can speak English with me. Cooper introduced Angel and a few others to me. Angel is big into high adventure; hiking, rock climbing, map & compass competition (which she won the women’s category the previous weekend). So I had a lot to talk about with her. I complained that I didn’t have all of the gear I needed for rock climbing. She offered to take me to some of the outdoor sports stores later in the week.
Today Angel stopped at my house. I showed her my kayaks and pulled out all of my kayaking, rock climbing and camping gear. We figured out where I was lacking and then hit the road. She took me to three outdoor stores. Two were small shops featuring a selection of camping and climbing gear. I was excited to see an old PFD in one of the windows but its only purpose was to be looked at.
The other place we visited for a couple hours is a large r company and they organize outdoor events. The owner is “Coach Lu” and he was excited to watch some videos I had with me. I showed him some stickers I had stuck on the back of my laptop and he recognized some of the brand names there (North Face, Petzl) and then I explained about some of the other stickers; American Whitewater, the National Paddle Film Festival, a Dagger boat sticker (I need a JK sticker, hint hint). I tried my best to give an overview of AW and what the organization does for the paddling community. Angel was playing the roll of translator and it was rather limited so we only covered the basics. I explained that likely less than 10% of kayakers (or perhaps it is all whitewater enthusiasts) are members of AW and tried to give him an idea of the sheer size of how many sport lovers (or addicts) are out there. I told him about Gauley Fest, showed him a couple of Tiva & IR commercials to demonstrate how much money US companies are throwing at marketing. Now he’s excited and asked me to plan to teach kayaking classes next summer! I didn’t tell him but I’d do it for free just to share an interest in the sport, what a joy!
I found most of the items that I was after, some new wool hiking socks ($3.40), a collapsible water bowl ($6.15), a cleaning kit for my water bladder and hose ($4.20) and actually this and the bowl weren’t on my list but were a good idea and cheap. I also picked up a pair of zippered pants ($14.70) XL was the largest they had and their a little tight in the caboose but I’ll try to keep loosing weight) and I bought a light weight tarp for $8. Not to bad of a shopping trip. I forgot to look for rock climbing shoes in my size. Their climbing harnesses are about the same as at home, Black Diamond brand. The harness I brought from home I haven’t used in years… I tried it on this morning and there is no way in heck I’ll ever be that small again! I wanted to buy a rescue pulley but I couldn’t find one, so one more purchase from the web.
Anyway I shared my love for kayaking at each store and there is a ton of interest! I’m really excited about next spring and already day dreaming again. It is after 1am here now and I’m not the list bit interested in closing my eyes… what an addiction we are all attached to. I’m hopeful that within three years I’ll be posting announcements about a paddling festival in my part of the world!
Always hopeful,
Chuck
Post a Comment