After signing on to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tour company sent me a guidebook with everything I needed to know about planning and preparing for the climb.....and it included quite the shopping list! The good thing is that the company gives you the option to rent equipment, which is a money saver considering the unlikihood that I will ever need a subarctic parka or hiking gaiters again. That aside, I had some serious shopping to do!
I'm a big-time planner.....so when I was presented with a shopping list, I attacked it with a vengence. Methodically and with enormous perseverance I shopped and shopped and shopped until the list was completed.....each item lovingly stored in a spare bedroom to be sorted out at a later date.
Over the next few months, the pile kept getting higher and higher with such unlikely items as mole skins, pee funnels and a buff (what the heck's a buff??) It was truly an educational experience - a whole new language really. I learned about clothes that wick, expedition weight outerwear, headlamps and camelbak hydrating systems.....and being the shopper that I am, I was a quick learner - too quick it seems, as when I finally took an assessment of all my purchases since embarking on this shopping journey in September, I had forgotten some of the items already stowed away in the spare bedroom and had acquired several duplicates.
I mean, who needs two pee funnels or 15 pair of heavy weight subarctic socks that "wick"..........hmmmm - .might be a good reason to seek out another adventure!
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