Duct Tape

OK, lets just keep the comments to a minimum.  I know I wear whitie-tighties and If I were any paler I would be a ghost.  So anyway last weekend we did a weekend backpacking trip at McGee creek.  Yes, I know I was just there a couple of months ago.  The gentleman in charge of this trip wanted something familiar and close, since I did not volunteer to lead this trip so I was supportive and assisted the leader on the trip.  Good leaders need good followers.

Recently I have been having a little bit of a rub on my waist belt while hiking.  I am trying to figure out if  it is the belt on my pants getting in the way, or am I packing too much, or could I just be a wuss and should man up and stop crying about it.  This weekend the rub was real bad and once I put my leg in a two foot deep mud hole I decided to tape the hot spot (I had to change my pants anyways).  How you tape a hot spot is you get some duct tape and just put it over any area you see redness or feels tender to the touch.  You can do this with any part of your body from your toes to your mouth.

Now, everyone is saying "what does the duct tape do?"  What the duct tape does is takes away a point or spot of friction and replaces it with something that glides and creates a barrier just like oil in your engine.  I wore this duct tape the entire weekend and now I have a beautiful red circle where the duct tape was not and it is nice a white where the duct tape was placed.  With diabetes any ulcer or sore can prove to be dangerous (lets just remember back to my foot and the foot warmer) so when on the trail we need to do small adjustments so that we don't have big problems down the road.  My hip hurt a little the rest of the trip but did not get out of hand.

My next step is to asses the situation of why is this happening now.  Could it be my waist belt needs adjusting or I need to re-think how I pack my backpack and where the weight goes, maybe my pack is not the right size for me and I need to think about a replacement.  Any way a weekend backpacking trip will help you prepare for those week long or longer trips.  Every Backpacker should have duct tape in their emergency kit.  I would also recommend a small sewing kit.  I was once backpacking and one of my friends shoes had a blow out and lucky someone stuck a sewing kit in their bag.  That was a life saver and the trip was rescued because of a small needle and thread.

Last, I am sorry to say but Pete the Chicken was too fast for me this morning and all I got were butt pictures and blurry running pictures.  I still want to get a photo of her chowing down on dog food.  It cracks me up everytime.