The Thrill of Adventure

So it's finally summer! I think we will break into the 90s every day now here in North Texas and the sun has finally come out! I am so excited about all that summer brings and the adventures Jared and I have planned.

Speaking of which, some of those adventures include our newest endeavor...backpacking! Jared and I have always been interested in camping. We go all the time. But now, we are finally thinking about putting those fancy backpacks to good use and hitting the trails in the literal middle-of-nowhere.

Physically, this means I will have some different workouts going on. I still plan on running twice a week with my long run being five miles. Then I have a goal of riding my bike at least once a week. The rest of the workouts will focus more on strength in my back and arms so that I don't have to rely on my legs for all the work while hiking with my backpack on.

The biggest thing for me I think is going to be mental. As much as I say I love adventure, I get so anxious before traveling! I get nervous sweats at the airport waiting for planes. I get so anxious trying to plan for the "unknown."

So when thinking about backpacking, there is a ton of fear going on inside my head. When are we going to go? What trails are we going to take? How are we going to fit everything in our bags? What if we can't find a good campsite? What if we get lost? What if we see a bear????

I have been doing some research on fear this week for work. It's very interesting the studies that neuroscientists are conducting these days. One study is actually finding that we are wired as human beings to be optimistic by nature...assume the best about someone or something until proof of the worst. They also talk about how fear bypasses the logical part of the brain and goes straight to the emotional. But logic is how you quiet fear. No one fears a stampede of hippopotami followed by their car getting eaten by a T-rex when they drive on the highway because logic eliminates that possibility. When we see someone that's upset because of fear, we automatically try to help them calm down by using logic. And if we are having a really hard time, we can implement what scientists call "productive paranoia" where we plan for the worst case scenario while hoping for the best.

And that's kind of where I am right now. With my upcoming adventures, I am doing boatloads of research trying to arm myself with the knowledge needed in worst case scenarios (how to deal with a bear), as well as the skills to keep me from getting into worst case scenarios (buy a bear canister and use it appropriately). What's awesome is while I still get nervous about it, I am growing as a person because I am gaining new skills and learning new things about myself and what I am capable of doing.

I think God wants us to use fear, not be controlled by it. He wants us to develop courage, not limit ourselves because of anxiety. He wants us to continue to grow and learn and explore the world he created. So that's why I continue to travel, see new things and meet new people. Ultimately, I know that the best truth I can use against fear is the knowledge that God is in control and he has the ultimate power in any situation.

I recently re-watched an episode of Dr. Who where they search for the alien that might be the reason we as children fear the monster under the bed. But I love what Clara tells the child doctor at the end about fear:

"I know you’re afraid, but being afraid is alright. Because didn’t anybody ever tell you? Fear is a superpower. Fear can make you faster and cleverer and stronger. And one day you’re gonna come back to this barn and on that day you’re going to be very afraid indeed. But that’s okay, because if you’re very wise and very strong fear doesn’t have to make you cruel or cowardly. Fear can make you kind. It doesn’t matter if there’s nothing under the bed or in the dark so long as you know it’s okay to be afraid of it. So listen. If you listen to anything else, listen to this. You’re always gonna be afraid even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion, a constant companion, always there. But that’s okay because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home. I’m gonna leave you something just so you’ll always remember. Fear makes companions of us all."

Clara explaining courage to a young boy during the "Listen" episode using a small army figure.

My New Favorite Hang Out

I am so excited to talk about what might be one of my new obsessions...maybe not on the caliber of my Disney obsession, but it's up there. I'm talking about, my hammock!

Back in August, Jared and I went up to his family's reunion up in Pennsylvania. They live in Amish country. It was one of those times where I actually felt like a grown up because they actually let us rent a car from the airport and drive it three hours into the country. One of the favorite stores to visit while we are out there is called Peight's. It's kinda like Amish Walmart but the food quality is way better and the goods are much cheaper. One of those goods we bought was a hammock for $15. It's tiny and made of cotton rope but we finally got it put up on our back porch a few months after the trip at it quickly became one of my favorite spots. I love going out there and doing my quiet time. Reading my Bible and drinking my coffee is way better when enjoying the fresh air and letting the wind rock you back and forth.

Loving my hammock from PA

One issue is that it's a one person hammock. So if Jared and I wanted to hang out on the back porch, we didn't have two hammocks to hang out in. So inevitably, we would end up on opposite sides of the porch...one in the hammock and one at the patio furniture.

Fast forward to Christmas. REI was having a sale on their ENO hammocks and so I went ahead and bought one for Jared. It's a double hammock so I knew it would actually fit his tall frame unlike the Amish hammock would. He was very excited about it. And I have a live photo to prove it.

Jared with his new hammock!

Problem is, after Christmas is winter. Not hammock weather. So fast forward to spring when we finally get to try it out. Then Jared get's an idea.

"You know, there's all these cool hammock tents that they make for backpacking. We could use them and go backcountry in the woods and it would be so much more comfortable then sleeping on the ground in the tent."

Thus, a whole new adventure unfolded.

I give Jared credit. He did his research. He scoured YouTube for the best hammock set ups, things to think about, quality reviews, etc. He landed on a company called Sierra Madre Research. Not only are they great quality, but they also help provide clean water to communities that don't have access. Their story is actually one to check out and it is definitely worth your time.

So after watching all the youtube links that Jared sent me I finally got a sense for what he was wanting to do. And I was game. Skeptical...but game.

We then invested in a second hammock (the Pares from Sierra Madre), even bigger than the one from ENO that works with Sierra Madre Research's design. It's big enough for both of us if we only wanted to take one hammock and not bunk (good idea for cold weather, but not for hot). It came in a great package and I immediately went and set it up out on the porch. It was certainly super comfy. But it's one thing to set it up on your porch and a completely different thing to camp with it.

Loving how it folds up so small!

Testing it out on the porch! This thing is huge!

But we are people of planning (haha) and since we already had a camping trip down to Brenham planned, we just figured we would test out our set up as well. Jared learned what knots we needed to tie (I'm still working on that). And let me tell ya, it worked great!

I found it very comfortable. I made a couple of bug nets to go around the hammocks thanks to an instructable I found and Jared used a tarp to keep rain off us. We experienced two good solid Texas storms while out there but we were nice and dry. Duchess finally learned that under the tarp was better than outside the tarp. I was super comfortable. Jared read that when you sleep in a hammock, your back gets cold because of the thin hammock fabric. So before we left, he had me run to Home Depot while he was on a trip and buy Refectix, an insulator that they sometimes use in attics. It reflects 95% of your body heat back to you and we could definitely tell a difference when we slept on it in the hammock vs. not. I put my sleeping bag on top of that with our small camping pillow and I slept great, despite the storms going on.

Jared with our set up (tarp off at this point)

Speaking of which, that was another place we saw the hammock system really excel. Even though they weren't being good neighbors, we helped out the boy scout troop that pulled in next to us the second night we were out there. The morning after the biggest storm, they were talking about how their tents got flooded. The way the campsites were configured, we would have gotten flooded too because of where all the water was flowing. In a hammock, we didn't have to worry about that as we were off the ground and had made a homemade gear back to keep our stuff off the ground too.

So all in all, I'm sold. We are investing in a legit hammock tent set up called the Nube from Sierra Madre. The 2.0 version comes out June 2016. We plan on taking this set up with us when we go to the Smokies this year and even to Yosemite if the terrain is favorable. And, we figured if we have it, we might as well use it at Disney World since we are staying at the campgrounds for our trip!



Until then, you will find us on our back porch, in the hammock together. Saturday afternoon we had a wonderful nap in the hammock while a small cold front came in and a gentle rain was coming down. So peaceful. These are the moment's I'll remember.