93 days 7 hours and 39 minutes...

Okay, time is tickin' by real fast and that a good thing! Jim put the count-down timer on his blog and it's countin' down the time 'til we leave for our Algonquin canoe trip. I know I haven't posted anything about the trip really... I guess that's 'cause Jim's been doin' all his posts and I keep readin' them and don't want to duplicate his posts.

Anyway, after all the - what I assume is good natured - ribbing about doing a "mock pack up", I still haven't done it. Life got kinda busy and I just haven't had chance to sit down and do it. Jim and I assembled as the gear over at his place to take stock of what we have and what we made need to get. It looks like the only gear we have left to get is a couple of nalgene bottles each. We had no-name brands but they don't fit ont he bottom of the water filter and I figured that I don't want to be wrestling with the water filter to fill up the bottles. This is important to me 'cause I'll have a headache in no time with the heat and strain of the portages if I don't keep hydrated. I was thinking about getting a a hydration pack but I've never used on so I'm not sure of the benefits/drawbacks to having the hydration pack versus bottles.

...

Okay, I did a little research and this hydration pack thing is lookin' more appealing. Perhaps one bottle and the pack would be the way to go. The benefit I think is that it is compact and can be big. (1.5, 2 and 3 litre sizes) The bottle I was gonna take is 1 litre so there's less filling up with the 3L version. The drawbacks I've thought of are: my body heat may heat up the pack since it's in my backpack on my back (although the backpack won't be on all the time), I can't easily fill up the pack while we're on the water (I'd have to wrestle it out of my pack to connect it to the filter but that might not be that hard to do) , it may add unwanted weight and finally, I wouldn't have something that I can carry around the campsite easily when we're camped out. Hmmm... lots to think about. Right now I'm still thinkin' perhaps one bottle and the hydration pack. I think a visit to MEC is in order. Jim and I will have to arrange a "pass" from our wives for one day soon. Perhaps we'll have to compromise and do it on a weeknight after work. I can take the train in to work (longer trip than drivin) but then Jim and I can meet down at MEC and take the train home together. We'll see.

Well, another post done at work... I find that the thoughts flow freely here at work whereas the time at home is taken with spending time with the kids. My management wouldn't agree with this but I think it's better to take time from work (work through break or something) than to take time from the kids and Marie to sit in front of this machine.

Have a good one everybody!

g.