At the end of February, a few friends from work and I will be embarking on what we have decided to call our "mancation". Let's be honest, the office building has tamed us. So to remedy this, we will be taking two days off of work to create a long weekend of epic scale. Thursday night we will leave Dallas after work, make an overnight stop in Midland, and get to Big Bend National Park early Friday morning. The plan is three days and two nights of backpacking. We aren't going to drive all the way out there just to camp by the car for the weekend. It will be six men vs. wild, and I couldn't be more excited about that.
To prepare for this trip I had to get some gear, which meant spending three and a half hours after work at REI testing out everything. We looked at packs, tents, sleeping pads, and everything else you could possibly think of. I ended up buying the pack pictured to the left, it is a 65L REI internal frame backpack. Sweet. I think Angela could fit in this thing. I also had to pick out a tent that I could backpack with, but one that could also be used for future trips with the soon-to-be Mrs. Mattix. I had a special request that "it has to be able to fit an air mattress in it."I think the reason I am most excited about this trip is that it will be a time to be completely "off the grid" as far as technology is concerned. I really am looking forward to a long weekend with no work, no email, no phone, and no internet. All of the advances that we've had in technology are great for productivity and efficiency, but technology just can't replicate the ability to build friendships. This trip will take away distractions and will give us opportunities to talk about all sorts of things. While one guy on the trip dreams of hunting an eagle, I look forward to spending 96 straight hours with some great friends, doing manly things. I will be taking plenty of pictures while we're out there, and there will definitely be a summary blog after the trip.
Will Dean be hunting eagles, or will eagles be hunting Dean?
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1 comments :
haha this looks awesome Tom! I've always wanted to rekindle and expand on our old days of hiking at Cuyahoga Falls Park in Ohio. And yes take lots of pictures!
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