[pct-l] Bag bought, HAPPY HAPPY!!! (kinda long)

[goslowgofar]

This was a delightful, informative and entertaining post!  It's the kind of post I always hope to find on PCT-L.
Thanks Dan!
Katy

Dan Jacobs youroldpaldan at gmail.com 
Sat Apr 6 19:43:30 CDT 2013 
I bought a sleeping bag last week using my REI 20% off coupon. http://www.rei.com/product/845718/rei-radiant-down-sleeping-bag I got the long and wide model, because I am, as the words correctly
state, long and wide. I am 6’3”, 280, and I measured around my
shoulders and chest at 55 inches. There are plenty of bags that claim
to have plenty of room for someone with my dimensions, but trying them
out they just didn't have enough room for me and my sleeping style,
which I like to call “interpretive dance”. I move around while
sleeping more than a bear does looking for food to prepare for
hibernation.

The REI store had a platform for trying out sleeping bags, and the
sales person got me a pad to use (probably as much for my comfort as
to sell a pad, too). Had I given the process more thought beforehand
I would have brought the pad I already have with me, but the one I
used in the store was close enough.

I was trying very hard to stay close to less
 than $250 for a down bag,
which I know isn't gonna get me much, so I immediately saw that the
REI brand bags were pretty much what I would be stuck with. When I
finally got into the Radiant Plus Long and zipped it up, I realized it
had the room I was looking for. Still, it can be hard for me to spend
money (some call me a cheapskate  which really is just a cheap shot,
take *that* you vocabulary cheapskates!), so I went for a little walk
inside the store to think it over. It only took me five minutes to
find the bathroom, after being told numerous times I would not be
allowed to practice my LNT skills in the store (“Ladies and gentlemen,
REI would like to alert you to a free cat hole seminar that has
already started in our shoe section. Please avoid the area until it is
over and we've had a chance to clean up. Thank you for shopping at
REI.”). So, after some deep thought, I bought the bag and two narrow
straps that will be intended for helping to
 keep me centered on my
sleeping pad (see above reference to my sleeping style. I love the
nightlife, I got to boogie!).

I took the bag home, read everything that came with it, which amounted
to a card attached to the zipper pull that said that each REI bag
model is independently tested for temperature rating, and after I
stopped laughing in disbelief ( I have trust issues, trust me), I went
outside to see if the sky was cloudy or clear. I intended to use the
bag for some stargazing that night, and if I fell asleep outside, I
was hoping that would be fine.

I did fall asleep stargazing, and in the morning, I had my three goats
standing over me trying to figure out why the funny lump they
discovered smelled like foul and human. I also noticed that it was
pretty foggy, but I was dry and warm, but most importantly comfy and
cozy! The bag was treated with a DWR finish, and the material wasn't
damp at all.

OK, the real info. It purportedly weighs 27 ounces,
 which for you math
challenged folks is one more ounce than 26 ounces, AKA 1.625 pounds,
or one pound ten ounces, or a little more than 737 grams, and finally
0.000753 ton.  I like to use the last measurement the most. Actually,
about a pound and a turd doesn't sound like much after you consider
that I alone weigh 280, give or take. It claims to have seventy inches
of shoulder room, and I think it has just a bit less than that, but it
was the roomiest of the mummy bags on hand without getting into mail
order for Montbell stretchy style or NEMO weird cut style bags that
would have been great for not only myself but also the three goats
puzzling over the lump of fabric they found.

(Movie commercial voice over) In a world where one man wakes up in the
morning after a good night’s sleep, and goes forward to take on the
rest of his day, come what may, this one man values comfort more than
just about everything else. Well, as long as it’s a good bargain,
 too.

A Happy(er!) Camper,
Dan Jacobs
Washougal
-- 
"Loud motorcycle stereos save lives."
Motorcycle to hike, hike to motorcycle.
Make a friend of pain and you'll never be alone.