Thought I'd Accidentally Thrown ALL Of My Hammock Gear Away!

[chrislrob]

Just needed to tell some folks that would understand.

Spent the last 24 hours thinking that I'd accidentally tossed out my WBBB, Wooki UQ, Jarbridge UQ, Superfly tarp, AND homemade Costco top quilts!

I haven't been on a trip since last year, for various reasons. And I've been stressed out completely by world events lately. But, nearly two years after moving into our new home, I finally addressed the moisture and mold problems in our 135 year old stone basement.

Since moving in, some of our belongings suffered water/mold damage, or just smelled musty, and I "knew" that I'd tried to protect my hammock gear from all of that. But I didn't remember how.

Last week, I purged dozens of bags and boxes from the basement, throwing out a lot of things--some that were damaged, and some that were just not needed.

When Streets and San took it all away, I was relieved.

Finally, I could organize my backpacking and camping gear in a much improved basement!

But after organizing and sorting water purification systems and cooksets, stoves and firemaking, etc., I've spent hours looking for my hammock setup.

And over the last couple of days, I'd became convinced that I'd thrown it all away in my haste to purge. Part of me couldn't believe it, but the other part of me could not stop kicking my own butt for being so stupid.

I really liked my setup and it would be expensive to replace.

I finally told my wife while pouring out the last of the bourbon.

Whereupon she went to the linen closet, pulled out HER oversized suitcase, and revealed all!

I'd put my gear in the closet so that it wouldn't get all funky--and I'd checked there-- but she'd organized the closet one day, using her suitcase as "storage", effectively hiding it all from me because why would I ever think to check there?

Then she forgot to tell me.

She couldn't stop apologizing and I couldn't stop being grateful that I'd been wrong!

Anyone ever have something like this happen?

[PopcornFool]

I got chills just reading this. I can imagine what you must have been going through. All the hours of trying gear ... ditching what didn't work and getting something else, the DIY work, getting everything tuned just so, the sunken monetary and time costs ... it must have been an agonizing feeling thinking that you would have to start all over from scratch. I can empathize.

I was reassigned frequently to posts all over the world when I was in the Army. It's one of the biggest benefits and one of the biggest pains. In prepping for these moves, my wife and I usually purge to reduce the amount of stuff we have to pack and ship. We typically create "piles": this pile to sell, this pile to give to friends and family, this pile to donate, etc.

I keep all my backpacking gear, hammock gear included, in a large box in our storage room. After one particular move, we were unpacking and sorting and putting away and I can't find my backpacking box among the dozens of other storage room boxes. I couldn't imagine where it could be except perhaps that it had gotten mixed in with the dozens of "to donate" boxes that had gone to Goodwill before our move. I was frantic and felt sick at the loss. But just when I was resigning myself to the thought that at least it had all gone to a good cause, we found the box behind a stack of boxes with unrelated dining room stuff: wedding china, wine glasses, table clothes, and other stuff that we hadn't put in the china hutch yet). How it got mixed in with that is anybody's guess, but I let out a very verbal sigh of relief when we uncovered it.

Glad yours turned up too!

[chrislrob]

Finally! Someone that understands! Thank you! Glad yours turned up, too!

And you're right, I'd spent countless hours agonizing over choices and over spending the money, often waiting months before buying.

I'm in a MUCH better position to replace gear now than I'd been when I bought it in the first place, but still!

[Trail Runner]

Good story. I'm glad you still have your gear.

Anyone ever have something like this happen?

Not with a happy ending and unrelated to gear. During a long distance move in the early '90s I inadvertently left behind about a dozen production cels from the animated The Lord of the Rings movie, The Secret of NIMH, and Heavy Metal. A few months had passed before I realized they were missing and the new residents & my former landlord claimed to know nothing. It still bothers me occasionally so thanks for bringing up unpleasant memories.

[chrislrob]

Oh, no! You're someone's eBay fantasy! And I'm sorry about that!

[OlTrailDog]

Now that's a happy ending.

[Grunt]

No. My luck doesn't work that way...I would actually have thrown it away on accident somehow. I'm glad you have better luck and it was only a scare.

[ConquistadorOfTheUseless]

Good story. I'm glad you still have your gear.



Not with a happy ending and unrelated to gear. During a long distance move in the early '90s I inadvertently left behind about a dozen production cels from the animated The Lord of the Rings movie, The Secret of NIMH, and Heavy Metal. A few months had passed before I realized they were missing and the new residents & my former landlord claimed to know nothing. It still bothers me occasionally so thanks for bringing up unpleasant memories.

Wow, that would still bother me as well.

[cougarmeat]

Another non-happy ending here - to emphasize how lucky you were - I had gear stored at a friend’s house while I was out of the country for a few months. When I returned, I couldn’t find a box that contained my hiking boots (over $100 in 1980 dollars) and some other gear. Turns out they had a garage sale, with friends helping, and one my my boxes was added to the sale. It’s okay. It doesn’t bother me. It was only 40 years ago

[BradA72]

I’ve been pretty good at not throwing away expensive/important things but I do seem to toss less important items on a pretty frequent basis then need said item the next week.
Now the ex seemed to have a nack for tossing my important things ��