Tonight, they are predicting the coldest night of the year here in Central Florida. Temperatures might dip into the low 30's and even colder inland. Brrrr!
Outside, people have their plants covered in sheets and the air smells of fires in fireplaces. I haven't covered any plants and I don't have a fireplace. I laugh in the face of Jack Frost. HA! Bring on the cold, old Jack because I've seen cold and this ain't it!
Actually, that's not true. I'm sitting here bundled up in my Mr. Roger's sweater, sweatshirt, sweatpants and big wooly socks. I hate being cold.
One of the questions I've been asked about my trip is "Was it cold?" (One person asked me how hot it was . It turned out that she thought Nepal was in Africa.)
In the city it was cool; a lot like our winters here. Jacket over a t-shirt weather. In the mountains, it was a little colder, but the nights were the worst! Nighttime was when even the less religious among us got some serious religion. I would crawl into my sleeping bag and pray: "Please God, if I don't wake up during the night having to pee I promise I'll never again ______ [fill in the blank.]"
Each afternoon when we'd reach camp, the first thing Sue and I would do was prepare for the night. The tents were already set up, but we would have to find our bags, unpack our sleeping bags, sheets, parkas and any clothes we wanted for the next day. Doesn't sound like much now, but after hiking for seven or eight hours, crawling into and out of a tent was exhausting.
After dinner, large kettles of boiling water were brought into the dining tent. We could only drink boiled water, so we lined up our water bottles so they could be filled. Once Sue's and mine were filled, one of
us would run back to the tent and put those hot water bottles into the sleeping bags.
We would remain in the dining tent for a while after dinner. First, Mani (our fearless leader) would brief us on the next day's climb. We would moan and groan about how much up there would be, (well, I would moan and groan) and then we would spend some time journaling, chatting, playing Scrabble or cards. The favorite card game seemed to be a multi-deck game called "Shithead". It was a lot of fun.
You'll notice that there aren't many beverages on the table, because we all knew that bedtime was upon us and we didn't want another drop of anything to go into our bodies.
Once the games were over, we would put on our headlamps, go for a final pee and then crawl into our tents. As if the day hadn't been full of enough tests of our motor skills, getting into the sleeping bag was one more. While the sleeping bag itself zipped down the side, the sheet inside was like a sheath you squirmed into. Most nights we were also given an outer bag that went over the sleeping bag which also did not zip and that added another aerobic level to going to bed.
Before attempting the sleeping bag manuver though, I would stuff my big parka into a pillowcase and use it as my pillow.
Once in the sleeping bag, I would take off my headlamp and slip it over my arm so I wouldn't have to grope for it in the night. Then I would grab the bags containing my camera, recorder, spare batteries and iPod. These had to come into the sleeping bag to be protected by its warmth otherwise the batteries could be jeopardized in all this equipment as well as the equipment itself. I would also pull any clothes I was going to change into the next day into the bag so they would be moderately warm and I could change without exposing any more of me than necessary to the cold air.
By this time, I generally had to pee.
I'm going to save the peeing experience for another post as this one is getting long and that was an adventure unto itself.
Occasionally a bit of laundry would be done once camp was reached.
Notice the icicles hanging from the toes of the socks!
But the best surprise was the one Sue got one morning: frozen underwear!
And if frozen underwear wasn't bad enough, we got to breakfast that morning and when Sue sat down to eat, her fork was frozen to her plate!
So I say again: Bring it on Jacko! I can roll over in my sleep tonight, my underwear isn't frozen and I won't have popsicle toes come morning. I can take it. You just have to dish it out.
