I was in REI today picking up buckle to replace the broken one on my old backpack, a Royal Blue Kelty Coyote. It's a damn fine pack, but my mind and then my body wandered over to the back wall where they keep all of the new backpacks with the latest technology (no, a backpack is not just a backpack! Read and learn...) The new Osprey packs are designed with a special curvature to fit your back, pockets everywhere and even an internal water bladder, but it felt wrong to be looking at the new models when the Blue Coyote was just sitting at home ready and waiting to be packed full of gear and slung on my back for our next great adventure. It'd feel wrong to leave her at home. She was a gift from my father on my 13th Birthday and we've been off and running ever since. The Blue Coyote wasn't there for my first backpacking trip in 5th grade, but it was on that trip that we realized the old external frame military pack I was borrowing, was not suitable for a 10 year old.
Everywhere I travel I buy patches to adorn her, but never get around to sewing them on. Anyway, I know they'd just get dirty or torn off because even though I love the old lady, I'm not always that gentle with her. She's weathered rainstorms in Australia, been thrown under buses and above train seats all over Europe (twice), clawed by pesky squirels in New Mexico and Yosemite, strapped on a pallet by an Airforce flight crew on its way to Korea, used as a sled down Mt. Rainer, and lastly has provided me with a seat/pillow/"big spoon" at countless airports, train stations, bus terminals, and metro stations around the world. Maybe someday I'll retire her and put her in a glass case in my office next to a world map, but it's not going to be any time soon.
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