[pct-l] Lawn chairs...

[jjolson@uwyo.edu (Jeffrey Olson)]

On a section hike from Tahoe to Tuolomne in 1994 I encountered a delightful
couple from Ventura on a weeklong backpack in the north boundary country of
yosemite and the wilderness area to the north and east.  EAch of them carried
an aluminum lawn chair.  I ate lunch with them and they were pretty funny to
watch.  The fellow was a junior high teacher and was fairly obsessive
compulsive.  Everything had to be just so or his anxiety level rose.  I met
them at a creek crossing and the map and reality didn't jibe.  After crossing
he hurried ahead to a trail junction to confirm that the map actually was
wrong.

His wife was an angel.  The love in her eyes and her compassion for him seemed
to rise with his anxiety.  At any rate, their lunchtime ritual really revolved
around the chairs.

They took off their packs, unstrapped their chairs, put them about a foot and a
half from each other, and leveled them.  They sat down in them very
deliberately, having plopped once too often in one of them on another trip.
They then unloaded the lunch from their packs and and laid everything out in
about ten seconds.  They had their routine down.  No reaching or extending.
Everything was where it was every day.  They were so damn proud of how
efficient they were.  Totally charming.  No artifice or cool.  My heart was
heavy to leave them.

Jeffrey Olson
Laramie Wyoming, where it's 9 degrees with a windchill of -16 degrees.

> In a message dated 1/31/2001 4:45:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> Bighummel@aol.com writes:
>
> << The "Chairman" in 1977 carried an aluminum beach chair strapped to the
> back  of his pack for an estimated 2000 miles!  Some chose the luxury of
> comfort
> at  a price that is acceptable to them and only them.  Each sets what level
> of
>  price is acceptable.   >>