Experiment
One says to me, “I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love to travel; you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg today and see the country.” But I am wiser than that. I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. I say to my friend, Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty miles; the fare ninety cents. That is almost a day’s wages. I remember when wages were sixty cents a day for laborers on this very road. Well, I start now on foot, and get there before night; I have travelled at that rate by the week together. You will in the meanwhile have earned your fare, and arrive there some time tomorrow, or possibly this evening, if you are lucky enough to get a job in season. Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working here the greater part of the day. And so, if the railroad reached round the world, I think that I should keep ahead of you; and as for seeing the country and getting experience of that kind, I should have to cut your acquaintance altogether.
–Henry David Thoreau, Walden
I propose an experiment to test this but I request a volunteer. I will walk from Perth to Dundee or vice versa (about 30 or so miles) and whoever volunteers will get to the destination by any other means, the catch being that you cannot pay for it using funds you already have. This means that you will have to earn your fare for the transport and get to the destination before I get there for free.
Any takers?
Run
Snow
Yet as I wander through the snow
All alone
Can’t help but feel at home
I wander–Machinae Supremacy’s Winterstorm
Kifaru ZXR compression strap modification
A few days ago I was struck with a flash of inspiration, why not put buckles on the compression straps of my ZXR instead of the ladderlocs? Quicker to decompress the pack with the bonus of lashing things to the pack quickly.
I got my hands on a bunch of split side release buckles from Supply Captain and performed the mod.
First you need to unthread one of the compression straps from the ladderloc and add the male SRB part.
The next part is somewhat tricky. You need to cut off the ladderloc while leaving the nylon loop undamaged. I carefully cut it away with a set of some sort of clippers I had lying around.
Put the female portion of the SRB on the loop then clip the two portions together. Repeat for the other 3 straps.
Replacing each ladderloc only takes a couple of minutes and due to the female buckles having the slot, zero sewing is required.
I think the ZXR is better with the improved functionality. Attaching items to the side of the pack is much quicker and simpler.
A similar thing can be done to the XTL to provide a quick release from the main pack should you need to bail in a hurry, or just to be tacticool.
Sleeping bag comparison
Today I got my grubby hands on a Kifaru 20 degree Fahrenheit Slick sleeping bag. Initial review is very positive.
Massive toebox. I can move my feet to a very comfortable width in the slick bag. My British Army bag is very restrictive in this regard, far too narrow at the foot end. I hate to think how restrictive it would be with boots on.
In terms of size, there is no contest. The Slick bag wins in almost every area.
When it comes to weight, again there is no contest whatsoever. The army bag is significantly heavier than the Slick. Its like comparing a desktop computer to a netbook. Slick bag is so light. Definitely replaces the army bag, no question about it.
No ID
I have been running a sort of experiment for the past couple weeks or so. I have been going without any form of legally recognised identification. Took the photocard part of my drivers license out of my wallet.
In the beginning, I found myself thinking I was doing something wrong. Why was I thinking that way? Is the state conditioning that strong? It isn’t a crime to not have identification. If it was, babies and children should be locked in prison. If you don’t drive you don’t need a license and if you have never left the country you won’t have a passport. Both of those are voluntary, you cannot be compelled to get one for any reason other than to drive or leave the country.
As I am a driver, I am technically supposed to carry both the photocard and counterpart pieces of the license as both are required during a police stop. There is a clause in the legislation which allows me to take both pieces of the license to a police station of my choice within 7 days from the stop so that is not an issue.
Of course, I will carry my passport while in a foreign country as those are pretty much globally recognised.
The only other real use for state issued ID in this country is to prove you are old enough to purchase alcohol. I took my photocard ID to the supermarket last week because I knew I would be buying alcohol but due to the number of people that know me there (I work there) I never got carded. In fact I hardly ever get carded. This is possibly due to my lack of drinking but the times I have been in pubs I have had little to no problems getting drinks.
So it would seem that identification is not needed in this country. For now. It seems that The Powers That Be are hell bent on making it mandatory within a decade or so to carry ID. Of course, I do not agree with this and will resist at every point. Instead, I propose a new idea. We should go back to trusting each other. When I identify myself, you should be able to trust that I am who I say I am. If you don’t believe me, it is down to you to prove that I am lying. Kinda like innocent until proven guilty.
I have the power!
A few weeks ago I purchased a cheap solar panel for charging my tech while out and about. My original plan was to get 2 of them and attach them to my XTL. When it arrived it was much much smaller than I anticipated. I can fit 5 across the PALS webbing on my XTL.
The panel is a simple affair. Has an internal lithium battery that can be charged via USB to give a full charge before going outdoors and also has a pop out secondary panel for faster charging. Comes with a bunch of adapters for various devices.
Attaching it to my XTL is pretty simple. I glued 2 Maxpedition Tacties which I had modified to give improved functionality (in my opinion) to the back of the panel. I was origially going to film it but my audience is not dumb, gluing 2 things together hardly qualifies as video material.
Malice clips could be used as an alternative to the tacties. I would prefer to use them but I can’t find any retailers in the UK that stock them and I am not paying £20 to ship 4 bits of plastic from America.
The proof of concept works well I think. Sags a little but that’s due to a lack of interweaving that would normally happen on PALS. I attempted to glue in a loop of webbing on each tactie but that failed.
This is my rifle
There are many like it, but this one is mine.
America Trip Pre-planning
I can get to Seattle from Glasgow/Edinburgh for under £600. Immensely doable. I can also get to California for that price but requires 2 stops as opposed to the one to Seattle (no direct flights it seems, shame).
I want to go around springtime. Camping/hiking/other outdoorsy stuff will be done, along with trolling various shops for cool stuff. Timespan about 3-4 weeks or so.
Lets get this ball rolling, hit me up with ideas etc in the usual ways.
Gubbinz Pouch
This originally came out of a need to put bits ‘n bobs someplace so they don’t clutter up my room or get lost. At some point, I decided to just take it with me in case it proved useful. Depending on how I’m feeling, it either rides in the front pocket of my Maxpedition Sabercat or in my Kifaru XTL.
The pouch itself is a Kifaru standard chamber pocket which came with the XTL. 425 denier nylon, plenty strong for small things.
Contents:
- Paracord and hair bands
- 2 boot bands
- Tissues
- Urban self aid kit
- Grimloc carabiner
- Clipper lighter
- Electrical lighter with torch
The 2 lighters serve different purposes. The clipper has a removable flint sparker so even without gas it is still useful. The electrical one has a small LED torch built into it, not the best thing in the world but when its the only thing you have you will be glad of it. The holster was made for me by V, features a belt loop and a clip to put on keys or what have you.
