Outbound Dan's Outdoor Musings

Everyone knows that Biggest Loser program on NBC, right? You know the one featuring morbidly obese people crying all the time and was created as a one-hour commercial for the weight-loss industry?  I propose a new Biggest Loser program, one which concentrates on limiting our expenditure of natural resources. We need to go on a diet from our wasteful ways, utilize renewable energy sources, and bre ak away from the gas and oil corporations all together.   Just imagine, instead of a weigh-in to see how much weight you lost, we measure your consumption of electric, gas, oil, and water. Perhaps the competitive nature of Americans, would "fuel" a new green revolution.  Now, all we need is a TV studio not owned by the fossil fuel addiction specialists.

So with the success with my one article on How to Wash and Waterproof a Softshell Jacket I decided I should write another article on how to take care of hardshell rain garments too. I think I will title this one "How to waterproof a rain jacket."  I should throw something in there too about DWR too for those google results.  Anyway, it got me thinking today about how we maintain our gear. How many of us in the outdoors, especially those of us with copious amounts of gear, actually take care of everything the way we should?  A part of me expects to replace a pack every couple of years, though realistically if I took care of it better and took it to be sewn when ripped, I could get many more years out of it.  The eco-conscious person inside me knows that I should try to stretch equipment as much as I can to avoid the production of new materials.  Then again, as an avid outdoorsman that always has the latest and greatest, I really like getting a new pack ever...