With April showers looming a day away (it always starts pouring on the first day of April, right?) I thought it would be fitting to write about one of my favorite items of rain gear. Truth be told, it is often my only item of rain gear since I don’t mind getting wet myself as long as it isn’t freezing. So read on and you will see how I turned baggies into their own post, albeit a short one.
I have written in here several times about how I always make sure to pack ziplock bags (though it doesn’t have to be any particular brand, but everyone understands what I mean when I say ziplock). They are handy for a variety of things and I thought I would spend a little time talking about what I use them for and why I pack them not only for the event but also for every training walk that I go on.
Phone Case
My phone is probably the most expensive thing that I carry with me on the walk. I use it as a phone, camera, video camera plus a device to update my social networking and blog stuff. When it rains, the last thing that I want to happen is for my phone to get damaged from water. While it is not always in it, I always have a spare bag for it in the event of inclement weather.
On a training walk last year, we got hit by some unexpected rain when we were still several miles from the cars. Thankfully, I carried enough bags not only to keep my phone dry, but also to let the people I was walking with snag a bag and keep theirs dry. I found out something neat on that day. If you have a touch screen phone, you can still use the touch screen through the bag! I was even able to place a call through it, but the audio was understandably a little muffled.
First Aid
Everything that I put into a first aid kit usually goes into a baggie. I separate it out by type: one bag for pills like ibuprofen and stuff, one bag for band aids (the wrappers done stand up to moisture very well even if it’s not raining!), the tape I use for blisters (it will stick to everything you put with it and it’s a lot easier to get it unstuck from a bag than say a sock).
Socks!
Yes, I have said ti store your socks in baggies before, but I thought I should say it again. There are two reasons that I like to use baggies for socks:
1. To keep them dry before I get them on my feet.
2. To keep the smelly used socks from stinking up the rest of my gear.
Enough Reasons, Here’s Some More Details
When you are buying bags for y our 3-Day for the Cure experience or for a simple training walk, I recommend a variety of bag sizes depending on what you are carrying. I use snack size bags for things like pills, my phone and other smaller items. I use sandwich size bags for socks, my foot tape and other items of medium size. Then when it comes to packing I get the one and two gallon sizes to fit clothes in, plus garbage bags for anything larger.
I realize that writing a post about baggies is probably not the most interesting thing to write about, but I figured that it is something that I take with me every time I go, so I should probably write about it for people that haven’t thought about it! Don’t forget to bring extra baggies!
