Fudge Down Below

Jerry, Jim and Jene Galvin are off to Spain shortly to walk part of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route that leads to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. It's thought that the remains of St. James the apostle are buried there. The pilgrimage dates back to the 10th century. The young brother, Jene – age 70, will hike and camp his way across most of Spain. The older brothers, Jerry – age 73, and Jim – age 71, will meet Jene down the trail and hike the last week with him. I can't speak for my brothers, but I'm going for the adventure of it, and if some spirituality seeps in, that's great. You have the picture. Three brothers, all in their 70's, spending many days together alone. Something we've never ever done before in our entire lives. 

Jene is a very experienced and very skilled backpacker and camper. Often camping in harsh conditions, while carrying everything he may need for a week or more. He's obsessed with carrying as little weight as possible. He held my underpants in his hand one day and pronounced them "too heavy." While Jim and I have done some hiking and camping, we aren't even in the same league with Jene. He's in the major league. In comparison we're still playing grade school ball. 

Jene's the one, or so I thought until today. 

Last weekend he saved me considerable money by bringing me stuff I need, but won't now have to buy for what could be one-time use. Among the supplies is a high-tech inflatable sleeping mat that goes under the sleeping bag he lent me. Then he showed me an ingenious way to inflate it. He had painstakingly fashioned a tube out of duct tape. He had cut a hole in the corner of a plastic garbage bag and made an airtight seal of the bag hole onto the duct tape tube. The tube fit perfectly and tightly over the mat's air nozzle. With the tube on the nozzle, he'd shake the bag to capture air and quickly close and roll it up, forcing the air out of the bag into the mattress. What may have taken 15 minutes or more to do by simply blowing into the nozzle, he did in maybe two minutes. He offered to make such an assembly for me to use with the mat. Knowing that Jene probably spent an hour or more making his assembly, I told him I'd make one myself with the help of a friend, Tim Fischer. 

Today I showed Tim the mat and told him what we needed to make, and how. He looked at me like I was nuts. I had a quick doctor's appointment, so Tim grabbed the mat and told me to meet him at his house afterwards. When I got there he had $3 worth of tubing and plastic plumbing parts out on a table. He slid the tube over the nozzle. Perfect tight fit. He slid a plastic part with threads on it into the other end of the tube. Another tight fit. Reaching inside the bag, he screwed a plastic cap with a hole in it onto the threaded part that was in the tube, thereby locking the bag in place in the threads. He then punched a hole in the bag so air could pass through the cap, through the threaded piece, through the tube and nozzle and into the mat. Assembly time (separate from going to Home Depot) – 42 seconds.

Tim said, "Tell Jene I'll make one of these for him with the leftover parts. Oh, and he'll fudge his shorts when he sees this."