Have you ever had those instances in your life where you can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all?
That is the situation I found myself in after arriving outside Kampala, Uganda for debrief — after an already eventful thirteen hour bus ride with only one legit rest stop, and a smorgasbord of other short stops for police checkpoints, and one really long two and a half hour stop when our bus got a flat tire … yeah, that kind of day. Oh and also throw in the fact that we changed time zones so it became an hour later, making an already thirteen hour day, in essence, fourteen hours. Not including the two hours before we even got on the road that could be added into this travel day. Needless to say, arriving at nearly eleven at night, I was exhausted, but there was still one final task before the day would be over … setting up my tent, in the dark, perfect.
So here’s what happened. We manage to get all my stuff down to our campsite and I proceed to take out my tent, right? Well I lay out my ground cloth, check. I then proceed to pull out my tent poles.
“I really don’t remember having orange tent poles,â€� I think to myself.
“But maybe since I’ve only used my tent at training camp and debriefs, maybe I don’t even remember what color they are, this has to be my tent, it’s a Kelty, how could it not be my tent?â€� I continue to think to myself.
Well, enter Sarah Schrack and Drew helping me to set up my tent in a much simpler way than I have ever set it up before, and then it hits me …
“This is not my tent,� I proclaim.
“What do you mean this is not your tent,� Sarah inquires.
“Well my tent does not open from the side … My tent opens from the front,� I explain.
Laughter erupts and I decide to try and find out whose tent I have managed to accidentally acquire …
Well, Shayna is the only one on my team with a Kelty and she definitely has the right tent, so let’s flashback to Month Two in Uganda.
So what had happened was, we left Jinja, Uganda debrief with insanely muddy tents. We arrived in Mbarara, Uganda with a second team — Kevin’s team. We decided to all be responsible individuals and dry out our muddy nasty tents when we arrived so they wouldn’t be smelling ripe next time we had to use them, right? So anyways we did that then grabbed our rain fly’s and tents and wrapped them all up and put them in their respective bags. We went about our lives and then two days before we had to leave the ladies had to move to a different room due to a conference, so we began a storage room in the sewing area that had our stuff and eventually the guys stuff too, at least this is the theory that I am deducing to explain this occurrence. Anyways we went to pack our airporters with our packs and tents and such and somehow I guess I accidentally acquired Kevin’s tent. But wait, it gets better …
Amidst this switch we also accidentally grabbed the wrong rain fly’s at the beginning of the month — he grabbed my front opening rain fly and I grabbed his side opening rain fly, honest mistake, really. If you don’t have it on the tent, you wouldn’t notice either.
Well this seems like a simple fix really, just trade tents back and keep the correct rain fly. Oh, also my tent had special nicer lightweight stakes that I bought special for it while Kevin’s had the crappy ones that came with it and get bent like nobody’s business. Okay continuing …
So after realizing that it is in fact Kevin’s tent that I have, at about midnight now, I approach him to see if he has realized he has my tent. I figured he hadn’t because team leaders are staying in a building while the rest of us are tenting it. Well, insert Lucas Tillman, who proceeds to laugh and reiterate my question to Kevin, for some reason.
“Yeah, Kevin … Do you have Jessica’s tent?â€� he chimes in.
“Wait … Hey, Drea … Does Kevin have Jessica’s tent?â€� he continues.
They laugh.
I know something must be up and there must be a joke that I am not in on.
“Well actually, I kind of might have given your tent away,� Kevin replies.
So apparently, Kevin decided “his� tent was extra weight he was willing to part with so before he left he gave away the tent to his pastor … So, no, he does not have my tent. Perfect.
Well I have a new tent, I think to myself, and actually, I probably got the better end of the deal, it’s easier to get in to this tent (so I think) and it’s more spacious because it opens from the side, and it is even ventilated on all sides, not just on the front where you enter … sweet! This is when I go back to continue setting up the tent and discover the rain fly mishap … so now I have a really awesome side opening tent with a front opening rain fly, perfect!
Which basically means that Tom had to help me to rig it so that it pretty much covers the whole tent, albeit a little ventilation open, which may or may not let rain in, but useable. Except for this one thing, I have to do this extreme game of limbo to get in and out of my new tent because the zipper is on the front, so it is just a stretched out rain fly held down by string on the side that I have to crawl under to get in and out … This is The World Race!
So finally about one in the morning, I am finally settled inside my tent … and as I am unpacking my pack to get my pajamas out … I notice that some of my stuff sacks feel a little damp, then I realize my toiletry bag feels really damp … so apparently, the canister of baby wipes I bought, got a little smashed at the lid, therefore the baby wipe juice leaked out over all my toiletry stuff, icing on the cake really.
So here’s the lesson: Don’t ever be too attached to anything you bring on The World Race, because who knows when this absurd incident may happen to you … at least I still have a tent, which will be really awesome if we ever get to tent inside, like really awesome and ventilated.
Positive Pants! (Anyone who has at least been to Training Camp will know about these!)
