Ouch, this is all too real for me...

A couple of weeks ago, when we had the topic going of how you'd outfit a friends daypack for $25 was a real eye opener. I started to realize that my keychain stuff costs more than that, let alone filling a daypack with appropriate items!

I think now my ridiculous cache of flashlights are probably worth more than ALL of the gear I had as a boy, and I was going on 10-14 day treks back then! (My flashlight back then was a right angle 2 D cell thing, but, it did have the BSA logo on it, which made it the envy of the other guys in my patrol.)

At least decades later I still get out there every month and get to sleep under the stars. Maybe all the extra gear is just a bonus for sticking with this stuff long enough for my son to get interested. Now my wife doesn't blame me as much, it's for my son you see