Member-only story
Ever have one of those ideas that seemed brilliant at the time that ended up being…not so brilliant? Welcome to my world.
It all started when I was at Walmart in Colville last Fall. I saw a sleeping bag for only $13 and thought — Well dang! I can car camp on my next trip to Arizona in December. Genius! Thirteen dollars was a bargain, and I scooped it up. When I got home, however, I discovered the enormous label which informed me that according to California Proposition 65, this sleeping bag contained components which could cause cancer. Normally I would have shrugged that off (since I’m invincible so far), but because I’m going to be sleeping with my body cocooned by the thing, and would also be breathing it in, it needed to be returned.
So, I went on a quest online to find a non-carcinogenic sleeping bag. And I did — at the same price as the Walmart one. Score! I also found a crazy inexpensive sleeping bag pad. And when that arrived — it had a nice big label with — you guessed it — the California Prop 65 warning. But since that wouldn’t be up against my skin, I chose to ignore the fact that this was strike two against my “brilliant” idea.
Two weeks before my trip, I did a dry run packing my ginormous suitcase. No matter how I crammed and smushed, I couldn’t get that dang sleeping bag in — well, not with everything else I…
