I was perched on the edge of the sleeping platform lost in a little reverie along these lines and absorbed with trying to get a small volume of water to boil—quite happy really—when one of the middle-aged guys drifted over and introduced himself as Bob. I knew with a sinking heart that we were going to talk equipment. I could just see it coming. I hate talking equipment.
“So what made you buy a Gregory pack?” he said.
“Well, I thought it would be easier than carrying everything in my arms.”
—Bill Bryson, “Chapter 7,” A Walk in the Woods, p. 98, 1998.
