As I’ve been gathering things for my big adventure, the list of wants is starting to grow bigger than the list of needs. I’ve pondered is a hat a necessity?
Surely you need a broad-rimmed floppy hat to keep the sun off your face, ears and neck. That’s critical, right? Fight off skin cancer!
If so, then a nice warm fleece hat for cold nights seems pretty important too. I’m proud to have sewed this one myself. You can’t go on an expedition in the Pacific Northwest, even in the summer where it doesn’t get cold at night. Or at least I can’t.
Well, if you need a warm hat and you need a sun hat, you of course need a hat that will keep you warm on a cold, sunny day. Or one that will keep your glasses dry on a cold, drizzly day. Enter the wooly “Elmer Fudd” hat. Yes, the ear flaps may be viewed as extremely dorky. (Even my wife laughs critically when I put it on.) But hey, my ears need to stay warm! And the string means that the darn thing won’t blow off in a big gust.
Now if a guy on an expedition suddenly finds himself in the company of other humans and it isn’t cold or super sunny and he’s feeling a little shy about his hats, or if he hasn’t washed his hair in two weeks, then clearly he needs another hat- say a baseball cap he can pull on to hide his messy head. And this particular hat is from the Vancouver parks district- so perhaps people won’t know that he’s an American!
Clearly, you need four hats to go on an expedition. Who’s with me?
Terrapin Tales 