How Adventuring Has Taught Me A Lesson In Luxury

Shoes, jewelry, fancy cars, garments that are dry clean only...these are the things that used to come to mind when I heard the word luxury. Now when I hear or think of luxury, my thoughts immediately turn to my adventure gear. I've never owned luxurious things, I've always kept purchases pretty basic - until I started investing in the proper adventure gear.

There are several lessons I chose not to learn the hard way. I heeded all of the advice out there regarding the purchase of a backpack, sleep system, and a jacket. Blunders of any kind with these items are not lessons I wanted to learn on the trails, however...as a new owner of said luxurious items, there was bound to be at least one...right? This particular lesson involves my jacket - not on the trail. 

As most people do, I always look at the tags before washing items and often times before purchasing, because dry clean only is just too high maintenance for me. I read the tag, "wash on gentle, tumble dry low" - easy enough. The first encounter with the washing machine was a success, I found a couple feathers in the lint trap, nothing out of the ordinary. The second washing, a few more feathers, but nothing I thought was cause for concern. The third washing however...my dryer and load of laundry looked as though someone had tumble dried a couple of chickens. Unsure of why the seams appeared to be coming apart in some spots, I figured I'd gotten a faulty jacket and returned it to the store.

Yes, I was THAT girl who shamelessly walked into REI with my jacket and said, "I'm not really sure what happened, the stitching came apart and some of the jacket...just exploded". I spoke to a woman who looked at the jacket and immediately asked if I had a top loading washing machine with an agitator and if I used regular detergent, I told her yes, the tag didn't state otherwise so I thought it was safe. She'd begun to explain that it's the golden rule with down, front loading washer and also, soap that's meant for down filling...I nodded my head in acknowledgment as I thought to myself, well this is embarrassing...how did I not know about this golden rule, I must have read about this somewhere in the numerous articles and blogs I've studied...but somehow this one I missed. The lack of the golden rule(s) being printed on the care instructions tag was my saving grace in replacing the jacket I'd innocently destroyed. 

Thankfully, I now know the golden rule(s) for down - front loading washing machine only and specialty down care....until next time: Washing Machine - 1 | Stormy - 0

Stormy ~ Wandering Wild