Getting the Right Day Pack

Osprey Tempest 20

I decided to exchange the 20 liter Osprey Tempest backpack for a Gregory Maya 16 liter.  Fernando's Gregory Miwok backpack is a better size at 18 liters but mine is supposed to fit a woman better, although the Tempest was supposedly made for a woman and it rubbed on my hips, which is why I exchanged it.  That and the fact that some of the outside pockets of the Tempest are made of a lycra netting that I know will deteriorate with age, just like swimsuits, and that are not waterproof, and I know we will get rain on the Camino.  There were a few things in addition to the size that I appreciated on the Tempest.  You can adjust the size of it, making it longer or shorter depending on your size.  The zippers are covered and seem to slide more easily than those of  the Gregory, except for those side pockets on the waist belt that are hard to reach and unzip on the Tempest.  Plus I like the location of the inner zippered pocket in the larger zippered compartment on the Tempest rather than up on top in the smaller compartment on the Gregory.

Gregory Maya 16

But 16 liters isn't much and it's a tight fit for my windbreaker, long-sleeved shirt, fleece jacket and a purse.  It's surprising how much more easily they fit into Fernando's 18 liter pack since it is wider.  So now I have second thoughts about the Maya 16.  Penny has the pink version of it and she also uses it as a hydration pack but I'm not that fond of drinking out of a tube, although Lord knows I should be drinking more water.  Plus Lord also knows that I pick up more along the way than Penny does so I really need extra room for storing various oddities.  In short I am now comparing the woman's Maya 16 with the man's Miwok 18, trying to discover what the big difference is.

Gregory Miwok 18

The broad part of the man's shoulder straps are slightly wider and about 3 inches longer so that they don't fit as well over a woman's chest, although I like the feel of the man's waistband better, since it doesn't ride up as high as the woman's and sits more at what I consider my waist.  I'm surprised that Gregory doesn't give the option of being able to lengthen the pack like the Osprey Tempest does since Gregory does offer that feature on their larger packs.

Gregory Miwok 18
in Tropic Orange

Fortunately my MacBook Air laptop fits into the Maya 16 ok, although I don't have plans to take it on this trip.  I'll write down my blog entries in a couple of little moleskine notebooks and then type them up when I get home.  Maybe I'll just learn to live with a smaller pack and make Fernando carry the lunches, the ibuprofen, the first aid kit, the compass, the tissues, the pocket knife, and the thousand other miscellaneous items that usually fit into the woman's purse.  Unless, that is, I decide to order a Miwok 18 in Tropic Orange...

Trial Run and Renfe Tickets

Yesterday morning we bought the Renfe train tickets from Madrid to Pamplona - First Class no less! We figure that we will be SOOO tired from our overnight flight to Madrid that we should pamper ourselves. The train leaves from the Atocha station at 14:05 and arrives at 17:44.
Then we called with a nobelcom.com 1minute Spain card and made a reservation for Sunday night at the Hostal Arriazu in Pamplona
http://www.hostalarriazu.com/
because the Hostal Bearan (which has been recommended in various sources) was full.

Finally, while Fernando was at the University working on a proposal with a colleague, I took my loaded Gregory Shasta backpack (14 pounds) and walked for about 2 and 1/2 hours on the South Side rail trail along the Monongahela River, completing about 8.8 miles according to the gmaps pedometer site. Then Fernando picked me up and we went over to REI where the salesman convinced us that we didn't need new lighter packs since the Shastas that we have carries the load so much better. And it is true: they have a substantial padded hip belt that takes the load off of the small of the back.

That evening I was pooped, but as they say, it was a good pooped.