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  1. #1
    Member CanadaEast's Avatar
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    Happy to be an Oddball

    I was just wondering, considering how very few people have used or even seen a hammock used for camping, does it take a certain kind of person to get into it (and no...I don't mean that literally). What I mean is do you consider yourself a bit of a maverick (or oddball as the title says).

    Personally I"m glad that Backpacker magazine and others pay little attention to the hammocking community (or seem to). I enjoy the fact that when I head out I"m doing something very few have done. Its also fun seeing the look on peoples faces when they first see you setting up your hammock. Always good for a laugh even if its sometimes at my expense.

    When I first started kayaking there were few on the water and it made the activity extra special. Now it seems every other person has a kayak. I still find it alot of fun and maybe I'm a bit selfish but it seems to have lost a bit of its uniqueness.

    Like I said...I'm glad to be part of the select few and I'm happy to be an oddball.

    Any thoughts?
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Mule's Avatar
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    Hammocks didn't make me an oddball. They are just the best thing to happen to my backpacking since I first began in 1966.
    I already was an oddball long before hammocks came into the picture.
    Mule
    Predictions are risky, especially when it comes to the future.

  3. #3
    Member CanadaEast's Avatar
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    Let me be clear...I accuse my hammock of nothing other than being light to carry and very comfortable. My question was directed more towards the user.
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  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    Well, I also happen to ride a recumbent bike: http://www.bicycleman.com/recumbents...s_tailwind.htm

    I am just happy to be comfortable!

  5. #5
    Senior Member rock_rat's Avatar
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    I've had other hobbies that became less interesting or "crowded" as there popularity grew. I'm worry about the future of Geocaching for just that reason. As to hammocks, the fewer people that have them the more trees for me.
    Murphy was an optimist! - O'toole's commentary on Murphy's law
    The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum. - O'Toole's Corollary
    I think this O'Toole guys onto something. - Rock_Rat's commentary on O'Toole

  6. #6
    slowhike's Avatar
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    I've seen that surprised, curious look on people's face plenty of times when I had my hammock set up in the mountains<G>.
    Some people are wondering how well I can actually sleep in that thing.
    The more observant ones say "you look way to comfortable in that hammock"
    I too will something make and joy in it's making

  7. #7
    Senior Member headchange4u's Avatar
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    You do get strange looks in a hammock.

    I remember getting to Edisto Beach after driving all night. It was still a few hours before my wife and I could get to our campsite, so my wife went to the beach, and since I had not been asleep is about 38 hours, so I set my hammock up in a picnic area in the shade of some Palmetto trees and went to sleep.

    I awoke about and hour later to a 8 year old kid staring down at me through the bug netting. He kept saying, "Mommy, what is this?". She would answer, " I think it's a hammock. Leave that man alone."
    Last edited by headchange4u; 06-12-2008 at 08:13.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett



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  8. #8
    Member eugeneius's Avatar
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    Talking

    After I built my hammock I scurried off to the nearest park with adequate trees, I set it up with a big smile. The most awkward moment was when a buddy of mine who I hadn't seen since I graduated college rode by on his bike and recognized me, I poked my head out just as he was going by. He said he almost just kept riding past me but seriously thought that I was sleeping on the streets and might need help. I felt kinda silly considering the context of the situation, my first words to him were "Oh hey Pete, it's a hammock....". I'm sure he thought I was a major oddball after that situation, he knows nothing of the benefits of lightweight shelter and backpacking. I consider myself somewhat of an oddball, hammocking now seems to fit.
    [....] Our remnants of wilderness will yield bigger values to the nation's character and health than they will to its pocketbook, and to destroy them will be to admit that the latter are the only values that interest us.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by eugeneius View Post
    After I built my hammock I scurried off to the nearest park with adequate trees, I set it up with a big smile. The most awkward moment was when a buddy of mine who I hadn't seen since I graduated college rode by on his bike and recognized me, I poked my head out just as he was going by. He said he almost just kept riding past me but seriously thought that I was sleeping on the streets and might need help. I felt kinda silly considering the context of the situation, my first words to him were "Oh hey Pete, it's a hammock....". I'm sure he thought I was a major oddball after that situation, he knows nothing of the benefits of lightweight shelter and backpacking. I consider myself somewhat of an oddball, hammocking now seems to fit.
    It's always funny when someone thinks you are a hobo...happened to me several times!

  10. #10
    Senior Member neo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by skskinner View Post
    Hammocks didn't make me an oddball. They are just the best thing to happen to my backpacking since I first began in 1966.
    I already was an oddball long before hammocks came into the picture.
    Mule
    hey broyou call being in nam your 1st backpacking trip.God bless you broneo
    the matrix has you

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