My Shoes

So my hiking shoes have over 140 miles on them now. The outside of my shoes look good and the tread is still in good shape but the shoes are getting worn out on the inside. There is a hole in the inside liner where the backs of my heels must rub. This is the spot where you get heel blisters if you wear boots. I will try to repair them with duct tape. If the tape holds I can get many more miles out of these shoes. If the tape does not hold the holes in my shoes will rub against my heels and I will start to get blisters.



I would like to get a pair of water proof shoes for the winter season. I like the ones lined with gortex but they are very expensive and in my experience never stay waterproof for very long. Still there is nothing like the feeling of having warm dry feet in the rain and snow. My rainpants cause my feet to get wet since they basically funnel all the rain that hits my legs down to the tops of my shoes.

Should I splurge and get waterproof shoes for the season or should I just duct tape the ones I have and keep getting wet feet? I have to give a lawyer 1/4 of my income every month for the next 18 months plus I had to give a psychologist $400 for an exam that I will have in January and I had some Christmas shopping to do.


My outcome greatly exceeds my income this month. But I did save some money during the two months that I could not drive. Last week was the first time that I pumped gas since September. I was really shocked to put a 20 in the pump and get a full tank plus over $9.00 in change. That was with my little car. When I filled my Jeep the next day it took over $30.00 to fill it but I was told that at the worst height of the gas prices it would have cost $60 to fill it.

I am a bit of a rarity in the hiking world; my income is within 150% of the federal poverty level. Hiking seems to be a rich person's sport, you need money to own a car and you need raingear if you are going to hike year round. I just don't see any poor people out hiking. But I manage to do it on a budget. My little car gets 35MPG and I live near the mountains I an almost always hike on the trails that are closest to my home. I've had my current rain gear since 2005. When my rain pants delaminated it was covered under the lifetime warranty so Mountain Hardware sent me a new pair of rain pants. They offered to give me $70.00 or new pants, I think they wanted to just cut me a check but I took the new pants instead and if these delaminated I'll send them in too.


I've not been so lucky with my Seattle Sombrero, I lost my first one. It was a Christmas gift from my Dad and his wife. On my birthday I asked for a new one to replace the one I lost and they got me one. That is one expensive hat but it is very nice to have. It holds its shape well. With the sombrero my ears are not covered up like they are with my rain jackets hood. I hate wearing the hood on my rain jacket; I can not see or hear as well with it on. I really don't tolerate that well when I am feeling paranoid.

I have some big medical bills coming in but at least my insurance is back on so I'll only have to pay 20% of what the insurance approves. I don't know about going back to college winter quarter. I'm not doing well; I'm very manic and can not think to clearly most of the time. Some days I am still to manic to drive my car safely. I have a hearing with my life support providers in January and I'm sure the stress of that will keep me ill for several months.