Settling into my first night in camp, I brushed my teeth in a patch of white cedar trees and made my way back to my tent by the light of my headlamp, delightedly tired rather than full blown exhausted and looking forward to peaceful rest.
I kneeled and stuck one leg into my sleeping bag and then the other, scooting my posterior and legs on top of my air pad and lay down gently on my back before zipping the bag shut. I rolled over and laid my head on the air pillow to drift to sleep after turning out my headlamp I had placed on the floor when I heard and felt it happen. “Zooooot!” My sleeping bag’s zipper was opening. I sat up, clicked on the headlamp, and looked down. The zipper was popping open at the seams, even with the pull tab drawn to the top of the bag. I brushed it off as a one off and freak occurrence, carefully zipped open the bag without bending or breaking any zipper teeth, and tried closing the zipper again.
I rolled over, and again it opened. I repeated the process as carefully as I could, thinking maybe I had made an alignment issue, but when the bag opened for a third time, the reality set in. This zipper was shot and my nights would be a little colder. Thankfully I had extra layers and enough space to fold over the zippered edge to do my best to keep myself wrapped up and cocooned.
Four days later on the trip out of the wilderness, a heavily loaded pack’s bottom support strap broke loose of its binding, making handling the pack a bit more challenging but not outright impossible. Heavy duty stitching on a giant bag is not something this scribe can do considering my last time sitting over a sewing machine was in a family and consumer science course in middle school thirty years ago.
Like many outdoors enthusiasts, we are all put to a choice with our gear when wear and tear occurs. Can we make our own repairs, or will we be forced to trash our damaged goods and replace with new? Repair shops are getting harder to find as consumers embrace disposable goods. The thought of fixing something by most of society today isn’t even considered; goods are absent-mindedly tossed into the trash with new goods ordered in seconds from an online marketplace to be rush shipped in as replacements in short order. But as outdoors enthusiasts, is this the moral way to operate? To fill our landfills with equipment that might be repaired?
Local mom and pop repair shops are hard to find but not entirely gone. And if you find one, do your best to patronize the heck out of them. You’ll support American small businesses, you’ll save money in the long run, you’ll hold onto your favorite gear including any that has sentimental value, and you’ll sleep at night knowing you aren’t filling up landfills with goods where repair attempts were not even made.
The sleeping bag with the faulty zipper from my most recent camping trip was purchased with my wife, then girlfriend, while we were in college in preparation for our first camping trip together twenty years ago. The backpack with the broken strap binding has made dozens of camping trips over the past decade. Once I was back home, I took both items to Joe’s Shoe Repair in New Prague, where Annie Hertaus will fix up just about any outdoor gear. Annie’s parents, Joe and Colette Trenda, bought and ran the shop in 1976. By 1982, Annie was working in the store and has ever since, eventually taking over the shop herself.
Annie reads zippers like an expert tracker – she notices when zipper pulls are bent or broken, when teeth are too far gone, and just what it will take to fix them. She can resole and repair your favorite hunting boots and wading shoes. If you’ve finally worn down the shoe leather required to be an expert hunter, but feel like you’ve only just got your boots worn in, bring them to Annie to get a fresh sole applied rather than paying a hefty sum for a brand new pair. The jackets with holes, in need of a new patch, or whose zipper no longer works can be brought back to life with some attention from Annie. Stitching coming off your duffel bag, dry sack, or backpack? Bring it around to Annie and get it fixed up good as new.
Annie says she works on a lot of hunting and work boots, purses and packs, and bags. “These days people are paying 100, even over 200 dollars for boots,” Annie says. “For me to sew a few seams for you is only 20 bucks.” Annie says you need to take care of leather goods just like you would your hands. Apply conditions and don’t let them dry out. If you take good care of leather boots, gloves, and jackets, they will take good care of you.
“Some outdoor gear is super expensive. If you have a Sitka jacket that cost 300 or 400 bucks and the zipper is shot, bring it in and let’s get it working again. Or in some cases, older gear is made better than what we have today and you need to hold onto it, like some of the old Sorel Pac Boots.
Annie has worked her magic on my backpacks, dry bags, wading shoes, sleeping bag, jackets and my snowmobile cover. Let’s face it folks – if you love the outdoors, you need certain specialized businesses and people in your life. You need a gunsmith, a bait shop with someone that actually fishes, a quality bow shop, a veterinarian you trust with your hunting dog, a boat mechanic with skills beyond your own, and a friend in material repairs with a knack for fixing about anything they lay their hands on. When you find these people, you keep them close and you patronize them loyally. In this case, I’m sharing one with all of you. Thanks for keeping me in the field and on the water, Annie.