[philmont] Holey Crocs

I've been asked to not go on and on and on. Oh My! A challenge, I shall have to meet!
   
  But first a word of truth. As honest as I can possibly write.
   
  When I started out as a Scout, I was a little runny nosed, skinny, short 11 year old still dripping behind the ears. It was in the summer of 1956 and anybody who was anybody in the BSA wore hard soled moccasins as camp shoes and to and from the waterfront to ward off the sand burrs.
   
  Peer pressure as it was then and is now, I pursuaded my parents to get my first pair after the first Scout camp and before the second one.
   
  After all, I wanted to be somebody in the BSA.
   
  Well, that was 52 summers ago and I'm still wearing the same type camp shoe in camp adn they serve as house shoes in the house and I don't have to change to go out to get the paper or the mail. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
   
  I actually achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, but in truth I'm a tenderfoot. I have the most tender, soft feet inj existance. I am diabetic so I take EXTREMELT good care of my feet. Always have and always will. My doctor even comments "how on earth do you take such good care of your feet?".
   
  The answer is simple. I wear good shoes period. And that does not include Crocs.
   
  You see Crocs are rubber adn rubber does not breathe like leather does. If I wanted rubber boots, I'd wear rubber boots.
   
  A few years ago an Englishman by the name of Colin Fletcher wrote "The Thousand Mile Summer" adn then "The Man Who Walked Through Time" and kept on walking and kept on writing. He became one of my all time favorite writers for his subtle style adn the way he sneaks bombshells into his works that you usually have to read three times to catch on.
   
  His best ever was "look, camping out". You will have to go read Fletcher for the "rest of the story" but it's a good one.
   
  Anyway, CF was a detailer. He wrote about the details and one of his details was camp shoes. There in his photos of his emptied pack labled "camp shoes" was a pair of well worn hard soled moccasins.
   
  Well that did it. If Colin Fletcher did it and John LeBlanc did it, then it has just got to be right! Right?
   
  If it was good enough for CF, then it's good enough for me. Case closed.
   
  OK, OK, OK.. Crocs are fine if that's what you like, but not for me.
   
  The whole point in camp shoes is to relax the feet and let them breathe a little easier than in snug boots. Leather breathes, so my leather moccasins BREATHE. They even breathe better through the lacing holes which are small in comparison to the holes ounched in Holey Crocs. And I don't like all the sticks and stones that may break my bones coming through finger sized holes in Holey Crocs.
   
  So, in conclusion, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
   
  If it's broke, then fix it by buying some Holey Crocs but don't come crying to me with a tale of the stick that came right through the hole in the toe of the Holey Croc, 'cause I told you so.
   
  John LeBlanc

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Received on Sun May 18 21:00:28 2008