Why on earth, especially with Xmas approaching, and peace and good-will, etc. I would write about a lost travel mug is beyond the daily musings of most people. But I think it has some sort of spiritual significance.
When you ride regularly, those little things make your day, however. It's like rolling the toilet paper the right way, or leaving the toilet seat up (or down) depending on tradition.
High on the list are things like warm dry socks, gloves, and plenty of charge in my lamp batteries.
Usually I justify the loss by the original retail price. Ironically, it's always the stuff you have to buy new that you end up losing. I never take the insurance plan offered by the cashier.
Last year, my low-tech but functional cell phone flew out of my bag and was picked up by a non-philanthropic soul. When we called the number there was rap music playing in the background and the guy actually answered. Nothing against rap music, but I wish he would have called the Customer Care line to report it. So I had to buy a new one for 225.00.
So that phone is now in a landfill, I am sure he didn't recycle it.
When I lose something, I try not to obsess about it, but in a way it becomes sort of a personal mental challenge. This process, these days, though, takes up less time than it used to. I try to shift the focus on "prayers of gratitude for having once owned such a wonderful item ,while I kick myself for not scribing my name and address and the magic word "reward" on the damn thing.
I also dropped my old beat up wallet across the street while riding to get groceries. Within minutes I retraced every single step eight times to no avail. Turned out the cops found it, and returned it right to my door the next morning, whew! This was an exception, as the wallet is 15 years old and very tattered. Made the cops morning too. A warm fuzzy.
Once a motorboat- guy found one of my self addressed fly boxes floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
That one was sea-green the new one I bought to replace it is blaze orange.
He called my cell phone, and I called him back off an isolated Island south of Chathan MA to chat about it. It was wierd, talking on a cell about a lost flybox on an island in the middle of nowhere, while I sat in full fishing garb, watching a family of Seals cavort in front of me. His secy' mailed the box back to me. She said the flies still looked "kinda pretty" and were not rusted to shit yet.
"Ooh the one with the big eyes is soooo cute!!!"
She shipped it to my home address, I mean.
I now have a quirky, patented, "bandanna-wrap system" that prevents stuff from wiggling out of slowly unzipping compartments. It works well, but amps up my obsesso-compulso thing again, as I now have to worry about proper wrapping while I stand there in the store, fumbling.
Could be worse, I could be a lotto-junkie...
So after retracing my entire route yesterday, it turned out the damn thing was right next to my car, where I had stopped briefly to regroup. Yes, Virginia, I checked that place, but was unaware the scalding hot- filled mug had melted itself into a snowbank. The morning sun unearthed it.
Behold!
I attempted to negotiate a " Thermos fill rate" at Cumberland Farms. I filled an old Gott thermos after rinsing it 95 times. It was kinda musty from river water from fly fishing trips. I have a horrible aftertaste as I write this. I must endure.
The other option is an even more ancient Stanley Thermos, circa 1960. made of steel, weighs 14 pounds , but it says "It will not break!!!" . I love that old school marketing, simple to the point. It does not suck....
It needs a cork stopper though, but the little coffee cup cap is made of incredibly heavy duty stainless.
I once had an employee who made it through three tours of Vietnam with one of these. Every time the guy filled up from his trusty Stanley, he would launch into some insane pitch about his Thermos. How it stopped mortar fire etc.
Now I can relate, sort of.
The Nissan doesn't break, but it's got plastic parts, and it's not made in USA. The plastic rubber pad on the bottom has to be secured with electrical tape, Stainless trim would cost to much to produce.
The old Stanley bottle was made in New Britain CT, once the "Hardware city".
For riding, the much lighter, high tech, and stylish Nissan obviously gets the nod. I can also get away with using it at work without causing managerial paranoia that it's gonna leak into the keyboard. It might break though.
Nissan Ad: " Made in China, even though you think it's Japanese, but it will not leak!!!"
The Nissan has endured many office battles and territorial cubicle- pissings.
So HEY!!!!! may your holidays be warm and safe and joy and peace and that insanity. Don't buy a Red Rider BB gun and immediately shoot your eye out.
" I lost my car keys one time, I was nuts, tearin' up the house, my wife goes....
"Well honey, where did you last see them?"
"I said, jeez, hon, if I knew that, they wouldn't be lost, would they?"
-Jeff Foxworthy
"
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