The Peaceful Slumber is the best car camping bed roll in the history of bed rolls. It was produced in the late '90's by a man obsessed with nothing else than a comfortable bed roll for car camping. His company didn't sell anything else, just bed rolls. The lack of diversification was his downfall because eventually he went out of business. With the supply source gone people in the know hoarded as many Peaceful Slumbers as they could find. I just happened to be friends with one of those hoarders. We have been friends for over a decade. When I asked to borrow his Peaceful Slumber he let me take it, but warned me ominously that if anything happened to it our relationship would change. I was like "Bro I'll treat it like my first born."
The problem is I don't have kids and accidentally left it on the roof in the Element last night twenty miles away from our starting point in Live Oak, FL. When I realized it was gone fifteen minutes before the task meeting I had a choice; honor my pledge to my friend or rig and abandon any hope of finding the Peaceful Slumber. I choose the former and rallied the twenty miles back to Lake City. After frantically retracing my steps past Moe's Burritos, the drive in coffee shop, the median, and the sidewalk there was only one place left to look - the highway on ramp. I pulled off on the grass and searched desperately. The sinking feeling in my stomach turned to dread as I realized I wasn't going to find it. Then I spotted a homeless camp through the trees. I ran over and there it was!
That was only half the battle. I still had to take it back from a crew of people that needed it way more than I did. I explained that if it was mine I would gladly give it to them, even buy them each their own, but it wasn't mine and I wasn't leaving without it. After haggling with them for a while we settled on a fair trade that everybody was happy with. They were fiscally compensated for their trouble and I left with the Peaceful Slumber, a chrome truck hubcap, and a good conscious.
All Smiles After Negotiating with my Homeless Friends
I couldn't believe I actually found it. I sped back to Live Oak just as everyone was cueing up their gliders. Alex Cuddy helped me rig and found my spot, but by the time I entered in the task and hooked up my harness I'd missed my launch slot. I'd have to go last. It would hurt me, but it was worth finding the Peaceful Slumber.
A 90km task to East towards Jacksonville was called. I missed the meeting so I had no clue about the vast forests, towered airports (although I found out later it was uncontrolled), and prisons we would be flying over. I was the last ordered pilot in the air and worked hard to catch up. I did good working with the stragglers to leap frog to a small gaggle. We climbed well, but it was slow going to the airport. After that things got really slow and the lift was light. I had to earn every foot of altitude and kilometer over the ground.
Working Hard to Catch Up
Across the Big Forests
Huge Pond
The forest was huge, but I was high enough to have good options before crossing it. Finally just before the turnpoint I made a poor decision. Campbell had turned back into the forest for lift, but I didn't like it so I pressed on. It would have been better to stick with him and find it than take my chances on my own. He dribbled in 50fpm forever, but eventually got up. I decked it just after the turnpoint. It was a rewarding flight because I worked really hard to get as far as I did, behind and alone at times, but almost everyone made goal. The decision that put me on the deck more than any other was forgetting the Peaceful Slumber on the roof last night, but I got a hell of a story out of it!
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