There may be an occasion where you need to go hiking in a new pair of boots without having the opportunity to break them in. In this case, if you have soft feet, you are likely to get some painful blisters interfering with the fun of hiking.
There are several places on the internet were different sport enthusiast discuss preventing blisters. Some recommend wearing 2 socks. But what if you don't have 2 socks? Or what if you can't fit 2 socks into your boot? Or you are hiking in the desert in 100 degree temperature? Some web-sites recommend lubricating the foot with Vaseline. Others claim this does not help. I tested the vaseline theory yesterday. I put gobs of vaseline on my foot, and in between layers of 2 socks, and also on the outside of the outer sock and even inside the boot. After hiking most of the day in hot weather in uncomfortable boots, my feet felt fine. My back on the other hand - that is a different story. It was shot. Actually, I was pushing a large loaded wheel barrel back and forth across someone's property all day. I am going to have to wear a back supporter for any future laborous task. On a related topic, Harry Walker's property is now cleaned up somewhat after Hurricane Ike. He still has 3 trees that need to be chain-sawed up into pieces, and hauled to the property line. And he still has lots of limbs hanging high and out of reach that will someday decay and fall. But he and Dorothy's life is back to normal. Harry would want to go to TCR if he could, but I doubt Dorothy would give him permission to go. It would be really hard on someone to look after him. I would consider trying to at least get him to the banquet, but it really isn't feasible for me to do so. David Locklear
