About a week ago, one of our Therm-a-Rest Toughskin sleeping mats started failing. The outer fabric began to delaminate, pulling away from the foam inside creating a bulbous air pocket. When you lay on the mat, the added pressure causes the fabric to pull away even further, making the problem worse. For now, we're taking turns sleeping on the barely-inflated mat.
When we contacted Cascade Designs, makers of the mat, they were immediately willing to ship a replacement ahead of us. We spoke with their Ireland office and a package was sent out via DHL to meet us in Belgrade. This is our second sleeping mat failure so far.
We're now in Belgrade, and the sleeping mat hasn't arrived. It looks like we may be in for yet another shipment receiving nightmare. The last report says it is stuck in customs. Hopefully we can get everything sorted on Monday. We're both really excited to leave town along the Danube into Romania.
In other news, it is my Dad's 50th birthday today. Happy Birthday Dad! We wish we could be there with you to celebrate. Here is a photo of him being awesome on an outing a few weeks ago near Lake Superior. I love you Dad!