Hats

I’ve begun collecting hats recently. I started a few years back, got caught up in a much needed reckoning and came back to them.

I don’t have any specifications for what hat I buy. If it catches my fancy and looks good on my head I’ll buy it. I’ve come to enjoy the feeling of a cozy hat on my noggin.

The timing of the hat purchase is what makes it a good one for me you see I buy hats at specific times or for certain moments.

I always buy a new hat when I go on a long trip. I either buy one right before to be my ride or die hat for the long drive or one once I’ve arrived at my first destination.

The hats make memories with me.

They remind me of places I’ve traveled and take me back when I place them on my head.

Some hike up mountains

Some paddle on the lake with me

Others shade my face while I rest with my feet in a creek.

I’ve got a hat that hung out with me in Durango and another that sat on a bench with me watching the sunset at Key West.

Many hats have sat on my tailgate with me. Beanies too. Winter hats have their own soul and warmth that surrounds them. My beanies have welcomed many a cold evening sunsets.

Some smell like firewood while others have a touch of saltiness from the ocean air.

My favorite part is all my hats come with an alter ego

They all have their own air about them when I put one on.

My last trip to Utah I bought a flat brimmed hat with a stitched patch of a bearded Bigfoot, wearing a flannel shirt, holding a beer in his hairy hand. On the side of the brim it reads Moab. I bought it from a local shop in downtown on the first day we arrived after a grueling 31 hour drive. I wore this hat the entire trip. I still wear it almost daily. When I put it on my head for a brief moment I’m that Chad standing on the rim of Dead Horse Point watching what may have been the greatest sunrise of my life.

I bought a Run Amock hat the week I wore that hat the entire trip. When I walk around wearing it now I’m facing the great sleeping bear dunes in the upper peninsula, I’m enjoying a bike ride in Fishtown area or hiking lakeside along lake Superior.

I’ve got a straw hat I bought recently that I wear when I paddle. I love paddling that board man it makes my face sore from smiling. That hat rests on a bungee in the back of my camper. The lake flashes before my eyes when I see it. When I wear that hat I’m a lake guy, sitting in the middle of the lake with a coffee in hand, at peace.

I have a Greenville hat I wore on my cross country trip with my daughter. Sometimes when I wear that hat I’m hiking with my 11 year old in the Rockies, she’s all smiles so of course I am too. That hat will stay with me as long as my memory serves.

Some hats no longer serve me because they don’t fit me anymore.

Not my head just my style or the persona of the person where they once perched.

I’ve got a “drink local” that just doesn’t feel right anymore I bought my first trip to Utah.

A few old work hats that remind me of the old work Chad.

Some I’ve worn out over time as I’ve used them up as I was.

Some get lost in the moment of adventure. I lost a hat I specifically bought for my first trip to Maine. The wind on top of Katahdin blew it off my head. When I returned from my vacation I became unemployed.

Another I had for only a few hours. It fell off my head from passing out from exhaustion and heat during a concert in the Gulf. It was short lived. I think it was meant to be.

A lesson was learned that night.

Some get to ride along with me all the time. I’ve got a Carhartt beanie that’s seen a lot. We’ve shared sunrises, Rocky Mountain hikes, drunken tailgate nights and campfires. It filters my headphone playlists with me on cold nights. It sat in my roof top tent with me when I woke up in hunting island.