What it means to be sponsored

Deal is really living up to his trail name these days. What started as a joke on the AT for him showing off all his deeply discounted and free gear has now become his life. We are receiving gear in droves these days. Every day is like Christmas with a new package full of goodies.

Let this be a simple moment for me to publicly recognize the sponsors of the 2013 Backpacker Gear & Go Tour.

Therm-a-rest is the presenting sponsor of the tour. For those who don’t know, they provide a full sleep system (sleeping bag, sleeping bag & pillow). Good sleep=happy hikers who can go farther.

Big Agnes is a brand we are very familiar with … we spent 120+ nights in one of their tents!!

We have been fully outfitted by ExOfficio. We are now the best-dressed people we know.

For shoes, we have Hi-Tec Sports USA to hike in and Birkenstocks to recover in.

No more SoyJoys for us. We are switching to A3 Bars made by NOW Energy Bars.

There’s also GSI Outdoors for cookware, Helinox for trekking poles and Phil and Ted’s for all the times we want to take lil E out on a hike.

And where will we keep all our gear? In our Osprey backpacks!!

If you can’t find us in the next few months, look in the backcountry or at your local REI, where we will most like be presenting!

Therm-a-rest flew us to Seattle for 29 hours. 29 hours! Here’s how the hours were broken down:
12 hours: sleeping/eating/showers/etc
10 hours: meet with Therm-a-rest for a tour of their factories and training on their products
3 hours: eating dinner with my cousin who lives in Seattle!
2 hours: travel to/fro airport
2 hours: waiting at airport

To say our brain and bodies are exhausted is an understatement, but it’s all good!!