REI Used Gear Sale SCORES!

“Met SmileyGirl, Tarabull, Laqtis and son at the REI this morning for some super sale shopping!

Birch and I got:

a pair of winter boots for Abby, (next winter), reg $29.00, on sale $4.93.

A pair of Columbia Bugaboots for $9.93, one broken grommet, on the very top.

A Chuck-it flying squirrel for Birchdog for $5.93, reg $14.99.

Two Perception Carolina 14.5 foot kayaks, one slightly used, one never used, for 50% off!!!!!

The kayaks were the main focus this morning. Mission accomplished!

Hey, OM! Mind if I email you about paddles?”

“Where was this and why was I not envited???????”

“Doncha LOVE those bargains?”

“Bwood, it's at all REI stores, members only. I think they hold garage sales two-three times a year. Call your local one and ask them when the next one will be, or get there fast to see what's left. It's basically all the returns.

Oh Skully, new gear purchases are all the better when they're sale prices. It's like a hunt or something to me. I relish the stampede of REI memebers and the race to get what you need/want. ;)”

“I know my stuff isn't as exciting as two kayaks (I was soooo jealous as you two drove away w/ those on the jeep!), but I got some great deals, too. The ones I'm most excited abou[p';t:

MSR PocketRocket - $27 (reg. $40)

Montrail GoreTex Trail Runners - $9.93 (reg. $120)

Mountain Hardware Gore Windstopper Pants - $99.93 (reg. $190) WOO HOO! These were the ones I wanted. Never expected to find them at the Used Gear Sale. Never planned to spend $190 on a pair of pants. Had accepted the fact that I would never own them. Now I do. :-)”

“Good see you guys down (over?) there. I gots me some:

Salomon Swap Trial runners, 2 weeks old (currently breaking them in) = $10.00

REI Hurricain Jacket, yellow (Couple of years old, zipper sticks, will be using for work purposes) = $3.83

REI Hurricain Jacket, Blue (brand new. The waist cord needs to be repaired) = $9.93

REI PolarTec Windblocker Fleece Jacket (Black, used) $15.93

REI Kite fer the boy = .83

Insulated Hood (from another jacket) = .83

Good deals, indeed. Most happy about the shoes and the Blue jacket. My mother in-law can sew, so I'll be giving her a call fer repairs!”

“Well Birch and Sass, now that you've got kayaks, you'll have to come up here and do some paddling! Got some nice places to take you (we actually have more lakes than Mini-soda, but we try not to burst their bubble, and then there's the rivers, too).”

“Hey Pekka - Any idea exactly how many inland lakes are in Minnesota? Wisconsin? I've been trying to find that on the WWW, but am having some trouble. It seems like the kind of fact you might know!”

“I'm going to REI in a few minutes. hmmm....”

“tarabull, ask and ye shall receive --

According to their respective DNRs:

Wisconsin: 15,057 documented lakes covering nearly 1 million acres.
My county, Oneida has the second largest number of lakes in the state with 1,129, while Vilas County directly north and bordering the U.P. has the most with 1,327. (www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/fhp/lakes/wilkbook.htm)

Minnesota: 11,842 lakes. The MN DNR fact site doesn't separate lakes and river acreage (total of 2.5 million acres), but MN does have more large inland lakes.

Wisconsin, of course, has more Great Lakes shoreline, too.”

“Darn it... I made a bet (a 7-course meal) that Michigan had more lakes than Minnesota. I was wrong, but only by 805 lakes. The site I found for MI said 11,037. Unless, of course, you know of a site that will say there are more? ;-)

I asked about Wisconsin cause that was part of the discussion (not part of the bet). I was pretty confident that Wisconsin had more.

While I lost this bet... I did win a different bet. He tried to tell me that Isle Royale was part of Minnesota, not Michigan. I won something so trivial for that, that I cannot even remember what it was.”

“Ah, the curse of gambling, lol. Come on over and we'll go to the Lake of the Torches Casino in Lac du Flambeau about 40 miles NW and you can get a lake and betting fix!”

“Looks like some people were busy shoping Ican't wait to get my tax return!

8)”

“pekka - it's all good. The guy lives in Colorado so settling the bet will not happen anytime soon. Not to mention that I love to cook!

re: Casinos. I like to gamble w/ friends. Not a casino fan. But, you say yours is by a lake???”

“tarabull, everything in our area is by a lake or river, it seems, including my campus (on Lake Julia -- the dock is behind the library and my building has one corner about 30 feet from the water). We have four tribes in our area, so Indian gaming is a part of our tourist economy. The biggest is on the Lac (lake) du (of) Flambeau (torches)rez. A number of my students work there (it's a resort, too, right on the lake with boat docks at the casino/hotel complex. You can fish for musky all day and then motor right up to about 100 feet from the slots).

Actually, I've never been inside. I have pledged to resist casino culture, though the $$$ have been a big help to the Native American population in our area. I do go to the rez to buy fireworks now and then, and I can see me going if an entertainer I like gets booked in the nightclub, but they tend to be country/western and that's not my cup of tea (unless it was Emmylou or Roseanne Cash or Lucinda Williams).”

“Yeah, yeah, enough talk about the lakes. :) On to my gear purchases:

Actually the only thing I picked up at the garage sale is a Sierra Designs Clip tent for $56! Yippee! Now I can take my 2-person Clip back.

I bought some new boots too, since mine have been giving me trouble for quite some time. Picked up some REI Monarchs (I think they're called?). Same boots Sass has. I walked out of the store with them on, and havn't taken them off yet.

:)”

“You didn't leave your other shoes there, did you?? ;)”

“Nope, put them in the box. They are safely at home. :)”

“OK, so I have the tent name wrong....is the Light Year CD. Whatever. And its missing a pole. :)”

“You should be able to get a pole, which would still make it a great deal! Good going! That store was a lot nicer than the one in Troy and the people there didn't push other down outta there way. At the Troy store, you gotta wear boxing gloves and a protective cup!”

“Q - you coming to the Ice Festival tonight?

It was fun to see all of you there this morning. Kinda like we were out hiking!”

“Nope, going to stay home tonight. Kind cold :) Have fun!”

“No used gear sale at the REI here, but the January clearance is going on. Some great prices on XC skis and boots. 13 days left in the month to decide!”

“smiley, don't give up on needing a 2-person tent yet!!! There's still hope for you, especially if you keep wearing that slinky black outfit when bping (j/k).

Glad to hear you found some boots that make your feet happy. Though I enjoyed our "blister" break together on the Curd-istan trip.”

“I'm not giving up, Pekka, just trying to reduce my packweight. :) I didn't buy one in the first place because I thought I'd be closterphobic in a small tent. Shaving a pound off my packweight makes it all worthwhile!

I hiked there again this fall, Pekka, and remembered the afternoon at the geology center, ribs and Coke included!”

“That's backpackers for ya (myself included) -- work to shave a pound off our packs, but then just add the weight back on ourselves when we scarf down ribs and Coke as a trail snack. Oooh, those were good.”

“WOW! Ther person pricing the gear at the REI near me, is no where near as "Deal" conscious. There are some good deals to be had if you go early and often to the sales.”

“I stopped by REI in N'vlle at about 8:10 PM while working, of course. Much to my surprise, there was NOTHING left for me to even pilfer through. Now I know why. Since my religion is "spending money", I couldn't leave without buying something. I walked out with an REI Rendezvous Fleece for 49.93(pretty good deal since it was under 50.00, don't ya think?) and a "Time Out" long sleeve Life is Good shirt for 16 little ones...I was going to get the REI 6 person tent for 20 bucks but I don't know six people that I want to sleep with so that was still there when I left. Next time, I'll get up earlier and go there on my time instead of work's. Hope you all ENJOY your new gear! BTW...all you Ice Festival go'ers...I drove through Plymouth 3 times having to go to customer's homes, and thought of you fondly as I am sure you were no longer admiring sculptures, but were tipping a few someplace, like maybe the Box Bar? Well, I am having my whine/wine right now, so all is good.”

“lmao Wolfeyes!

I stayed home too. =(


Pekka, we have to get proficient with the kayaks first! I'm thinking that the first time we put them in the water is going to be pretty funny. They have foot controled rudders and should be excellant on open water but neither of us has ever kayaked much. (We just know that we want to!)”

“Nice gear scores! Do I see a Boundry Waters trip coming soon?”

“Check it out: our kayaks”

“Those are WAY cool Sass and Birch! Lucky dogs...”

“Sass, at that length those will make great non-whitewater river tourers, such as the St. Croix and the Wisconsin, as well as lakes. If you ever visit, we'll get you on some nice water. It won't take you long to get the hang of it. If you pack like an ultralight backpacker, the term "day tourer" used by Perception won't be the limit. My wife and I did a paddle/camping trip on the Namekagon in our 8'6" Kiwi Kopapas and got everything we needed behind the seats, so you should be able to make some very cool trips in those.”

“Pekka, they have 8400 cu inches of storage. I won't be taking a cooler along but will definately be able to make it work for a week trip. We don't have seperate canoe-camping gear anyhoo, always take the backpacking stuff. You know, we have some lovely rivers here too....wanna join us for the second annual AuSaublepalooza this summer?”

“Depending on dates, the AuSable may be a possibility. Lots to still sort out on summer, what with a wife's new biz,, a kid going off to college and trying to get our sailing careers started. But keep me posted.

That 8400 ci will be quite a temptation, but as long as no long portages are planned, there are some "luxuries" you can include that might get dropped from a pack. Still, it's weight on the water, and if the water is thin and you are sitting deep, it will remind you of how you packed. Balancing a boat's cargo is a different beast than a backpack, but similar principles.

BTW, you may not have separate paddling gear yet, but just wait, you will start checking everything for waterproofness (such as headlamps) or water resistance level...it's a whole new set of catalogues and websites to drool over. I'm at the same point with taking up sailing -- our paddling gear overlaps with some of what we need for our 14-foot daysailer (spray tops and farmer john wetsuits, neoprene socks & gloves, for cooler weather; and dry bags for anytime), but gosh there are some nifty items for outfitting even a small boat, such as Windex, boating compass (let's not count the $800 for a Honda 4-cycle 2-hp motor).

Enjoy, it's a nice, quiet way to travel in some sublime places.”

“So, I finally got a chance to completely open up my new tent last night. It's never seen dirt. But, both tent poles are missing. It came with one, but its definitly the wrong size - belongs on the Clip Flashlight CD, which I already have!

Anyone know where I can go shopping for poles, or should I just call Sierra Designs?”

“I'd start with SD and see what they recommend, if they can't get you poles, at a reasonable price.”

“2nd what Sass said and I think REI sells replacement poles. I don't think you'll have a problem.”

“$44 for both poles through SD, plus shipping. that'll make the whole tent cost $100! Yikes! :)

think i'll call REI and see if they've got anything.”

“still a deal at 100 bones. I'm sire REI will have'em. Going there in a few to return some stuff, I'll check fer a ya too!”

“Thanks, Q!”

“I was able get a few deals, but got there "late." The store opened at 10:00 and there were 100 or so people in line at 9:30 when I got there. Things were picked over, but I managed to spend a gift certificate on:

--REI Switchback jacket marked down from $198 to $14. It "leaked" through the neck area--where your head goes through.
--New looking Born casual shoes for $5.
--Nice pair of trekking poles for $27. They'd been repaired by REI, so were as good as new.
--Really nice Vasque hiking boots to replace the ones I lost at Big Frog Wilderness. Market down to $20 because they leaked at the top where your foot goes in.

I didn't mind the deals, but some people really give goofy reasons for the returns.”

“The goofy reason stuff is the stuff with nothing wrong with it usually. Some of the stuff people say is wrong is hilarious.

Nice deals dcumba99p!”

“i'm extremely jealous about the shoes!!”

“I dropped off the Bugabootoo boot with the broken grommet at my local cobbler. $5 for a new brass one, installed.”

“nice, Sass. i still haven't gotten poles for my tent yet. need to get to REI this week and see if they've got anything.”

“I posted this on another thread but it's probably more appropriately located here.

Went to the scratch-n-dent sale at the Perimeter store in Atlanta yesterday. Got Sauron a pair of Sundowners for $20. The tag said they had a cleat missing but there was nothing wrong with the soles on either boot. The toes were scuffed up a bit, that's all I could find. I think whoever was doing the tags must have been hitting a crack pipe back in the store room or something. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. The tag was marked $40 but just before we left they started taking 50% off the tag price at checkout!

And I got a pair of REI spring gaiters for $8.

G00SE was pretty bummed that he didn't find anything for himself but there's always Saturday's sale at the main store!”

“...and Sunday's sale at the Buford store. I'll be in line early for both sales. I've found the trick is to show up in the first 30 people, then you get in the warehouse for first pickins'.

Nice shopping, skullcap! The extra 50% was a nice bonus.

I scored a REI SubKilo sleeping bag and a really nice Sierra Designs rain jacket.

Trekking poles are on my list for the next two scratch-n-dent sales.”

“being as how i stick to the north GA area or south GA area i dont go downtown or to buckhead so where might this store be...???? is it larger than Perimeter or what???”

“The Buford store is near the Mall of Georgia, between 85 and 985 up in Gwinnett county. It's about the same size as Perimeter. I like the staff in Buford better, though.

FYI: the Atlanta store, off 85 at Clairmont Rd is having its scratch and dent sale tomorrow from 10am to 4pm.

The Buford REI has its scratch and dent sale Sunday, also from 10am to 4pm.

REI stores in Georgia, including Buford”