Charlotte REI

“So when I moved to Charlotte I was excited to hear that a new REI was opening here. Cool, I finally have a major gear store in easy driving distance.

Well, it turns out I decided to move to Huntersville clear on the opposite side of the country from Pineville where the REI is located. Not too big a deal but the traffic to drive down south is pretty crappy.

So Friday morning I'm sitting at a stoplight at the cornet of WT Harris and Reames Road near the Northlake mall just south of Huntersville. (North of the I85 and I77 intersction) They are putting in a new target there and I noticed a familiar logo on the coming soon sign. An REI logo.

I was geeked out for the rest of the day. First an REI within driving distance and now an REI just a couple of miles from me.
w00t!”

“I hate you all, with you home town gear stores! Curse you!!! LOL!”

“Hell, when I was in Florida the nearest REI was Atlanta.

I'd hate me too. lol.”

“I've never even been to an REI. Atlanta is 2 hrs. Nashville is 4.

Congrats. Your move just keeps getting better and better. Is this weekend the move in date?”

“I've got access to two of them, both within a 20 minute drive. :)
last edited: 1/27/07 10:41:50 AM”

“How does that work out you have 2 REI stores near you and the nearest to me is 3 hours. Its Bull $#!% you lucky a#@||”

“you'll soon get jaded HPM. Because you'll go once a week, and touch all the pretty stuff. Then you'll realize it's all overpriced TNF...then you'll realize..you can't carry any of this crap..it's all for car campers.

enjoy 2 months of happiness. lol

Charlotte has some kewl city geocaches though”

“"How does that work out you have 2 REI stores near you and the nearest to me is 3 hours. Its Bull $#!% you lucky a#@||”
flasher"

This area, even in an uncertain economic time, can support a lot of consumption (so far, that is). Both of them are located so that some of the richest areas have access to them.

And the garage sales! Whoa, momma!”

“Hey OPIE
Looking at all the rest of the gear out there how do you figure TNF suff is overpriced. Perhaps compared to something from walmart / target sure. But Marmot, Patigone, MH, all that stuff falls in the same price range IMHO. If you want overpriced arcterx stuff now there is some expensive gear

And I hear ya Laqtis All the REI stores that I know of are next to the rich malls of St. Louis, Chicago, and Pittsburg.”

“"And I hear ya Laqtis All the REI stores that I know of are next to the rich malls of St. Louis, Chicago, and Pittsburg."

I'm at the point where almost 95% of the gear I currently own came from the garage sales. It looks like I've dropped some serious coin on my stuff, but I really purchased it all dirt, freaking cheap.

It's the only way to gear up, IMHO.”

“Kewl Beans, HPM.”

“Dayhiker, closing is the 31st and I'll probably be cleaning out the apartment that first weekend. Most likely the actual move will be the following weekend.

I like last years gear on clearance.
Avoid full price.”

“Hell's bells. I've got Campmor right here on my computer. No problems with driving, parking, walking or checkout lines.

But, enjoy what you want.”

“I always do.”

“Frickin' geeks and city-fied flatlanders...


[grr]”

“I've only visited an REI store once in my life and that one was in Raleigh,NC. I just happen to be there on business and I also had lunch with Skiracer on the same trip. This was several years ago. I purchased some REI longjohns and I still wear them today. They do have some cool stuff and I'm pleased to hear that now they are only 1.5 hours from my home.”

“It's so nice to be able to pick up an item and get a good look at it and feel for it.
Catalogs will never replace fingers. ;-)”

“The nearest REI store is about a 2 hr drive for me. Blah. I would like to have one locally so I can order online and pick it up at the store. Also, I need a good local store with an excellent hiking shoe/boot selection. There are a few places here where you can buy hiking shoes but their selection is usually limited and they never have my friggin' size !!”

“Catalogs will never replace fingers. ;-)”
StoveStomper
10:44:42 AM

*spits coffee on the monitor*”

“I love a woman with a dirty mind. ;-)”

“hey humanpackmule. my name is donald and i live in mooresville right now but am building a house in the centex neighborhood on reames rd. right near the mall. we should catch coffee sometime and plan a hike...”

“2 hours to the nearest camping store for me and it happens to be an REI.”

“lol that's funny Donald.
I'm Mike BTW.

I'll be moving out of Auston Woods Apartments (maybe two blocks south of your new house) this week. I'm guessing one of those new houses in there I can see from Reames Rd is yours.

Give me a couple of weeks or so to get moved and settled and let's grab that coffee.”

“so your moving to austin woods or out of austin woods?”

“Out”

“cool... my wife and i will be moving into our new home at the end of february... where u moving to?”

“Near Beatties Ford off Mcilwaine up in Huntersville. A small neighborhood called Aberdeen. It connects to the Tanners creek development.”

“cool... i just got back a couple of weeks ago from hiking linville gorge... have you hiked with spam, lonewolf, fridge, or any of the other guys on here?”

“Yeah I was watching that thread.
Not the guys named in particular but I've hiked with Crash once and a pretty sizeable group of TTers over the years.

I used to organize a yearly Jan/Feb TT hike down in Ocala NF in Florida for the last 4-5 years until my move up here.
last edited: 1/28/07 9:57:24 PM”

“i've hiked with spam...make sure your close to him around breakfast...you'll get fed...if you like spam that is!”

“haha... hey opie, did you know this past january trip is spam's FIRST trip ever NOT bringing spam...”

“I live in Mooresville but I'm NOT moving. Let me know when you guys do the coffee break.”

“I'm in Newton, yeah its a solid 40 minutes up from ya'll but I do coffee and I consider Charlotte my second home....thanks to UNCC and my love of local history”

“Sounds like we just need to do a Piedmont shout-out for coffee real soon.”

“on President's Day week-end (Sat-Monday 1.17-19.07; Springer to Neel's Gap. Any of you guys interested?”

“21...was there a shortage of pork by-product....mechanically separated chicken......beef livers??”

“oh opie... i'm not sure which of those it was... but i know the trip just wasnt the same...
and, uh jimh, uh, you know that date has already passed right?”

“URRUGH? Charlotte....cool....looks like ROAD TRIP time. Where in Charlotte...?”

“I dunno, haven't thought that far out yet.”

“...that's 2.17-19.07. Apologies.”

“where's that at jimh? how far from charlotte? got coordinates?”

“we have 3 REI's where i live”

“But then again you're HOT...so they want to build where they can be around you...or thats what their marketing people said...(LOL)”

“No dice for me, I have to be up in DC that weekend.”

“coords for Springer Mtn Shelter : -84.19306 34.62915 in North GA”

“...Springer Mountain is either the 1st or the last step on the A.T.

I have 3 confirmed for this trip; one more leaning 60/40 to go. I wanna cap it at 6. Everyone is welcome (up to 6).”

“Don't sleep in the topmost level.
I had a giant rat's nest knocked down onto me during a night there.
Scared the living crap out of me.
I figure a big snake after the rats knocked it down.
It should be to cold for snakes now.”

“dude, i think a rat's nest landing on me, might just move me to selling all my equipment on ebay and gettin' out.
that would be horrible. gives me the heeby jeebys just thinkin' about it.”

“...to the backpacking invite above.”

“Humanpackmule has no internet connection right now. He may be able to post from work tomorrow, but the home sitauation is pretty fouled up. He has to wait for a differnet crew to come out and fix the cable relays out by the road. Joy.”