Dear Philmont Trekkers and Parents,
I hope you found our first parent/trekker meeting informative. It was really a pleasure to see everyone last night and especially to meet several crew members and their parents that I have not had the pleasure to meet before. If you missed last night's important clinic or cannot attend our second clinic on March 8th, please let me remind you that you are obligated to attend the Philmont Basics clinic at the Charlotte REI on Thursday, March 17th from 6:30 to 8:30. Thanks to those of you that have spoken to me about this obligation already and have registered for the REI clinic. Last night we discussed one of the best pieces of advice I can give anyone going to Philmont-shamelessly look for bargains and sales on great gear at reasonable prices and deep discounts. Many online stores like REI , Sierra Trading Post, MooseJaw, and others have outlets where substantial savings can be had. Now is the time to shop gear outlets too, when gear companies are introducing new versions of already excellent gear, often with last year's products at clearance prices. Many outlet items found at excellent prices are often priced only because the manufacturer is changing colors for the 2016 line. Two if my favorite outlet sites to watch for great deals and sales are Sierra Trading Post and the REI Co-op Outlet. If you sign up for Sierra Trading Post's emails, they will send you links for coupons to additional markdowns for already low-priced, high quality gear. Their return policies are excellent as well. Another great way to save is to take advantage of being an REI Co-Op member. REI Co-op members will frequently receive on line coupons for use in the Charlotte store, their online outlet, and their online store. Nonmembers often cannot take advantage of these additional discounts. As a member, every full price purchase receives a 10% dividend that is returned back to you annually in April for other purchases. Members receive last year's dividends just in time for REI's biggest sales event of the year, the April Anniversary Sale. REI also has Members Only Garage Sales on gently used items with 30-60, and even 80% savings on gently returned items. The next one will be on Saturday, March 18th. Ask me how to become a member if you are not-its both easy and a lifetime membership only costs $20. The dividends you receive over the next year or so can easily offset your initial cost of becoming a member. If you become a member at the Charlotte REI, please let the frontline folk know that I told you about the Co-Op! One of the many things we discussed last night was sleeping bags and sleeping bag selection. If you need a 20 degree bag, which is what I recommend, two excellently priced bags to consider are the Sierra Designs Zissou 23 and the Kelty Cosmic 20 degree bags. Last year's closeout models can be found on several outlet sites including Left Lane Sports and the REI Outlet. In the case of the Kelty Cosmic, the fabric colors are changing this year. Both bags are excellent bags and can be found at great price points. If you are an REI member, watch for "take an additional 20% off" coupon on the on-line outlet. These coupons will appear periodically for Co-Op members. If you remember from the clinic, down insulation is more compressible and generally weighs less than a synthetic bag. Look at the fill rating of the down. The higher the fill rating, the more compressible the bag, and generally it is lighter in weight. The down insulation in most down bags are now hydroponically treated with a water resistant coating as is the case with these two suggested bags. Lastly, there is no appreciable difference between duck down insulation and goose down insulation, other than it originates from two different birds and duck down is generally less expensive due to its market availability. Remember, a 30 degree bag can work fine, but you may want to have a bag liner to provide a little more lower comfort range to your bag. Bags are also rated for comfort using a very technical testing system called the European Normal. I will not go into depth here, but you may want to read more about it as the ratings are different for women specific versus men specific bags. As always, if you have any questions, by all means, contact me. I hope that this is news you can use! Yours in Scouting, Mr. Brown
1 Comment
12/10/2019 03:42:11 am
Hello, Mr. Brown! though this post was not really addressed to me, I can feel your genuine care for the people who should read this. You've had pretty good discussions, which talk about your reminders about stuff related on military life. I can see that it's really hard to live the lives you are living right now. There are so many do's and don'ts; rules to live by. I don't think I can survive living your lives, that's why I cannot pull it off. Even as a scout, I am afraid I cannot pull it off!
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