Happy Fourth of July

It's been a long weekend, and if you're anything like us, you've been busy hiking, attending parties, and cleaning out basements. o_O Well okay, you've only been doing the first two, and maybe enjoying some fireworks. We were able to get out for a hike on Saturday of just over 2 miles at Norris Dam State Park and then attended a big family/friend get together later that day where Robin and I won the "Cornhole" Tournament (don't laugh, it's a real game and not what the name implies). If you don't believe me look it up on Google but do so at your own risk. Oh and we will have a hike report up in a couple of days too.

So today we celebrate our country's independence. We feel very fortunate to live in this great country, that we are free to play silly named games if we want to, or have parties with our friends and family when we want to, and many other things that we take for granted (like running water) and that if we lived in some other country, we could be arrested for doing. For that we are truly thankful that we live in the USA, even if we have some major problems with the economy and plumbing. Anyway for today we will be swimming in the basement - having been overly and prematurely motivated to clean due to the mess that we were blessed with after our party attending festivities on Saturday. I guess that's what we get for playing cornhole, we get cornholed.

We hope you are all having a safe and enjoyable holiday. God Bless the USA and God Bless all of you.

Happy Fourth of July.
Tim and Robin

"Hey! Thiz iz a candlez! I askeded for a bottlez rocketz! 

Oh wellz. Happy Birfday America!" ~ Ms. Coo

Leki Customer Service Rocks

If you remember during our spring cleaning time, I cleaned my Leki Makalu Ultralite Titanium trekking poles. What I didn't mention, is that upon taking one of the poles apart for cleaning, I noticed that the middle section was splitting at the top of the pole near the locking mechanism. You see, before I cleaned them I noticed that this section of the pole would never tighten all the way and was quite difficult to extend and collapse. I though it was just rust, or something to do with them having gotten wet during our hike back down from LeConte Lodge back in April of 2010.

Anyway, it turns out the pole had a nice crack/split in it and that was the reason it was being so difficult. I got to thinking about how other outdoor bloggers always contact customer service for what ever gear they needed serviced and I decided I would do the same with my poles. It was shortly after I cleaned them, April 21st to be exact, that I contacted Leki customer service via email to inquire about getting some replacement parts. I was a bit skeptical considering my poles are discontinued and no longer in production. Within 4 days I received a response from a fabulous Customer Service Rep asking what my shipping address was and stating they'd send the parts under warranty. How awesome is that.

A little over a month later and much to my amazement, I received the replacement poles. As a matter of fact, I received two replacement pole pieces, one for each pole. In a matter of minutes I had the old broken section out, the new one in, and was back in business ready for trekking. Of course we haven't been on a hike since then, baby stuff and house work etc., have prevented us from doing so as of yet. Hopefully though, we can get on the trail this weekend and I can test out the replacement. Until then, I want to send a huge thank you out to Melanie at Leki for her outstanding customer service, you deserve to be recognized for your wonderful customer care.  Because of the service I received, I will be a loyal Leki customer for many years to come.

Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin