A Happy Story

Here's a Happy Story. Ten years ago, we were driving back from our tent camp site at the Kaibab Lake Campground near Williams, Arizona. We spotted a Thermarest pad lying in the shoulder of I-40. We went back and picked it up. It was in perfect condition except the entire valve assembly was missing. We speculated that it was on a gear trailer returning from a Grand Canyon trip. When the rig went into the higher altitudes, the air expanded in the Thermarest and the increased pressure blew out the valve. Anyway, we thought we'd fix it "someday." Well, "someday" never came but somehow the pad followed us around for the past ten years. A few weeks ago we looked at it sitting in the basement and thought, "Why have we been carrying around that non-functional pad all these years?" That's when we got the idea to see if Cascade Designs would fix it. They have a lifetime guarantee and it's not specific to the original owner. It's lifetime for the pad regardless of who owns it. So, we followed all the procedures and sent the pad to Seattle. POOF--just like that we get a brand new pad in return. We would have been more than happy to receive the old pad with a new valve. But, nope, they insisted on sending a new pad. It's one of their top-of-the-line pads and only weighs 22 ounces. Gee, who knows? Maybe we will be an overnight backpack trip down in Arizona this winter. Stranger things have happened.  THANKS, Cascade Designs!!!