Such a Deal!

I know that it is an uncouth and stereotypically American thing to brag about bargains found while shopping, but this one, hopefully, is entertaining to most of my readers. Specifically, I picked up a pair of hiking boots are REI today, and am pretty happy with them.

As background first--not only is it incredibly difficult to find pants that fit me correctly, but also my feet are painfully bizzare Fred-Flintstone-style rectanguloids. More genetic material from my dad--he has been shopping from Hitchcock wide shoes... and I have followed in his footsteps (so to speak). So what size are my feet? Well..


The length is 5-1/2 to 6, but...


Then the corresponding width is EEE. So as a result, most of my life, I had to get "conventional" (as opposed to custom order) wide shoes in a longer length (6-1/2 to 7), in order to have shoes that don't make my feet ache from the side compression.

So I've been keeping an eye out for real hiking boots for a few years now. I've done all the major camping trips with lightweight "camp hikers"--but they are more like glorified sneakers. So I try to check every sale pile... but not much in the way of pickin's.

But during today's REI trip, I found a pair of Montrail Torre Classics, Size 6-1/2 Wide, in the return bin:

- Retail price: $160

- Typical online price (they are last year's model): $70-100

- Price at REI's clear-out-the-basement sale: $39.87


- The "sale's over, but this stuff is still left" 50% clearance price: $19.94

Woo hoo! Pretty much covered by this year's REI dividend. Okay, so I had to buy replacement laces ($4), but they were still a bargain. Walked from Fenway to Central Square to test them out.


I'm pretty impressed by these boots--plenty of heft, tough materials, boatloads of ankle support, rubber toe cap. Hell--check out the lace fittings:


Those are cast or forged piece of metal--not the usual stamped sheet metal. Wow.

Now I can't wait to go try them out on the trail!