If this is in the wrong place, feel free to scoot it along.
I went on my first ultra-light over night trip along the Piney River Segment of the Cumberland Trail a week or so ago. It was my shakedown run for the gear that I have acquired over a few months of lurking and reading and asking questions here. It was completely awesome!
We did a short five miles in and camped next to some crystal clear (and cold) swimming holes. My Gorilla was phenomenal and ultra comfortable! The Tarptent Notch went up without a hitch :) If I remember correct, my weight for the trip including food, water and an OMM Trio Map pouch worn on the front of my straps was just under 15 lbs.
Everything was awesome except for my sleep! I have had an original neo air (25 x 77) since they first came out and it is pure comfort, the problem is chasing my pillow all over the tent . . . It ended up at my feet, at my head , under my mattress, in my shorts and just about every place except where it needed to be. I suffered from uneasy sleep and brief moments of slumber which were broken by my head slipping off the pillow . . . rinse and repeat.
I saw Wallace's info on the BPL forums and checked out some of the info on his Monkey Pillow. It seemed like a small weight penalty , but if it did what it was designed to do, what kind of price can you put on a good night's sleep. Especially since I was so happy with everything else. I pm'd Wallace and within a very short time, he replied and was very friendly and informative. What a truly nice guy! We talked about what the options were, I sent him funds and a couple of days later, the pillow showed up.
He communicated, customer service was great, he was friendly, the quality of the product his awesome! I'm the proud owner of a large ultra-cuddle Rock'n Monkey pillow case.
It works exactly as described. Slide straps over mattress, inflate mattress (you could do this after the fact) and insert pillow. I happen to use a cocoon ultra light air core pillow. In addition to keeping the pillow stationary, the ultra cuddle material takes the "balloon" feeling out of the air core pillow and it feels like a more traditional pillow. I know that I will do what Wallace suggested and "sleep well." Another happy customer
