Waking up at the campsite, Kristin read me a confusing text and our morning plans changed. Originally, we were supposed to head to a friend’s house to shower before heading to Outdoor Retailer as our hotel room wouldn’t be ready until 2pm. However, that friend got called into the office and our chance of being “clean” for the trade show was now out the window. So, I did what any recovering dirtbag would do, shower in the nearest body of water.

Mantua Reservoir at sunrise, just before bathing. Photograph by Dalton Johnson, follow him on Instagram.

As the sun creeped over the mountains, I walked down to the water’s edge at Mantua Reservoir, dropped my towel, and splashed into the water. Pulling the eco-friendly bar of soap I have out of my back pocket, I scrubbed myself as a Dad and son were fishing on the bank about 500 yards away. Thankfully, the Dad convinced the kid to cast in the opposite direction as me. Scrubbed as clean as you can get using lake water, I dried off and headed back to the van where Kristin and Chestnut waited for me.

Laughing at the fact I just did that and hopefully not traumatizing the Dad and kid on their summer morning outing, we packed up and did the only logical next thing. Go get some pancakes at IHOP. Okay, maybe that isn’t logical, but we had about 45 minutes to burn and I had been holding onto this IHOP gift card for the right moment. Today, was the right moment.

This is OR, where is everyone? Photograph by Dalton Johnson, follow him on Instagram.

Day One At Outdoor Retailer

With my belly full and the timing perfect, Kristin dropped me off outside of the Salt Palace for Outdoor Retailer. The first thing I had noticed in comparison to previous years… silence. This place was feeling like a ghost town. The last time I had come to OR, the event had a line around the block and there were people dancing out front and handing out free coffee. Today, there was no line, no coffee, and I just walked in and grabbed my badge.

As my job was to show up and report on OR, I can say I was a bit shocked. However, as the day unfolded, I was happy it wasn’t packed. As a writer, sometimes a packed event means you can’t give, or get, the time of day. Yet, I got all the attention that I wanted and then some. So, without making you read any more, here are some of the rad things I saw on Day One of Outdoor Retailer:

Cool New Things:

Slouch Couch: An inflatable couch for, well, anywhere
Shokz: Headphones that work underwater, aka open water swimmers you can now swim and vibe
Skittenz: Arguably the cutest way to level up your ski game and they have practical designs like a map
Demerbox: This portable speaker will go anywhere and everywhere from snorkeling to road trips to river rafting
Ororo: Heated clothing anyone? Sign me up… in all reality, this is the first time I have been able to touch heated clothing and I kinda-sorta get it now. I can tell you Kristin would thrive in these layers

New Takes That Impressed Me:

Wait Is That a Fancy Pee Bottle?: Yup, you read this right. Boom Home Medical just dropped two new pee bottles that level up the road trip/vanlife/overlanding wee on the go. So, toss that smelly apple juice container and grab the Tanker or Loona
Coulee Coffee Just Revamped Coffee on the Go: Coffee on the go has always been a struggle and of course everyone under the sun has tried to fix this issue. Well, Coulee Coffee has made a fully paper “pod” to keep your coffee as clean and tasty as possible
Are Pepper Spray Guns The New Vanlife Must Have?: Solo travel and want a little extra safety, why not a pepper spray gun? I have mixed feelings about this, but they said it’s good-to-go in all 50 states. Would you all get one?

Themes I Noticed:

Small Brands for the Win: Walking into the trade show, the floor room was empty, which meant I had time to walk to each booth and chat with the marketing or sales reps. They walked me through their product line and I could give some feedback/ask questions. From what I noticed, everyone was a bit disappointed by the crowd, but the quality of conversations was significantly higher than any other trade show I have attended. For the small brands, I think this was a win!
It’s All About The Water Bottle and Chair: Not to throw shade, but how many ways are we going to make a water bottle and a chair? It seemed like every few booths had some kind of “new design” on the Stanley cup or a foldable chair. While I get the desire to improve something, I also don’t see the market having room for a new water bottle.
Booth Collabs: Why go big solo when you could go big together? What used to be “mainstreet” at OR looked more like a ghost town, but the coolest booths I saw were collab booths between a handful of brands who went dutch, getting the best locations without breaking the bank.
Not As Much Pickleball As Expected: Pickle Ball has taken over the US as 19.8 million people tried pickleball in 2024, this rapid growth sport is making waves. My expectation was a high number of pickleball booths. Turns out, I only saw two booths on day one.

As clean as it gets for us. Thank you Marriott for letting us have Chestnut in the room :-) Photograph by Dalton Johnson, follow him on Instagram.

A Real Shower And Time For Bed

With a mountain of business cards, I left the Salt Palace and headed to the hotel room. Getting my first real shower in roughly 10 days, watching the dirt run off of me and down the drain, I can’t imagine what the people were thinking, and smelling, as we shook hands. If you are reading this and we met on day one, thanks for not putting me on blast.

The good news, Kristin gave our filthy adventure pup a shower, so we could all cuddle and enjoy a bed big enough for the three of us for the night.

P.S. Thank you Marriott for allowing dogs and sorry for getting the place dirty, we did our best to clean up before leaving.