Outdoor adventure business good in 2011

Adventure Unlimited rentals, services increased 15 percent during 2011 fiscal year, manager says

David Poe/Northwest Guardian

In what could be a sign of the times during an economic downturn, Joint Base Lewis-McChord Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s Adventures Unlimited said they’ve seen a 15 percent jump in rentals and services since FY 2010.

FMWR employees at the outdoor recreation outfitter and property overseer, located at McChord Field, said along with business, they’ve seen a more diversified customer base for a little more than a year.

“There’s definitely been an increase,” said Erika Stadulis, Adventure Unlimited’s manager who’s been at the facility for three years, “we’re seeing more branches in here too, not just Soldiers and Airmen.”

A Camano Island native and a second lieutenant in the Washington Air National Guard who is married to a JBLM Soldier, she said the Pacific Northwest is perfect for outdoor recreation, and knows the importance of being financially responsible on a tight military-family budget.

“It’s a really unique area because you’re an hour from everything; kayaking, glaciers, rock climbing, backpacking, skiing, whatever,” she said, “and coming here the cost is so much cheaper than going out in town.”

Adventures Unlimited offers qualified customers a wide array of recreation options ranging from boats to trailers and even gas grills and rotisserie cookers. Stadulis said while her shop isn’t the only one of its kind on American military installations, she points to feedback from customers who’ve been stationed elsewhere on where the facility stands against its peers.

“I hear that we have more than other bases a lot,” she said. “Also people seem to appreciate the quality of the equipment here. A prior manager was also an avid outdoorsman so he really knew what he was purchasing.”

Adventures Unlimited also oversees McChord’s Holiday Island “Famcamp” and Pavilion, which Stadulis said was at capacity for the summer of 2011 and had a three-month waiting list.

“Money is a bit tighter these days so maybe people are bypassing the cruise to Mexico to vacation here (in the Pacific Northwest),” she said.

Thanks to business picking up this year, Stadulis said a lot of Airmen and Soldiers stationed at Lewis-McChord for several years are now coming in and saying they didn’t know their installation had a service like Adventures Unlimited. She also said another thing they may not know is that most of the employees are either in the Reserves, veterans, or military affiliated. Therefore, in addition to FMWR’s already military-friendly culture, at Adventures Unlimited there’s an added motivation to bring the best service to customers.

“That’s important to us,” she said. “If we don’t have what they need, even if they have just come to the wrong place, we’ll know where to find things out because a lot of us are military too.”

Senior Airman Vincent Johnson, an Airman from the Fuels Management Flight section of McChord’s 627th Logistics Readiness Squadron, rolled out of Adventures Unlimited with a 27-foot trailer Sept. 23 for a weekend outing with his wife. Johnson said he uses Adventures Unlimited three to four times a season and said he appreciated that his military affiliation helps him connect with inexpensive, quality services.

“I like it,” he said. “Since it’s on base, it’s convenient just to leave work and stop by to pick it up on my way home. Also, they don’t hide any fees on you here and the prices are beyond competitive.”

Though it went under a different name, the modern FMWR program has been serving servicemembers and their Families since 1895. Though it modestly started with what the 1903 Army Appropriations Act called “construction, equipment, and maintenance of suitable buildings at military posts and stations for the conduct of the Exchange, school, library, reading room, lunch room, amusement room, and gymnasium” on all installations where possible, today’s FMWR may provide much more in terms of both quality and savings — both in good economic times and otherwise.