I'll definitely let you all know when our maiden voyage is scheduled. I have the Kelty backpack and ProLite4 on my Amazon wishlist, so I have my fingers crossed.
I just blew some cash today on a 400GB hard drive that
had to be purchased before the holidays, otherwise I'd splurge and get at least the pad myself. Justin has an unused external frame pack that's about 7 years old but was a Backpacker Magazine editor's choice for at least one year, if not more. So he already has a halfway decent pack for backpacking. And we have a terrific small stove -- not uber-tiny, but small by most standards (Peak 1 Expedition, I think's the name; single burner, not double). No water filtration unit yet; hauling water will encourage us to purchasing that at some point, I suppose.