Timex Corporation will stuff four lucky outdoor adventure junkies into a pimped-out 1992 all-wheel-drive Chevy Astro Van stocked with racks full of kayaks, mountain bikes, climbing hardware and first aid kits, as well as road and topo maps of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and send them out into the great unknown with specific instructions to “have the time of your life.”
The road trip, dubbed Expedition 4:00AM, is a 5-week vision quest of sorts to evangelize and celebrate the 4:00AM lifestyle. What is the 4:00AM lifestyle? It is an outdoor junkies ability to plow through lack of sleep, bad micro beer headaches, and 7-11 coffee in order to harvest the best conditions.
“It hurts, but 4:00AM is the time we start our best days,” says Timex Expedition brand manager, Ali Napolitano. “Whether we are bagging a peak, heading out on dawn patrol for waves, in search of untracked powder, or taking off on a road trip to Mexico or to a music festival, the alarm goes off at 4:00AM.”
The Expedition 4:00AM crew will be immersing themselves in the 4:00AM culture for the next 5-6 weeks as they travel in and around the Rocky Mountain west. As well as undertaking climbing, paddling, mountain biking, fly fishing, and scrambling expeditions, the Expedition 4:00AM crew will also be having conversations with 4:00AM icons that personify the lifestyle as well as exploring issues and current events that both positively and negatively affect the continuation of the 4:00AM lifestyle, including access and conservation issues and local and regional politics.
The 4:00AM Crew is comprised of three outdoor junkies that were hired through a unique and entertaining online application process at www.expedition4am.com that had applicants answering unusual questions in an open online forum and reviewed and commented on by their peers.
The 4:00AM crew is comprised of 24-year-old, Boulder, CO resident Cody Munger. Cody is the son of renowned climber Mike Munger; 23-year-old Romolo Marcucci, aka Rom, who listed such varied work experience as Line Skis intern and Farm Laborer; Adam Gospodarek who just graduated with a masters in accounting and listed his ex-girlfriend as a reference, “She would probably tell you that I am a dreamer and want too much from life.” More complete bios of the crew can be viewed at www.expedition4am.com.
The crew will be accompanied by a “reporter” charged with chronicling the exploits of the road trip on www.expedition4am.com. Screenwriter Rob Korotky was chosen from more than 150 journalists that applied for the reporter position. Applicants included contributors to The New Yorker and Wired magazines, sitcom writers for NBC, Johns Hopkins University poetry masters candidates, and a woman that “ graduated three hours ago. Seriously. I need a job!”
www.expedition4am.com will serve as the crews online journal and communication board. As well as documenting their trails and tribulations, they will also be harvesting suggestions from the online 4:00AM community on the itinerary, places to explore, people to meet, beers to try and other tips. The goal is to have this crew explore the places and people that define the lifestyle for the entire 4:00AM community.
