On our blog, The Pack Report, we feature stories that our customers send in about their Duluth Packs. The following story was provided to us by Megan Thun after she experienced a near-death experience with her Duluth Pack. We hope everyone is safe and will never have to experience what she did.

Hello Duluth Pack,

I would love to share a story with you about my Duluth Pack and how it saved my life.

My name is Megan Thun, I am 25 years old. I was born and raised in Silver Bay, MN, just north of Duluth. For years I have wanted a Duluth Pack but never had the funds to buy one after all the college tuition and rent bills. I envied those who had them and assured myself that I would spoil myself one day with a green Duluth Pack. Another year passed, and it was not a necessity, just a luxury.

Last fall, I put a Duluth Pack Field Satchel on my Christmas list (that my aunt requires me to do). I don’t like asking for gifts, so Christmas lists are a low priority. However, I thought to myself, “Why not?”

Then Christmas came around. I opened a box from my aunt, and low and behold, a green Duluth Pack Field Satchel sat in the folds of wrapping paper. I fell in love immediately because it was perfect! It smelled great and felt comfortable on my shoulder. I cleaned my stuff out of my old bag that night and switched my essentials over to the Pack.

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Now, when I get into a vehicle to drive, I don’t take my purse or bag off. It has something to do with comfort and snugness in the driver’s seat. (All my relatives think it’s weird.) Which leads me to the rest of the story.

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On January 7th, 2015, I drove my sister’s dog to the veterinarian in Ely, MN. It had snowed early in the morning, the woods were beautiful, but the roads were a tad slippery. So I took my time up to Ely. I dropped my sister’s dog off and headed back to Silver Bay slowly but surely. I was thinking of going snowshoeing when I got back, but it was rather cold that day (a balmy -20 degrees F). I was about halfway between Silver Bay and Ely on Hwy 1 when my back tires hit black ice. I took my foot off the brake to slow down and coast out of the slippery patch, but nothing helped. My car was fishtailing around the corner. When I looked up, my heart sank. A logging truck was coming around the corner, and my car was slipping right into its path.

I turned the car enough to miss the front of the logging truck, but it was not enough. When I realized I was not going to miss the trailer of the logging truck, I let go of the steering wheel and closed my eyes. I figured that was it. In those split seconds, I remember thinking, “Nobody lives through these accidents.” (Please don’t stop reading)

I opened my eyes and realized I had made it out of the accident with my life. My car was in pieces on the highway, and I had no windshield. Miraculously I had no cuts or scrapes. My driver’s side door looked like a crumpled piece of paper. Luckily my arm was tucked between my Duluth Pack and me. It was a buffer between the tangled metal mess just inches away from me. It saved my arm from injury or worse possibilities. I Thank God that I had it with me that day and did not take a wallet instead. It took the EMTs, an hour and twenty minutes, to free me from the freezing cold prison of my car.

The scratches on my Duluth Pack are a constant reminder that I was very close to serious injuries, not ruling out fatal injuries.

In conclusion, I would like to personally thank you for making such reliable, high strength bags. They are more than just carriers for us. They are what hold our essentials that make our lives go around, and they hold memories and emotions that are not visible or tangible in this world. For me, my Duluth Pack saved my life.

At Duluth Pack, we love to hear stories about our packs, and this one shows how strong our products are made. All of our products come with a lifetime guarantee of manufacturing defects. Megan has the Field Satchel from our Book Bag collection, designed for carrying your laptop to hiking to traveling across the country. A Duluth Pack bag can be passed down for generations, not even a car accident, will hurt our bags. People frequently tell us how they share a bond with their bags, and create a feeling of attachment to Duluth Pack.

Interested in sharing your #PersonBehindThePack story with us? Submit your story here for a chance to be featured on our Blog.

Adventure on, friends