{"id":5237,"date":"2019-07-15T07:07:21","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T14:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=5237"},"modified":"2019-07-15T07:07:21","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T14:07:21","slug":"tested-to-destruction-haix-boots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/07\/15\/tested-to-destruction-haix-boots\/","title":{"rendered":"Tested to Destruction: Haix Boots"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
My second pair of Haix boots. They’re comfortable as slippers, they last forever, and they are perfect for adventure riding. These will last me until 2027, I think.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You read Joe Gresh’s Tested to Destruction piece on Rossi Boots<\/a>. \u00a0 When I read it, I immediately thought of my Haix boots. \u00a0 My first pair lasted more than 10 years.\u00a0 After they finally wore out I tried a less expensive brand, but then I went back to Haix. \u00a0 I had worn the best; no substitute would ever be as good.\u00a0 Haix is pronounced “hikes” and they are, simply put, the best footwear I’ve ever owned.<\/p>\n

I happened upon my first pair of Haix almost accidentally.\u00a0 The story goes like this:\u00a0 My good buddy Mike, whom I’ve known since the 7th grade, is a retired police chief. \u00a0 He worked his way up through the ranks of a major metropolitan city on the east coast, became Director of that department (it’s the top spot), and retired. \u00a0 Mike goes to the International Association of Police Chiefs conventions every year, in 2004 that convention was here in Los Angeles, and Mike invited me to go with him. \u00a0 It was a cool experience and we had a blast.<\/p>\n

\"\"I had a to have a police connection to get in to the event, so Mike deputized me as the Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police.\u00a0 My new position included a cool official-looking police ID card and I asked if I could get a gun out of the deal.\u00a0 Mike’s answer was a curt “No,” but hey, I tried. \u00a0 We had a hell of a time at that convention. \u00a0 There was all kinds of interesting gear on display. \u00a0 Guns.\u00a0 Helicopters.\u00a0 Police motorcycles.\u00a0 Patrol cars. Surveillance equipment.\u00a0 You get the idea.\u00a0 Oh, yeah.\u00a0 And boots.\u00a0 I’ll get to that in a second.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Facial recognition software. You know, Big Brother. That’s me and Mike being dropped into the data base.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were cool guys there, too.\u00a0 Mike introduced me to Willie Bratton, senior FBI executives, and the head of the CHP (I asked that guy if he could help me with a speeding ticket and no one laughed…I thought it was funny as hell).\u00a0 We saw all kinds of cool\u00a0 gear, including a police helicopter that you could climb into. \u00a0 I did that and immediately starting pushing buttons from the pilot’s seat.\u00a0 One sent power to the turbine starter, the turbine started to whir, and the blades actually started to move. \u00a0 Mind you, all of this was indoors at the Staples Convention Center. Wow, talk about people descending on us quickly!\u00a0 When we walked by that helicopter later, it was roped off.\u00a0 You couldn’t sit in it any more, thanks to me.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Oh, yeah. The starter worked.\u00a0 We’re still laughing about that one!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But I digress.\u00a0 The point of this story was that one of the vendors displaying their goods was the Haix boot company, whom I had never heard of before.\u00a0 The boots looked good, I tried a pair on, and they felt great. \u00a0 Think slippers for comfort level, great support, and a cool combat boot look.\u00a0 They were $200, but I was in. \u00a0 The guy told me to take the pair I had tried on, and they would invoice me later.<\/p>\n

I wore those boots everywhere for the next 10 years, and I always wore them on my motorcycle rides.\u00a0 That included the 2005 Three Flags Rally, tons of weekend rides, tons of Baja rides, the Hells Loop Rally, and lots more.\u00a0 They were waterproof, unlike motorcycle-specific boots they were comfortable to walk around in, they were lightweight, and they just felt great.\u00a0 After more than 10 years of abuse, though, the soles started to separate during the Western America Adventure Ride in 2015. \u00a0 I remember Gresh picking up some Shoe Goo for me in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which got me another year of use.\u00a0 But finally, I had to give in.\u00a0 It was time for a new pair.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yours truly on the right, wearing my first pair of Haix boots, in 2005. Marty and I were standing in front of Lake Louise in Canada. We rode in the 2005 Three Flags Classic Rally from Mexico to Canada.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I cheaped out and bought a pair of S.W.A.T.-brand boots on the Internet prior to leaving for the Colombia ride.\u00a0 They were stiff, they were uncomfortable, and after 5 days of riding through the Andes Mountains’ heat, humidity, and rain, they were toast.\u00a0 My take on it is that the S.W.A.T. brand is probably good for kicking butts and taking names, but they didn’t make it for me as a comfortable motorcycle boot.\u00a0 Nope, I needed me another pair of Haix.<\/p>\n

Then good buddy Mike came to the rescue.\u00a0 There was another IACP convention (in San Diego, this time), I was Deputy Dawg again, and I shelled out $200 for my second pair of Haix.\u00a0 Which I’m wearing now, knowing they’re worth every penny of that $200. \u00a0 In 2027, I’ll be due for my third pair, and you can bet I’ll be going for HAIX again.\u00a0 I’m just hoping that the 2027 IACP convention will be here in southern California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You read Joe Gresh’s Tested to Destruction piece on Rossi Boots. \u00a0 When I read it, I immediately thought of my Haix boots. \u00a0 My first pair lasted more than 10 years.\u00a0 After they finally wore out I tried a less expensive brand, but then I went back to Haix. \u00a0 I had worn the … Continue reading “Tested to Destruction: Haix Boots”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,64],"tags":[803,802],"class_list":["post-5237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazon","category-gear","tag-haix-boots","tag-iacp-convention"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5244,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237\/revisions\/5244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}