2008-SOLD OUR RIG’S FURNITURE & HEADED FOR THE IKEA STORE

CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE & HOVER YOUR MOUSE OVER THEM FOR THE CAPTIONS

By January of 2008 our minds were finally made up.  We were totally fed up with the cheap uncomfortable furniture in our motorhome.  The tub chair was too small & had a comfort level of about 20 seconds.  Couch was the same & the pull out bed must have been made in a hot place somewhere underground.  The cushions for the dinette were obviously designed by a worker who attended Weight Watchers because you couldn't comfortably sit on the them long enough to finish you supper, let along dessert!!

But, here we were boondocking out in the desert & how could we get rid of & replace this stuff.

WE HAVE SINCE ADDED AN AMERICAN FLAG OVER TOP THE CANADIAN FLAG….PROTOCOL:))

Getting rid of the stuff turned out to be easier than we thought because we were in Quartzite, Arizona & it was January!!  Quartzite in January is the buy, sell, & trade Mecca for RV'ers all across America.  It didn't take Kelly long to get into town & do some wheelin & dealin & before we knew it I had my screwdriver out taking our dinette apart……because she had sold everything!!  When your not using power tools it seems the number of screws to be removed triples & by the time I had the million plus screws out of that thing I practically had to let my sore wrist soak in a pale of hot flaming water for the whole rest of the day.

As I'm typing this I seem to recall blogging about this Quartzite furniture story before.  (my apologies if I did) I took apart the dinette & we piled it outside.  Next came the tub chair which was securely bolted to the floor.  Had to get under the motorhome to loosen the bolts with nothing more than a pair of vice grips but finally it was done & out went the chair!! 

Took Kelly a couple trips into Quartzite to 'The Gamblers' new & used trading post where she had struck up a deal to sell our motorhome furniture.  We were able to get the  dis-assembled dinette & tub chair into the Santa Fe alright but the couch was another matter so decided to leave that until we left the Q (Quartzite) a few days later.  I wasn't looking forward to having to try & get that couch out by myself so on our way through town later we stopped at the Gambler's & the boys there came out & hauled the couch out of the rig.  Kelly told people inside the Gambler's new & used store that we were selling our furniture for gas money to get back to Canada.  I had to pull my hat down even further over my face to conceal my embarrassment!! 

Within half an hour we had left Quartzite in the dust & were heading furnitureless for an RV Park in Casa Grande that we had stayed the year before for a couple days.  Sure seemed weird not having any furniture in the rig & the furry guys were in bewilderment as to where they were all going to sleep that night....as was I.  Stopped at an RV Park in Tonopah on the way that night & it was so cold our water froze up outside & an alarm went off warning us of a propane leak.  Turns out there was no leak but the cold had somehow set off that alarm or something.  Had to wait until around 10 in the morning before we could get our hose unthawed from the outside water tap & head off to  Casa Grande.

Arrived in Casa Grande OK & readied ourselves for our shopping sojourn the next day.  Kelly, being the experienced shopper she is, had been in Ikea stores before over the years.  Me, not being a shopper, had no more interest in getting dragged through another dumb store than I had of trying on dresses at a Seven Eleven convenience store so it was with much grumpiness on my part that we headed off in the car towards Phoenix early the next morning.

It was the size of the parking lot that first caught my attention as we approached Ikea.  Looked like enough room to land a Jumbo Jet if it wasn't for all the stately palm trees.  After grubbing it in the desert for the past few weeks I thought we had entered the twilight zone.  The store front was very big & impressive as we walked across the manicured & well landscaped parking lot to the front entrance.  Best part so far was the total lack of cars & people because we were actually there before the store was even open.   Hmmmmm, this was turning out unusually good for me & I was impressed.  Front door was open & Kelly explained Ikea has their own restaurant that actually opens before the store did.  Wow, I could feel some excitement coming to-gether already.  But wait, how could it be possible for Al to feel a twinge of excitement about.......shopping!!  Well, I was about to find out.

 As soon as we walked through Ikea's front door I knew there was something different going on here about this store.  Our blog for that day is HERE & the photos of our Ikea store experience are HERE.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

And here’s the best part.  Sold the RV furniture for $450 & our total Ikea bill was…..$400 so we came out of the whole deal $50 up.  That Kelly is quite a wheeler dealer:))

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.