Although Natalie and I are hoping to attract sponsors, we are not waiting around for a miracle. Thus, we spent a few hours at REI this week. REI, if you are not aware, operates as a co-op. Co-op members enjoy special benefits (10% discount on regular priced items, access to REI classes etc.) including access to their annual Garage Sale. The REI garage sale consists of products that were returned to REI throughout the year. After being returned, these products did not get the REI quality nod of approval and thus were not put back into the store. Rather than dupe some unsuspecting schmuck into purchasing a product that was used, broken or not up to spec, REI puts all of these products into a garage sale.

After we learned about the garage sale (it was on Saturday starting at 9:00 am), Natalie and I figured it was time to become co-op members. Apparently this event is a rather big deal because the store manager told us that people start lining up around the time the store closes. That is, the night before. At 9:00 p.m. Now I like saving money as much as the next guy, but I have never been the type who wakes up the day after Thanksgiving at 4:00 a.m. so I can stand in line, with other members of this odd sub-culture in front of Best Buy so I can get a ginormous t.v. for $2. If you are this type of person, well….your time is your business. No hard feelings from the nomad corner, okay? Deal. Right, so there was no way I was going to spend Friday night camped out in front of REI. Seriously. Natalie and I arrived around 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning and promptly joined the quickly growing queue of people waiting to get in the door. As we walked to the line, I was carrying our shopping list and my backpack (if the waiting got out of control, I wanted my laptop within easy reach) Natalie was carrying two coffee mugs and our French Press. (If you like coffee and are unfamiliar with the French Press style coffee you really have not lived. Check it out.) I probably do not need to mention that we got a few looks. The coffee was good and the people waiting in line were very nice and rather friendly.  We spent most of our 30 minute wait talking to a couple from Windsor, Canada and a lady from Kalamazoo. (The lady from Kalamazoo is an advisor where Natalie and I went to school-WMU. How sweet is that?)

Honestly, the garage sale was a little bit disappointing. We were not able to find backpacks or shoes but we were able to find a pair of travel pants for me as well as a cheap pair of flip flops. We were also able to find Natalie a long sleeve travel shirt. Overall, it was a good experience and we were able to get fitted for backpacks (Natalie needs a backpack fitted for a small torso and I need one fitted for a large torso.)

We were also able to learn about REI’s sweet online purchase policy. Get this, if we buy it online, we can have it sent to the store without paying for shipping (the closes REI is about 3 miles from where we currently live). Also, if we do not like the item or items we purchased online, we can return it at the store. I am really excited about this because it means we can try out the backpacks we want without needing to worry about shipping them back to where they were originally purchased. Excellent!

Garage Sailing

Tags | Planning, travel gear