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- May 14, 2011
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- Location
- On the Ridge, TN
(Going into this one cold - the events that played out occured suddenly and unexpectedly and could quite honestly have
fallen apart at any moment along the way - but the point here is that they didn't, despite my repeatedly cold feet.
Well....you'll see, hang with me here, it's kinda long):
So... I'm passing the evening the other night perusing the Facebook Marketplace for whatever (search term "Mopar", of
course). I've never actually bought or sold on the thing and I've heard all the stories of how things can go wrong....
but it's no different to me than times past doing the same thing on Craigslist. Just passing time.
(I wasn't actually "in the market" for anything....I thought, anyways).
After a bit, however - I come across an ad for a set of supposedly brand new Cooper tires - and in the exact sizes I
run on Fred, no less.
To make it even more interesting, the price is about exactly half what Tire Rack sells them for.....
Of course, me being a natural skeptic, I'm thinking "scam" - but I check out the seller anyways - and turns out, they're
legit, so I start getting a little excited about this apparent good fortune I've stumbled across.
(Fred's BFG's are easily 15 years old and although they have very low miles.....they're 15 friggin years old, so.....)
Mindful of all of you who have posted positively about the Coopers, I contact the seller and he and I have a nice chat;
the story is he bought them a couple years back for a project that got derailed with the arrival of child #3. Relatable....
Just when I start to get genuinely interested though, my heart sinks a little when I see where he lives:
Seems he's smack dab in the middle of "ground zero" of all the horrible hurricane destruction from Helene.
He assures me there's a way to get there, though....folks in this part of the world simply get on with it.
(Salt of the earth types abound in this region, a major reason I'm here to this day).
He also relays that his family has been blessedly spared any truly ugly stuff and they're managing (he also has two
teenage boys with his wife, total of 5 in the family) despite not having power for weeks and such.
Still - I'm compelled to do this deal - and the fact it's a good deal on something I need seems merely a bonus...
(Some of you may recall previous "Ed Stories" where I try to explain being able to "hear" when we're being led to
certain situations - that we're being "sent", dispatched if you will....)
We then proceed to make arrangements, only to have that meetup fall apart on either his end (or admittedly, my
end once or twice, as I got skittish for whatever reason)...
In fact, I had resolved myself by Friday noon that it just wasn't going to happen...especially after he told me the
reason he wanted me to come down after dark was because his boys were playing in a baseball tournament!
That took me aback some, honestly - a tournament, right in the middle of all that destruction??
The hell is going on here, exactly? Spider sense began tingling - so I beg off the deal, figuring I hadn't actually
heard the calling this time...
But then he calls again and says "I can meet you halfway if you like - this afternoon".
I must have hesitated too long to answer because he adds "...and I'll take another $100 off if that helps."
He then then tosses in "...we could really use the money right now..."
My jaw drops and that feeling of being called upon hits me right upside the head this time; no mistaking it now!
I'm back in on the deal at that point, of course - we've gone from mere horsetradin' to genuine dispatchin' here.
Hasty arrangements made, I summon my wife out of work and we load up for the drive down.
She being a lot more skeptical than me, she asks all the prudent questions along the way down, which I patiently answer,
all the while driving like a bat out of hell due south...
In shorter time than I expected, we arrive at the agreed meeting place very close to the Nolichucky Dam (the now famous one
that saw waterflows TWICE the average daily Niagra Falls volumes, despite being tiny in size in comparison - but HELD!)...
Sure enough, there stands the seller (who turned out to be a LEO in his neck of the woods), along with his two boys, who
are busy pulling tires out the back of the family minivan, all smiles and polite like.
We chat a bit and I find out they're not so fortunate after all - that the hurricane had indeed torn their property up badly, that they'd
had no electricity until recently, that their water supply was gone - all the bad stuff - it was just that they'd simply gotten on with it...
like folks do in these parts.
He reluctantly told us of their struggles to get out to find supplies, how they had been driving a couple hours just to find a place to
get the laundry done....all the while, he as a LEO doing his job helping everyone else in the community, too.
(At that point, all the aggravation I'd felt at trying to get the deal arranged was gone and forgotten - along with the excitement of
getting such a great deal on the stupid tires, too - all of that instead was replaced by just feeling like a giant HEEL).
All I could manage at that point was....to get humble. REAL quick-like.
(Yep Ed, you were sent - but not because of some horse-tradin' prowess, you jerk).
I hung my head a bit and managed an apology for all the trouble getting the deal done. He graciously did the same.
Of course, I gave him all the money he had asked for originally for the tires and he didn't count it, shoved it in his pocket.
I asked if we could do anything else for them and he deferred, again saying they were blessed and good to go...
At that point, I tried to leave him with a little humor (that I needed more than he, I suspect...) and asked "aren't you
going to count the money?" as my wife and I climbed back up in Bert the Ram for the ride home.
He pulls it out and counts it and sees it's not his "discounted" amount but instead the higher original amount, looks
confused for a moment, then looks at me and hollers "this is too much!"
I just grin and say "no, it's not...." as we drive away, seeing the three of them waving in my rearview mirror.
(All sorts of stuff to unpack in this one, eh? Hey, at least I'm getting better at listening when blind-sided with the dispatches....)
Epilogue: Guess I can enter the Cooper vs BFG debate now, eh? Maybe even the "letters in or out" bit, too?
fallen apart at any moment along the way - but the point here is that they didn't, despite my repeatedly cold feet.
Well....you'll see, hang with me here, it's kinda long):
So... I'm passing the evening the other night perusing the Facebook Marketplace for whatever (search term "Mopar", of
course). I've never actually bought or sold on the thing and I've heard all the stories of how things can go wrong....
but it's no different to me than times past doing the same thing on Craigslist. Just passing time.
(I wasn't actually "in the market" for anything....I thought, anyways).
After a bit, however - I come across an ad for a set of supposedly brand new Cooper tires - and in the exact sizes I
run on Fred, no less.
To make it even more interesting, the price is about exactly half what Tire Rack sells them for.....
Of course, me being a natural skeptic, I'm thinking "scam" - but I check out the seller anyways - and turns out, they're
legit, so I start getting a little excited about this apparent good fortune I've stumbled across.
(Fred's BFG's are easily 15 years old and although they have very low miles.....they're 15 friggin years old, so.....)
Mindful of all of you who have posted positively about the Coopers, I contact the seller and he and I have a nice chat;
the story is he bought them a couple years back for a project that got derailed with the arrival of child #3. Relatable....
Just when I start to get genuinely interested though, my heart sinks a little when I see where he lives:
Seems he's smack dab in the middle of "ground zero" of all the horrible hurricane destruction from Helene.
He assures me there's a way to get there, though....folks in this part of the world simply get on with it.
(Salt of the earth types abound in this region, a major reason I'm here to this day).
He also relays that his family has been blessedly spared any truly ugly stuff and they're managing (he also has two
teenage boys with his wife, total of 5 in the family) despite not having power for weeks and such.
Still - I'm compelled to do this deal - and the fact it's a good deal on something I need seems merely a bonus...
(Some of you may recall previous "Ed Stories" where I try to explain being able to "hear" when we're being led to
certain situations - that we're being "sent", dispatched if you will....)
We then proceed to make arrangements, only to have that meetup fall apart on either his end (or admittedly, my
end once or twice, as I got skittish for whatever reason)...
In fact, I had resolved myself by Friday noon that it just wasn't going to happen...especially after he told me the
reason he wanted me to come down after dark was because his boys were playing in a baseball tournament!
That took me aback some, honestly - a tournament, right in the middle of all that destruction??
The hell is going on here, exactly? Spider sense began tingling - so I beg off the deal, figuring I hadn't actually
heard the calling this time...
But then he calls again and says "I can meet you halfway if you like - this afternoon".
I must have hesitated too long to answer because he adds "...and I'll take another $100 off if that helps."
He then then tosses in "...we could really use the money right now..."
My jaw drops and that feeling of being called upon hits me right upside the head this time; no mistaking it now!
I'm back in on the deal at that point, of course - we've gone from mere horsetradin' to genuine dispatchin' here.
Hasty arrangements made, I summon my wife out of work and we load up for the drive down.
She being a lot more skeptical than me, she asks all the prudent questions along the way down, which I patiently answer,
all the while driving like a bat out of hell due south...
In shorter time than I expected, we arrive at the agreed meeting place very close to the Nolichucky Dam (the now famous one
that saw waterflows TWICE the average daily Niagra Falls volumes, despite being tiny in size in comparison - but HELD!)...
Sure enough, there stands the seller (who turned out to be a LEO in his neck of the woods), along with his two boys, who
are busy pulling tires out the back of the family minivan, all smiles and polite like.
We chat a bit and I find out they're not so fortunate after all - that the hurricane had indeed torn their property up badly, that they'd
had no electricity until recently, that their water supply was gone - all the bad stuff - it was just that they'd simply gotten on with it...
like folks do in these parts.
He reluctantly told us of their struggles to get out to find supplies, how they had been driving a couple hours just to find a place to
get the laundry done....all the while, he as a LEO doing his job helping everyone else in the community, too.
(At that point, all the aggravation I'd felt at trying to get the deal arranged was gone and forgotten - along with the excitement of
getting such a great deal on the stupid tires, too - all of that instead was replaced by just feeling like a giant HEEL).
All I could manage at that point was....to get humble. REAL quick-like.
(Yep Ed, you were sent - but not because of some horse-tradin' prowess, you jerk).
I hung my head a bit and managed an apology for all the trouble getting the deal done. He graciously did the same.
Of course, I gave him all the money he had asked for originally for the tires and he didn't count it, shoved it in his pocket.
I asked if we could do anything else for them and he deferred, again saying they were blessed and good to go...
At that point, I tried to leave him with a little humor (that I needed more than he, I suspect...) and asked "aren't you
going to count the money?" as my wife and I climbed back up in Bert the Ram for the ride home.
He pulls it out and counts it and sees it's not his "discounted" amount but instead the higher original amount, looks
confused for a moment, then looks at me and hollers "this is too much!"
I just grin and say "no, it's not...." as we drive away, seeing the three of them waving in my rearview mirror.
(All sorts of stuff to unpack in this one, eh? Hey, at least I'm getting better at listening when blind-sided with the dispatches....)
Epilogue: Guess I can enter the Cooper vs BFG debate now, eh? Maybe even the "letters in or out" bit, too?
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