Garage Sale

Grab your bear can or camp chair, kick your feet up and chew the fat about anything Sierra Nevada related that doesn't quite fit in any of the other forums. Within reason, (and the HST rules and guidelines) this is also an anything goes forum. Tell stories, discuss wilderness issues, music, or whatever else the High Sierra stirs up in your mind.
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Tom
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Garage Sale

Post by Tom »

We were afraid that we were becoming hoarders so this weekend we held a very large garage sale. We even included some of our cul de sac neighbors and the sale drew a lot of people.

As part of the deal with myself and my wife I put some old backpacking gear out. Some of my car camping tents and my older backpacking tents got set up on the front lawn. The point of this thread being I got to thinking about my old Walrus Swift tent.

The more I thought about it the more I bumped up the price whenever anyone inquired. I guess that I was hoping to put it out of range of the Saturday garage sale type. I did the same thing with my old Cannondale CAAD3.

I kept thinking of the 10 years of trail use that the tent had given me. Out of those 10 years the tent and I had seen 8 of them end with snow. Through the rain, wind and snow that little tent kept me warm, dry and with peace of mind.

Later, during a lull, I crawled inside and a flood of memories hit me. From the very first gust of wind that never touched me to the 3 days of blowing snow near Siberian Pass I remembered how much I loved my Walrus.

After the moment passed I turned to get out and realized why I quit using my tent. I had to scrunch my shoulders and neck to get out and the memory of trying to change clothes flared up. I just got too old and couldn't pull off the near contortionist moves to use such a low tent. Too bad, because everything else screamed that it was perfect tent.

As the day wore on I thought that I had escaped sending that sweet little tent to another home, a home that might have included little respect and much neglect.

I don't know what I had been thinking. When we pulled the signs down and closed the garage door, I breathed that sigh of relief and thought that even though I might never use my tent again, it would always have a good home.

An hour later the doorbell rang and a neighbor and her daughter were standing there. It seems that the girl was going on a backpacking trip with the girl scouts next month and needed a tent. How much did I want and how good was the tent?

I spent a good 15 minutes boring them with "delightful" backpacking stories that included Walrus references. I showed them how to set it up and when they asked how much I wanted for it I hesitated...then made the girl promise to take care of it as I just gave her the tent.

I am sure that it has a good home and will feel useful for many more years.
Last edited by Tom on Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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gary c.
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Re: Garage Sale

Post by gary c. »

Sounds like it found another good home to me.
"On this proud and beautiful mountain we have lived hours of fraternal, warm and exalting nobility. Here for a few days we have ceased to be slaves and have really been men. It is hard to return to servitude."
-- Lionel Terray
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markskor
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Re: Garage Sale

Post by markskor »

Tom,
Nice job!
Like the pace...tells a convoluted story - and has a moral at the end.
My kind of writing.
Mark
Mountainman who swims with trout
Ozark Flip
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Re: Garage Sale

Post by Ozark Flip »

That’s a wonderful story to which I can relate. Each October there is a city-wide garage sale. We will pilfer through our stuff and stage items to be sold in the garage. Wake up early on garage sale morning and set outside all day playing garage sale, cocktails in hand, BSing with the neighbors, people watching - hoping all our stuff will be gone at days end. I am let’s say, ‘encouraged’ by my wife to sale outdoor items but never do for sentimental reasons. Glad it found a nice home.
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rayfound
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Re: Garage Sale

Post by rayfound »

I know the feeling.

We had a garage sale and rather than selling an old spinning rod, it was "free to a kid who's never been fishing".

That being said... most camping and fly fishing gear never leaves my possession.
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