3 days left... again

I realize that the post for three separate post in a row now, spread out over two days, all say "3 days left...", that's not a typo. As I mentioned briefly in the previous entry, the leave-date was pushed from the 4th to the 5th. So now there is 3 days left, I promise... until further notice.

So today Tim & I drove around North Hollywood, hitting all the Thrift shops on Lankershim, while both of us were squatting down looking at a very green and very banged up Schwinn Varsity, a guy, who worked at the Goodwill, approached us:

"You two looking for a bike?"

"Uhh... yes."

After looking around, "Follow me..."

We snuck back into the stock area, where he showed us two bicycles, a Trek 800 Antelope and a Nishiki Backroads, both in very ridable conditions.

He looked at us, gesturing towards both the bikes, "Ten bucks."

Tim assumed he meant each, as did I, which would have been a great deal all the same, but the shady salesmen meant $10 for both. The Schwinn that was sitting back on the floor was priced at $24 - I figured since we needed 3 bikes, 1 for Tim, 1 for myself and an extra for the crew members - that we would take the 2 for cheap, and I would just pay for the Varsity also. But when I mentioned this, the man hurried back onto the floor and came back with the bike as he peeled away the price tag. He looked at the bike and shrugged saying, "10 bucks, it's yours".

I hurried outside to pull the car around to the back, hoping to load up and take off before getting busted by someone who actually cared.

Long story short, we bought 3 bikes for $20 bucks - and we should have just bought the first 2. The Varsity needed a lot of work, when I took it down to my favorite bike shop, my parts & labor added up to be $120 bucks just to get it decent. So the owner took me to a used road bike that he had already fixed up for the same price - since I'm on a tight schedule - I took the bike that was ready to go. But... even considering we spent almost 200 dollars on 4 bikes - that's a cheap average.

Nick flew into LAX tonight around 8 o'clock - we found out that Northwest charges 80 bucks to check-on a bicycle... $80! Each way! Afterwards we hurried back to grab some Panda Express (Nick had been craving Orange Chicken the entire flight out) and then race to the Arclight to see a showing of 'An Inconvenient Truth'.

Okay it's late - more tomorrow.