Junkin' - February 27, 2023

We call it "junkin."

Basically, it's spending a lot of money to shop for old stuff that other people have discarded.

I know.  It's ridiculous.  

But that's what we did this weekend, for the first time in a month of Sundays, with our junkin' partners, The Sister-in-Law and her husband.  They are good travel partners.  

Originally, it was not going to be a junkin' weekend.  I have been wanting to hear some live Zydeco music and had picked out a little town in south Louisiana where we might find some.  The Husband and I set aside a 4-day weekend (Friday through Monday) to drive down there, listen to some music, eat some good cajun food, and do some sightseeing.  We invited our junkin' partners to go with us.

Our original destination was to be Eunice, Louisiana, a little town close to the corner where Louisiana extends below Mississippi.  There's a long story about why I chose that town, but I'll spare you.  The upshot is that when I chose the town, I did not realize how long it would take us to get there.  When The Husband checked the mileage, we realized it would be nearly an all-day drive, not counting emergency U-turns at roadside flea markets.  On top of that, The Brother-in-Law discovered that he needed to work Monday, so that cut a day off our trip.  We decided to limit our drive to about 4 hours.  We could have gone in any direction but chose to go south because rain was predicted up north.  We ended up choosing Meridian, Mississippi as our turn-around spot.  

It was fun.  We went to breakfast Friday morning then headed southeast, hit up three or four places in Tupelo, then drove on to Meridian for the night.  The next morning, we took to the streets looking for junk stores.  Jackpot!

Being an Antiques Roadshow fan, I always dream of finding something marvelous for $3 that turns out to be worth thousands of dollars.  So far, it hasn't happened.  Most of the time, we come home empty-handed because the last thing we need around here is more junk for our kids to throw away when we die.  But this weekend, we found some good stuff and brought it home.

We got a big box of baseball cards at one place, and the whole Ken Burns Baseball series (on VHS) at another.  $20 total.  They'll be going to a nephew's house.

At one place, we found a lovely dulcimer.  It was in great shape.  SOLD! (We already had a dulcimer, one we built from a kit many years ago, but the head has come off, so it isn't playable.)  At another, we found a nice, full-sized violin in a good case, with four bows.  SOLD!  (We used to have a violin, but we loaned it to someone who subsequently died, and we have no idea what happened to it.)  $210 total.

One store had two paintings that I sort of wanted, a still life and a portrait of an old man.  I googled the artists and found a little bit of information about them, which was encouraging.  Hmmm.  Neither of the paintings had a price tag.  When I inquired about them, the owner of the "antique" mall called the owner of the booth and came back with the news that one of the paintings - the one I really wanted - was $350 and the other was $250.  Uh, no, thank-you.  

Counting gas, meals, road snacks, and hotel, the trip probably cost us a thousand dollars.

Junkin' can get expensive.