...but I'll be damned if Brendan and I don't get away on our annual road trip for at least a few days. This June marks some big events for him, his last days of high school, the prom, and graduation. Well the last day has come and gone, so has the prom which was last night. Graduation is not until later in the month. Then he starts a new full time job next Friday. Since I am busy tomorrow working on the house, that leaves us with Sunday through Thursday to get away. I am hoping for a drive to Harrisburg, PA to visit sites nearby - maybe Hershey Park, maybe Gettysburg - could be both. Then a drive down to the Shenandoah River Valley where we may camp out (talk about me being cheap, but only if I think my back can take sleeping on the ground otherwise an inexpensive motel). We have been there twice, and he liked the canoe and fishing trips we took on the Shenandoah River. A couple of days of that, then we head back north. maybe we spend a night somewhere in PA, maybe we drive right home. Either way we are home by Thursday at the latest. It is about the only outdoors 'regular' thing I look forward to all year anymore besides a fall hunting trip; but most of all Brendan deserves it. I think he maybe looking forward to it as much as I look forward to it. I hope so, because that means he will really help get all of our gear ready tomorrow night. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to pack for a road trip, now is there!
If you don't see anything left here in the blog from Sunday til Thursday - you will know why.
All the best,
Glenn B
Showing posts with label camping gear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camping gear. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Gander Mountain...
...sounds like a nice place to go hiking, hunting, bird watching, camping or whatever. The name brings to mind the songs of birds in the treetops, the wind rustling leaves, geese flying north for the season (or please spring hurry up), fresh - cold - clear streams running full of trout, a secluded mountaintop pond loaded with smallmouth bass, a 12 pointer watching from the edge of the woods - oh you get the picture. Well I was there yesterday out in the parking lot. No its not a mountain with its own parking lot, but was the Gander Mountain store in Middletown, NY. I had occasion to be in Middletown yesterday, and I stopped in at Gander Mountain to use the facilities when nature called. Of course once inside, I could not resist some window shopping - so to speak.
Gander Mountain has a lot of things that the outdoorsman type of sports enthusiast would like. They have everything from fly fishing gear to paintball guns; stuff like: firearms, ammunition, archery gear, hunting gear, fishing gear, boats, motors for boats, camping gear, hiking boots, outdoors clothing, and on and on. They even sold live bait, and when I saw that how could I resist buying some worms for my pet musk turtle! I think that was what did it, I grabbed a cup of worms, then I started grabbing targets, fishing lures, gun cleaning patches, silicone desiccant for my gun locker, outdoors sports magazines, and whatever else I could think of for which I had a need.
I don't get a chance to visit a store like this very often, one dedicated mostly to the sports of hunting/fishing/shooting/boating/camping. Yes there is a Dick's Sporting Goods close to where I live, but they have drifted more toward the likes of the MetroSportsman than to the traditional outdoors man what with there bicycle department, their weight training stuff, their running shoe department, and whatnot. Nothing bad about that, Dicks is a somewhat more generalized kind of sporting foods store. Gander Mountain is a bit more dedicated to the hunter/fisherman types. So all in all I liked my visit to Gander Mountain yesterday, it was a rare treat for me. In the past several years I have been to stores like Gander Mountain, and Cabelas (another more of a hunter/fisherman type store), and Bass Pro Shops (ditto) only about once per year. They are just not all that close to home for me to go to them any more often.
I find all of these places to be okay; but I have to say that I think I actually prefer Gander Mountain. Out of the three chains I just mentioned, I have been to Cabelas the most often. I have visited the one in PA near Allentown, and have been lucky enough to visit their main store in Nebraska (and maybe another one somewhere else, but I cannot remember for sure right now). I have not been all that impressed with Cabelas. Yes I was impresses by the great displays of museum quality animal mounts that they have throughout their stores, all in natural like settings, and I was impressed by the large aquariums full of native American freshwater fish they have; but the fact is I was nowhere near impressed by the selection of merchandise on their racks and shelves at either location that I visited. As a matter of fact I was quite disappointed on y first visit to Cabelas in PA. I was looking to buy ammunition, and figured to get some good prices on it. I also thought, maybe - just maybe - they would have some really good prices on used guns. Well I was wrong on both counts. Their ammunition shelves were almost bare relatively speaking. They were out of stock of ammunition in several calibers, and had very few brands to select from in other calibers. I thought this was possibly due to the fact that I was visiting them just after Christmas, but when I again visited the same store at another time of year - the same thing - and no it was not just after hunting season. As to the prices on used rifles, as far as I am concerned they could not have built a roof high enough for those prices not to have gone through. Oh well, I bought some stuff each time and was on my way, a not so happy camper. There store in Nebraska was a bit better stocked, but again no great selection of ammo in my opinion.
As for Bass pro Shops, I don't remember where I went to one of them, but I seem to recall they had what I needed for fishing; and I think they had other items too - like hunting stuff. I vaguely remember that it was a nicer experience that either of the Cabelas I visited; but nothing to write home about.
Gander Mountain stick in my mind a little better than Bass Pro Shops, maybe because I was to at least GM twice (I think I was also once at another location where I visited one a third time). Besides that, they seem to have better stocked shelves than did Cabelas. The Cabelas store in PA was, if I recall correctly, much bigger than the Gander Mountain in Middletown, so it should have been stocked better, but I don't think that was the case. For example when I looked at the ammunition supply that Gander Mountain had on hand yesterday, they had just about everything I could imagine the average shooter, and even the somewhat rabid gun enthusiast, in the USA would have a need for; and they had lots of it. There shelves did not have bare spaces as did those at Cabelas when I visited there. Instead, Gander Mountain had the boxes of ammo neatly stacked, row upon row upon row. Sadly though prices were nothing to be desired as far as I am concerned. Last time I bought .35 Remington ammo for my Marlin 336, I paid about per box I think it was $24 plus tax at Gander Mountain yesterday. Yes ammo prices have gone up, but not that much since I last bought that .35 Remington last August. As a matter of fact I bought that ammo for $13.97 a box plus shipping. Now while you may think shipping added considerably to that price, I do not believe it would have added more than what it cost me to drive about 180-185 miles round trip to get to Gander Mountain from my home; remember that gas is going for $3.25 to $3.50 a gallon for regular around here, and I get about 30MPG on the highway, but also do a good amount of that trip - about 60 miles in total - through a fairly congested urban area (is that a nice way to refer to the roads in and around NYC). Yes the prices seemed high at Gander Mountain. The thing is though, if you needed it, they likely had it.
While I decided against buying any ammo, I did pick up gun cleaning patches (expensive too but that is all over), targets, some fishing hook and lures, live bait (for the turtle - really), and some other odds and ends. I was thinking of maybe buying a used rifle there, but from what I could tell, they had no great deal on used rifles. As far as the new rifles and handguns went, I guess their prices seemed about average. Now while the atmosphere was much nicer at Gander Mountain than someplace like Walmarts, I am pretty sure I could have done better at Walmarts, and the closest Walmart to my home that sells firearms and ammo is nowhere nearly as far away as 90 miles (45 miles, maybe even 60, but not 90). Before I go to far afield off subject, let me get back to Gander Mountain. Yes the atmosphere at Gander Mountain was nice indeed, almost making it worth a trip just to shop there. The sales clerks were courteous and friendly, they knew there stock, and were eager (but not in your face eager) to help the customers.
All in all I guess it was worthwhile for me to have stopped inside. Of course had the prices been somewhat better, I would have wound up buying an lot more, and probably wound up getting a scornful look from the wife when the next credit card bill arrived in the mail. As it was I spent about $95, for what did not seem like about $40 worth of stuff; but then I am just past 1/2 a century old, and I remember when candy bars were a only nickel.
Happy Hunting,
Glenn B
Gander Mountain has a lot of things that the outdoorsman type of sports enthusiast would like. They have everything from fly fishing gear to paintball guns; stuff like: firearms, ammunition, archery gear, hunting gear, fishing gear, boats, motors for boats, camping gear, hiking boots, outdoors clothing, and on and on. They even sold live bait, and when I saw that how could I resist buying some worms for my pet musk turtle! I think that was what did it, I grabbed a cup of worms, then I started grabbing targets, fishing lures, gun cleaning patches, silicone desiccant for my gun locker, outdoors sports magazines, and whatever else I could think of for which I had a need.
I don't get a chance to visit a store like this very often, one dedicated mostly to the sports of hunting/fishing/shooting/boating/camping. Yes there is a Dick's Sporting Goods close to where I live, but they have drifted more toward the likes of the MetroSportsman than to the traditional outdoors man what with there bicycle department, their weight training stuff, their running shoe department, and whatnot. Nothing bad about that, Dicks is a somewhat more generalized kind of sporting foods store. Gander Mountain is a bit more dedicated to the hunter/fisherman types. So all in all I liked my visit to Gander Mountain yesterday, it was a rare treat for me. In the past several years I have been to stores like Gander Mountain, and Cabelas (another more of a hunter/fisherman type store), and Bass Pro Shops (ditto) only about once per year. They are just not all that close to home for me to go to them any more often.
I find all of these places to be okay; but I have to say that I think I actually prefer Gander Mountain. Out of the three chains I just mentioned, I have been to Cabelas the most often. I have visited the one in PA near Allentown, and have been lucky enough to visit their main store in Nebraska (and maybe another one somewhere else, but I cannot remember for sure right now). I have not been all that impressed with Cabelas. Yes I was impresses by the great displays of museum quality animal mounts that they have throughout their stores, all in natural like settings, and I was impressed by the large aquariums full of native American freshwater fish they have; but the fact is I was nowhere near impressed by the selection of merchandise on their racks and shelves at either location that I visited. As a matter of fact I was quite disappointed on y first visit to Cabelas in PA. I was looking to buy ammunition, and figured to get some good prices on it. I also thought, maybe - just maybe - they would have some really good prices on used guns. Well I was wrong on both counts. Their ammunition shelves were almost bare relatively speaking. They were out of stock of ammunition in several calibers, and had very few brands to select from in other calibers. I thought this was possibly due to the fact that I was visiting them just after Christmas, but when I again visited the same store at another time of year - the same thing - and no it was not just after hunting season. As to the prices on used rifles, as far as I am concerned they could not have built a roof high enough for those prices not to have gone through. Oh well, I bought some stuff each time and was on my way, a not so happy camper. There store in Nebraska was a bit better stocked, but again no great selection of ammo in my opinion.
As for Bass pro Shops, I don't remember where I went to one of them, but I seem to recall they had what I needed for fishing; and I think they had other items too - like hunting stuff. I vaguely remember that it was a nicer experience that either of the Cabelas I visited; but nothing to write home about.
Gander Mountain stick in my mind a little better than Bass Pro Shops, maybe because I was to at least GM twice (I think I was also once at another location where I visited one a third time). Besides that, they seem to have better stocked shelves than did Cabelas. The Cabelas store in PA was, if I recall correctly, much bigger than the Gander Mountain in Middletown, so it should have been stocked better, but I don't think that was the case. For example when I looked at the ammunition supply that Gander Mountain had on hand yesterday, they had just about everything I could imagine the average shooter, and even the somewhat rabid gun enthusiast, in the USA would have a need for; and they had lots of it. There shelves did not have bare spaces as did those at Cabelas when I visited there. Instead, Gander Mountain had the boxes of ammo neatly stacked, row upon row upon row. Sadly though prices were nothing to be desired as far as I am concerned. Last time I bought .35 Remington ammo for my Marlin 336, I paid about per box I think it was $24 plus tax at Gander Mountain yesterday. Yes ammo prices have gone up, but not that much since I last bought that .35 Remington last August. As a matter of fact I bought that ammo for $13.97 a box plus shipping. Now while you may think shipping added considerably to that price, I do not believe it would have added more than what it cost me to drive about 180-185 miles round trip to get to Gander Mountain from my home; remember that gas is going for $3.25 to $3.50 a gallon for regular around here, and I get about 30MPG on the highway, but also do a good amount of that trip - about 60 miles in total - through a fairly congested urban area (is that a nice way to refer to the roads in and around NYC). Yes the prices seemed high at Gander Mountain. The thing is though, if you needed it, they likely had it.
While I decided against buying any ammo, I did pick up gun cleaning patches (expensive too but that is all over), targets, some fishing hook and lures, live bait (for the turtle - really), and some other odds and ends. I was thinking of maybe buying a used rifle there, but from what I could tell, they had no great deal on used rifles. As far as the new rifles and handguns went, I guess their prices seemed about average. Now while the atmosphere was much nicer at Gander Mountain than someplace like Walmarts, I am pretty sure I could have done better at Walmarts, and the closest Walmart to my home that sells firearms and ammo is nowhere nearly as far away as 90 miles (45 miles, maybe even 60, but not 90). Before I go to far afield off subject, let me get back to Gander Mountain. Yes the atmosphere at Gander Mountain was nice indeed, almost making it worth a trip just to shop there. The sales clerks were courteous and friendly, they knew there stock, and were eager (but not in your face eager) to help the customers.
All in all I guess it was worthwhile for me to have stopped inside. Of course had the prices been somewhat better, I would have wound up buying an lot more, and probably wound up getting a scornful look from the wife when the next credit card bill arrived in the mail. As it was I spent about $95, for what did not seem like about $40 worth of stuff; but then I am just past 1/2 a century old, and I remember when candy bars were a only nickel.
Happy Hunting,
Glenn B
Saturday, August 25, 2007
I Was Under The Micrscope Today...
...well at least under the scrutiny of my wife's questioning stare when I came home from a brief excursion to pick up a few items at a couple of local stores. Just before leaving the house this morning, I asked she who must be I made one detour though on the way to the stores. I stopped at what was supposed to have been a local tag sale (as in estate or complete home contents sale). It was not far out of the way, and I hoped maybe I would find some treasure at a bargain price that I could later sell on eBbay. As I drove down the tidy tree lined street, I spied a driveway with a gaggle of junk piled up on tables and the ground. Oh-oh, not good, figured I, this was a garage sale, not a tag sale! I took a look from the car, and was about to drive off, when the buy it bug bit me. I got out and took a quick look around. At first the only thing that caught my eye was a microscope, a not too old one, probably from the 60s or 70s, monocular eyepiece with three objective lenses. It was marked $25.00. I passed on it even though it seemed to be in excellent condition, and I really mean excellent. I walked around, and sauntered into the garage, where I was stopped by the lady of the house who told me nothing in the garage was for sale, except that maybe later on she would throw a $1.00 tag on her husband and sell him as a used couch potato (no her husband was not there just then). I did an about face and headed to the the small front lawn area, almost bumping into a sort of grumpy looking guy (yes he was the lady's husband as it turned out), and I looked a few other things over. Not much. Then I almost stumbled over a box on the ground. It was a Coleman 2 burner compact gas stove, in a box that had apparently never been opened. Right next to it was a Coleman double burner gas lantern, opened, but in never used condition. The stove was marked $25.00, and the lantern was marked $15.00. I did some quick math and figured that all three items in which I had sort of an interest came out to $65.00 (not bad for a guy who hated math). I also figured that the $52.00 in my pocket would not cover these three items, gas for the car (needed 3/4 of a tank), beer for the in-laws, and food for my mice and hamsters.
Oh heck, I gave it a shot anyhow. I asked the lady in charge with whom would I have to haggle over these items, and she smiled and asked which ones. I told her the three, and she said I had to talk to her husband, then pointed to a guy sitting in the garage. Yes that was the guy I had just about bumped into, the grumpy looking one, the same guy she had just joked about saying she was going to sell him at the end of the day for $1.00 as a used couch potato. Oh well. I gave it my best shot at haggling. I asked him if he would take $45 for the lot. Do you remember I thought the man looked grumpy, well shame on first impressions, he was actually very nice indeed - cordial, courteous, friendly and helpful. He said "How much?", and I said it again. He said he didn't know, because she wasn't sure how much he was asking for the three items. When I told him they all came out to $65, he said $50, and I said deal. That left me $2.00 for gas, pet shop stuff, and beer.I packed the things into the Corolla, and was off to the ATM at my local bank. I quick pit stop gave me enough cash to complete the rest of my appointed rounds - or should I just say "my appointed rounds", leaving off "the rest of"; since my garage sale stop was not appointed to me by the boss. Then to the distributor for a 1/2 case of Pilsner Urquel, and a 6 pack of Spaten Oktoberfest. After that a quick stop in the pet shop, and then straight back home. No I did not forget the gas; this was just taking longer than I had expected so I hurried home to keep the beers cold. After all a man has to have priorities, and gas can be bought tomorrow. From the look 'she' gave me when I told her I did not fill up the tank, I had best do it tomorrow without fail.
Once home I told the wife about my purchases and she just rolled her eyes. My in-laws were there already, and while the mother-in-law did not comment, the 2 brothers-in-law though I had done well. Later on I sat down at the computer and did some online shopping. I could not find a microscope that matched the one I has bought, a Swift No. 615758, all metal construction with 4X, 10X and 40X objectives, and a 10X WF eyepiece. Similar types today go for about $130 to $200 new. As for the camp stove, it was on a few websites for sale from $81.95 (with zero shipping) to $89.95 (with $15 shipping). A newer similar model (off by one letter in the model number) sells direct from Coleman for about $90. The lantern sells for $60.99 from Coleman.
Yes I think I did well by myself today! I got these items much less than retail, and two of them were brand spanking new (well at least never used before) and the boxes looked pretty new. I think they will get some use on a camping trip or two that I will now have to plan, and certainly when I go hunting later this year. Of course, when not in use they will be stored in my grab and go kit for
I am hopeful that Brendan will get some use out of the microscope. He works at a veterinary clinic now as a kennel worker; and he has hopes of studying to become a veterinarian. My guess is that anything that will help him out in biological or zoological sciences is a plus. I know that for awhile, way back when, I was quite fascinated with the stuff I collected and viewed under the microscope I owned as a youngster. It was a lot less nice, and less well made than is this one, that was for sure. If he does not get a kick out of it (hopefully a kick in the right direction toward college as he will soon be starting his senior year in HS), well then, I guess I can use it to do some micro-exploring myself. Who knows, maybe can figure out what bug has been keeping me down for the past few weeks since the docs have not done so, at least not yet.
All the best,
Glenn B
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