The Negotiator

Friday morning we left Traverse City, Michigan about 9:30 a.m. and drove about 56 miles south on State Route 37, a nice two lane road that passed through the Manistee National Forest, a land of dense trees and few people.

There were a scattering of canoe and kayak rental places along the slow moving Manistee and Pine Rivers, several lakes, some lodges, and a campground or two. I told Miss Terry we need to come back here someday and float the rivers, which really looked inviting. There was little traffic, and we used the occasional passing lane to get over to the right and let everybody get past us.

When we got to U.S. Highway 10 we followed it west 27 miles, through the little communities of Walhalla, Custer and Scottville. At one point Terry spotted two big deer standing on the left shoulder of the highway, and just as she told me to be careful, they bolted across the road right into our path. I had to do some heavy braking to avoid hitting them, and the incident upped our adrenalin level by quite a bit.

When we hit U.S. Highway 31 in Ludington, a divided four lane road, we turned south, and arrived at Fisherman’s Landing Marina and Campground in Muskegon a little after noon. We registered, dumped our holding tank, and backed into the same site we had a couple of weeks ago. As soon as we had water and electric hooked up and the inside of the bus arranged a little bit, we drove over to visit with Rocky and Berni Frees.

We always have a good time with these two characters, and this was no exception. We went out to dinner, and then returned to their apartment to play Mexican Train, our favorite domino game. In addition to their cat, they were babysitting a friend’s Chihuahua, and it was fun watching the two critters playing and chasing each other through the apartment. 

Saturday morning, while Terry and Berni had a girls’ day out, Rocky and I drove to nearby Grand Rapids for a gun show. Folks, I’m telling you, if you had invested your money in firearms instead of giving it to some stockbroker, you’d all be a whole lot better off today! I had quite a large gun collection before we hit the road ten years ago, and looking at how much the same guns I sold back then are going for now really made me hurt. Most are selling for almost double what I sold mine for, and some for even more! Try getting an 80 to 125% return on your investments anywhere else! Plus, playing with guns is a lot more fun than playing with stock certificates!

Of course, you do have to know how to buy them right if you hope to ever sell them for a profit someday. I’m not sure my pal Rocky really understands that concept.

Rocky was looking for a cheap beater shotgun to keep at the place where he parks his motorhome at a cousin’s place in the woods. He found one on a table at the gun show that had a price tag of $100 on it. “Do you think I should buy it?” he asked me.

I told him yes, but to see if he could get a better deal. Rocky asked me what he should pay for it, and I told him to offer the seller $75 or $80 and see what he said. I couldn’t believe my ears when Rocky said to the guy, “Would you take $75 or $80 for it?”

The guy looked at him a second and said “I’ll take the $80.”

We had a good laugh about that when we got in the car, and I had to explain to Rocky that given the option of two prices, you can just about bet that every seller in the world is going to take the higher of the two! If you’re shopping for a new RV or tow vehicle, I wouldn’t advise taking Rocky along to help you negotiate!

Thought For The Day – If you’re born again, do you have two belly buttons?

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