A Different Kind of Tiki Road Trip

along with Tiki Central, I belong to another list that is about thrift shopping. Earlier today, the following story appeared from a friend named Frank, and I received permission from him to repost it here ...

Vern

" we were zooming along this lonely winding two-lane road in the hills in the south-east of reno, and suddenly as we went around one curve we saw, in the opposite lane, a scattering of a bunch of debris, like an accident had happened. we quickly realized that it wasn't an accident, though, more like careless packing: someone must have been moving and didn't secure their stuff down tightly, and as they went around this curve (and the next three, too, we found), they lost boxes of stuff which hit the pavement and burst open, scattering their contents. lamps, shelving units, clothes, all manner of brick-a-brack just scattered all over the highway, and nobody but us around. my guess is that they didn't even realize they had lost stuff until they got to wherever they were going.

as we sped past the second curve, my thrifting eyes were automatically working, scanning debris, and suddenly i cried, "TIKI MUGS!" and craig (used to this sort of thing by now) quickly pulled over, and i ran back to make sure i saw what i thought i saw. sure enough, lying in the middle of the lane among the shattered remains of his brethren, i found a classic "trader dick's" mug -- the kind with the green rhinestones for eyes. how he survived the fall i'll never know, but he's one lucky tiki. he's here now, waiting to be cleaned up and put on the shelf.

i got back in the car and craig said, "only YOU could find a way to thrift in the middle of a highway."

To think... I spent a full day going thru 8 antique and thrift stores in Nebraska last weekend, and all I would have had to do was stand near the interstate and I would have found one??!!