Tale of Adventure

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Brad and I had an adventure! I have been talking a bit (especially in letters) about going to the flea market in Rogers, Ohio. Well, yesterday was the day!

Now, there is need for a bit of backstory here. Brad works 3rd shift for a database company. Which means his work shift starts at 8pm and runs until 4am. Now...we left the apartment at 6:45...so needless to say he stayed up just to take me to the flea market. =)

The drive to Rogers was very uneventful. The air was muggy but cooler and there was a decent amount of fog all around. But soon the sun came up and burned away all of the lingering fog and started to heat things up. We arrived in Rogers around 8am to find that everyone was still setting up. Like I said, this wouldn't have been a huge issue other than Brad hadn't been to sleep at all. Our initial plan was to get there early (with the professionals), stay a few hours, and leave before the afternoon sun was upon us. Little did we know that things get a slow start at Rogers (much differently than Hartville).

So after walking for about 15-20 mins we decided to head back to the car so I could have a turkey sandwich. We packed a lunch and even though it was around 8:30am I was starving. (I had chosen not to eat a bagel before we left...silly me.) After that we grabbed our Gatorade and headed out to search for deals.

And we found some!! Brad collects lapel pins and so he found some really neat Coca-Cola pins from the 1992 Olympic games. He also found a few Penguins pins that he didn't have.

Walking down the one side of the grounds we found a table that was in the prime location....in the shade! Walking past the table I could see a bin of rubber stamps that was marked 3/$1 but there were a few ladies already looking at it. So we continued on and I told Brad that we would look on the way back down. Well..as we came back down the ladies were still looking, but as I stood there I spotted something I simply could not pass on.

How cute are these two?? They were marked $6 a piece, and I really only wanted the Mr. Don't ask me why, but I don't find the lady to be as cute. So I told the lady behind the table that I would take him. She asked if I wanted both and I said that I liked him better. So..then she made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Both for the low low price of $6!!! Well, I couldn't pull the money out of my pocket fast enough. I had to agree not to separate them, but looking at them now I have decided that they were meant for each other.

And of course while I was there I decided to look at the stamps. The lady and I got to talking and she told me that the bears were made in 1985. (which means these bears are as old as I am!) After, '85 the USPS changed uniforms. She also told me that she was a letter carrier for 30 years. How cool is that. After telling her that I love letter writing she helped me find some of her stamps that were letter themed.

After that I lugged my bears around with us for a little while until I finally gave in to Brad's suggestion that we take then to the car. I agreed for multiple reasons. The first being that I was tired of carrying them. The second was because the sky was looking a bit dark. So after dropping off the bears we made our way around again. While walking I told Brad that I should have looked in one of the bins that lady had. I saw envelopes and I should have looked. So just before we were heading to leave we walked back across the place to look in this bin. And boy was I happy we did!!

I get these envelopes all the time with the special postmarks I request on postcards. But now I will be able to send some to people. These were a bargain at $2 for all of them. =)

Then I found these international stamps for $3. I wasn't going to take them, but Brad talked me into it. He said I would regret it if I didn't buy them. (Don't tell him...but he is probably right).

But my favorite (second trip to that table) finds are these!!

That my friends is unused postage!! All of those beauties cost me $8. The total cost of the stamps face value...$22. I actually made money on that buy! And the best part...

There were two packages! I didn't add up the face value in these stamps, but I can guess that there is more than $8. So again I made a profit.

There were a couple other things I haven't posted pics of yet. One is because I just remembered it and didn't want to stop to take another picture. But it is a pen I found. The other is something I have blogged about before, but I don't want to ruin the surprise..because one lucky person who follows this blog liked the item...and I found her one of her own yesterday for a dollar!

Overall, this trip was well worth it in my opinion. Where will we adventure to next time? As Brad would say, hopefully somewhere that doesn't require being up early. =)