Goodwill leads to Salvation

Some may wonder quietly, while others probably wonder out loud about why we are still sitting in the RV ghetto at the Kalispell Super Walmart, and I would guess I might have to place myself in the first category.  Tuesday marked our 4th day at this location.  The answer is mostly simple......as you know, we had some water damage due to the severe storm in East Glacier when during a particularly long, heavy down pour, water got into the kitchen area under the sink cabinets.  By the time we discovered it, the water had migrated underneath our Pergo Interlocking wood floor in the kitchen area, and had soaked a few of the planks to the point they began to warp.  Since our current location puts us within walking distance of Home Depot and Lowe's where we can acquire needed materials, and tools, we decided to take the floor apart here, dry things out, and see if we couldn't put it back together.

As you know I posted pictures of the 9 individual planks drying out in Monday's post.  First thing Tuesday I pulled them back out of the trailer and put them in sun all day to continue drying out, along with the pad.  While they baked in the sun, we took a ride down south of US-93 to the Salvation Army Mega Store.....yes it is called a MEGA store, and it is MEGA.  Probably the most complete thrift store we have ever visited......both square footage wise, and inventory wise.  Their men's section alone was the biggest I have ever seen, and they had a massive sports section with 3 of every home exercise device you have ever seen, as well as skis, ski boots, ice skates, roller blades, golf equipment, skin diving equipment, etc.  This store makes the very nice Goodwill store we visited a few days ago pale in comparison.  Of course we dropped off a donation of the clothes I had culled out the other day.

TLE had a field day finding several pairs of jeans for our sugar beet harvest adventure which comes up in about 6 weeks, and I found another Caribbean Joe shirt for $4, plus another long sleeve t-shirt.   All together with my two shirts, and TLE's 3 pairs of jeans, and two belts we spent $22.  From there we drove a couple of miles back to US-2 and turned right to visit the Kalispell Thrift Shop.  It is pretty large, but not as big as the Salvation Army store.  Ironically we found a pair of men's and women's Keen hiking shoes....$3 for the man's pair, and $4 for the woman's pair.  TLE's pair look pretty new.....mine a little older, but in just as good as shape as my other two current pair.  Keen's run in excess of $100 a pair....some up to $129.  Frankly our junking expeditions here in Kalispell have reaped huge rewards, and freshened up our wardrobes a little.  So for under $47 on our visits to three thrift stores we have scored big time.....another great reason to have spent 4 days here in the RV ghetto.

After our shopping foray's we ran the T-Bird through a mostly full service car wash.....one of the rare ones we have found in a long time......I say mostly full service as we had to do our own vacuuming, but the car wash only cost $12 for the "WORKS".  They even give you a damp cloth and a bottle of glass cleaner to wipe down the dashboard, and the inside of the windshield while you are going through the car wash.

My pair of Keen's needed new shoe laces so we stopped in at the Sportsman and Ski Haus located here in the mall to get the new laces.  Then over to Lowe's to get some wood screws I will need to re-install the flooring, and trim.

While TLE read I worked on cleaning up some of the planks that had a little grime on them, and applied some wood glue to the ends of two of the pieces that were delaminating a little.  Then I took the planks that had minor, or no damage and began snapping them back into place, and they went in quite easily.  There are two left that the glue is still drying on, and they will be re-installed Wednesday with the trim......so far everything is coming out way better than I expected.

The late afternoon temperatures got up to 82, the warmest day we have had in some time, but it is soooo dry right now that it does not feel that warm.

Around 6:15 we walked over to the Cinemark Theater to see Reds 2 with Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, and Anthony Hopkins.  IMDB gives it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.....I would put it closer to 3.......a little corny, but fun nevertheless.

When we exited around 9 pm we caught the end of a beautiful sunset......then it was off to watch this week's installment of "So You Think You Can Dance".

Tuesday was a great day, with a lot of necessary things accomplished, and we are almost ready to roll once again.....but what direction we do not know.  Right now it is heating up to the south of us, so I don't think we are inclined to go too much further south.

Thanks for stopping by!