Our quest for seats

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

Today we went to the junkyard (I mean salvage yard). I forgot my camera. Actually, I didn't forget, I never even thought of it until we were on our way home. I was really upset because I want you to all be involved in this whole process as much as we are.

This was the third time I had been INTO any salvage yard. I've been TO them lots, but not often IN them. The first time was in 1989 when Matt took me to see his car, his first baby, his first love. Or maybe it was his second. What I'm saying is Matt + cars = tru love 4 ever. I knew this when I met him. In High School I used to sit in his parents garage with him as he worked on his car or his snowmoblie. He'd take me out on dates too, but if it meant spending time with him, I was THERE. It didn't matter that it was too cold or too hot, or if my hair was going to get frizzy...this was true love.

Anyway, 1989, he took me to see his car that was totaled by a drunk driver in a crash 2 years earlier. He happened upon it by accident. I wanted to see it, to get my things out of the glove compartment, to remember to not ever take him for granted again. You can do that at the salvage yard you know. It wasn't pretty. I did get my sparkly heart keychain back though.

The second time was not as memorable. Many years and a couple of kids later. It was cold. There was snow. I had to wear a hat, causing my hair get messy. It was for parts for "Her", the "other woman" who lived in our garage. The one who would steal my husband away from me on weekends. I guess it was memorable.

This time was different. There were no ghosts. This was for our project. Our mission was to find seats for our Errabundus Bus. More specifically, captains chairs, in great shape, from a Chevy Astro van. He and our oldest son had been there the earlier to nab two, but there was one more to be taken. Also, during the earlier visit he had come upon a Volkswagon camper-van that had a cook-top/fridge unit he wanted to check out. We decided against the kitchen setup and headed over to the van and successfully removed the seat.

We were also on the hunt for a front seat for us. Preferably a 60/40 split no more than 4 feet long with a "console" armrest and possibly an extra seat belt. No luck there but we did find an old conversion van with three swivel seats. Our plan is to have the middle 3 captains chairs swivel (only when parked) to face the back row and in between them have some sort of removable table thereby combining our travel seating with our indoor dining room. Matt had never had any reason to research these before this project so he was curious as to how the swivel mechanism worked. Upon examination, he concluded that he didn't have the right tools to remove them. I innocently suggested he ask the guys in the office if he could borrow something, it was getting dark and we had traveled 30+ miles...blah blah blah. You know, female reasoning. After a few tense moments he explained to me quite seriously that it would be a major faux pas to borrow tools. "But, what if they crush the van before we're able to get back?" I said sort of desperately, thinking more of me than salvage yard etiquette. He laid on the ground and shoved his arms under the wheel-less van to try with the tools he did have. He really loves me. It couldn't be done. I closed all the doors of the van to try to conceal our prize find. You can do that at the salvage yard you know. We made our way out of the bone-yard to pay for our seat.

I'm not going to tell you where we were because Matt can't get back there for a week or so and I don't want anyone to snag them up before we can get them! Cuz I know you're all looking for swivel mechanisms. They'll be $10 a piece if he removes them himself. What a deal! I must say, I can't believe I let him go alone all these years. I don't ever want to be left home during a junk run again. It was almost as fun as the used book sale at the library!