Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Starting the year off right

This season's La Niña is proving to be quite the little minx. The daytime highs were in the 60's for two straight weeks to close out the year, culminating in a wonderful, albeit very windy, 72° day this past Saturday. Fast forward about 30 hours, and it started doing this:

It's only a couple of inches, but still, it was just 72 DEGREES like a day earlier! As of Monday morning, when I took this photo, we were sitting at a much less comfortable 25º, with a real feel of 14º. This dramatic change in temperatures brought all of the usual goodies with it, high winds, torrential downpours, tornado watch's, and minor flooding. As sucky as those things are, I'd still take them over snow. In case I haven't mentioned it enough times in past years, I really hate snow! And if this isn't bad enough, we're supposed to get more later in the week, huzzah!

Thankfully for you, this post isn't about Miss Niña, or the kooky weather that she's bring here to middle Tennessee. No, it's just another "Check out this crap I bought in Knoxville" post. I do have a few traveling pics to sprinkle in this time though, so hopefully that'll spice things up a bit.

I guess it was about two weeks ago now that I made my monthly trip to Knoxville. As per usual, McKay's was the primary reason for going, but I also planned ahead of time to go to Bargain Hunters  again too. 

As one might expect, heading towards a decent sized city two weeks before Christmas, much traffic, and many crowds were encountered throughout the day. I survived though. No Rona either. 

Since McKay's is the closer of the two places, and is the one that would see the most people as the day went on, I stopped there first...


Anthologies of this sort are usually very hit-or-miss for me. Given the lineup for this one though, I'm pretty confident that it'll be a hit. And I don't usually judge a book by it's cover, but do give this one a few extra points for it's rendering of American Gothic.


Not much to say about this one. It's the second book in this trilogy, which I should've already gotten at some point in the almost two decades since it came out, but I didn't, so I'm buying it now.

And that was it for books this time, more on that in a second though, first...


When it comes to CD's, compilations are pretty much my bread and butter these days. It's getting harder to find ones that contain enough tracks that I don't already have on other albums to justify the price. This one had 11 songs that I don't already own for $1.95. That's not too bad. Even if I knew how to download songs, I don't think that I could 11 of them for $1.95. I always enjoy seeing old price stickers from other places too. Judging by the "Firm" being added to this sticker, I'm guessing that this particular album spent some time in an antique mall at some point in it's past. I'm gonna go out on a limb too and say that this didn't ever sell for $7.98, and that the person brought this one, and probably some other overpriced CD's, to McKay's to get what they could from it/them.


Here was 15 that I didn't have for $1.95. Even better! Both of these CD's had just recently been marked down from $3.95. I don't think that there'd be a big demand for either of them at this point, but still feel like I was there at just the right time to get them.

And that was this times McKay's haul. Four whole items. On any other day, I would've been a bit annoyed over going all that way and only getting four things, but I still had one more stop to make, so there was still hope that the trip could be salvaged.

I never expect anyone to remember posts that have appeared on this blog, or at least not any that are more than a couple of days old, so even though I did cover my first trip to Bargain Hunters on here, it was over two years ago, and I'd be kidding myself to think that anyone remembers it. With that in mind, Bargain Hunters bills itself as a flea market/antique mall, and is located about 15 minutes from the McKay's. It's in a fairly large building, and if I had to guess, houses a couple hundred booths/stalls.

When traveling to Bargain Hunters via McKay's, you have to skirt along the edge of downtown Knoxville, and even though I don't like being in any cities downtown, this particular trek affords one of my favorite Tennessee sights:

I'm sure that to most people living or working in the area, the Sunsphere is old hat, but to this particular blogger who's only now seen it in person twice, it's still pretty awesome. And for someone who doesn't travel, I think it's kind of neat to be able to say that I've seen two World's Fair structures in person. Seeing this one again, reminds me though of how unimpressed I was by the Space Needle as a kid. Of course, other than Key Arena, I was never very impressed anything Seattle. The best part about going to the Space Needle was the keychain, which has long since disappeared, that I got. It was of the Space Needle, and was one of those deals where it's filled with some kind of liquid, probably baby oil, and depending on which way you turn it, the elevator goes up or down. I'd like to go to the top of the Sunsphere one of these days, I think they let people do that, but I'll have to look into that some more.


Having not been to Bargain Hunters since the Rona got going, I didn't really know what to expect. Obviously much has changed (none of it for the better), and with a place like this, I expected some of those changes to be reflected in the prices. I'm happy to report that there's still a shit-ton of stuff to be found there, no empty booths that I saw, but it did seem like a lot of the prices had escalated since I was last there. Apparently some folks are the under the impression that every single item that falls into the "vintage" or "antique" categories have become hot again, and therefor must be priced as such. It's funny, sort of, but in recent years I find myself walking around places like this, and mentally picking out items that will never sell, no matter the price. There's no shortage of things that people once collected that have since fallen out of fashion, things that will never be in vogue again, and are almost certainly destined for a landfill somewhere down the line. Until then though, you'll continue to see people pricing these things like they're still in their heyday of collectability. It's at both times kind of funny and depressing, with a touch of sad mixed in for good measure.

I remembered there being multiple sellers with booths made up of nothing but books, but didn't remember that most of these booths have their books priced at "collector" prices. Some of these sellers have multiple booths linked together, and almost feel like a library as you're walking through them. It's kind of nice. I noticed plenty of books that I'd have wanted, but after picking up a few and checking their prices, I stopped pulling any more off of the shelves. I did however find one booth right before I was getting ready to leave that had it's books marked at "reader" prices (that's my price range). There were a lot of empty spots on the shelves, but I did find this nifty reference book. It has a few dust jacket issues, but after looking through it, and seeing how well it's contents were laid out, I figured it was worth the $2.50 price tag.

There are number of booths selling comic books, but only one that sells nothing but comic books. I remember this seller from last time I was there, but they switched booths, and added a lot more boxes of comics to their new booth. The majority of the booth is taken up by 30-40 $1 boxes, and then maybe another dozen "priced as marked" boxes. Everything is in alphabetical order, which is nice, but it was already getting late by the time I happened upon the booth, and I did not have time to go through a couple thousand books, so I just tried to hit some of the high points. I should've taken a picture of the booth for this post, but I'm thinking about going back later this month just to spend more time searching through the cheap boxes. If I do, I'll get a picture then. Anyway, I did find a few books, including this seasonal offering from The Punisher.

I should've probably taken these out of their old bags and scanned them, what with all of the glare and all, but I didn't. I think you'll live though. This is one of the series' that I've been meaning to go back and read for years, but always forget to look for it anytime I'm somewhere that has comics.

Here was the find of the day for me! This is one of the first comics that I ever remember getting, and reading. It's cover, which features Crossbones and Bullseye coming to blows over a prone Captain America, is basically THE cover that I associate with reading comics as a kid, and because of that association, is my favorite comic cover of all time. My childhood copy got damaged in a move about ten years ago (my fault for not having it in with the rest of my comics), and I've been trying to replace it off and on ever since. It's not a 'key issue', nor is it even that great of a story (it's part of a multiple book arc), so I never wanted to pay silly online prices for it. I have seen copies in person a few times over the years, but they're usually beat up and still overpriced. This copy is very clean, and was 75¢ more than my original copy, but I don't think I'm gonna find another one for a dollar anytime soon.

This stop at the Bargain Hunters really made up for a lackluster outing at McKay's, and the day wasn't even done yet, there were still two more sights to see...

One more shot of the Sunsphere on the way back, this time behind that cool looking church who's name I can't remember.

And here's something that you really don't see everyday.

I can't remember how far outside of Knoxville this was, but I caught up to this helicopter on a trailer on the way home -- and of course had to try and get some pictures of it.

Even if you don't care about helicopters, can we all just take a second and realize how great this photo was. I had been waiting for this guy to get out of the fast lane for about ten minutes, and when he finally did, I got me one hell of a picture as I was passing. Oh, and for those who might be wondering, my eyes were on the road. When I take pictures while driving, I just point the phone in the general direction of the thing I want to get a picture of, and try to take as many pictures as I can, all with both eyes focused on what's ahead of me. More often than not, I get blurry pictures of partial objects, which obviously aren't gonna be added to posts, but this time, I got a good one. This was by far the best picture that I took last year.

This was next shot taken during my set of bling clicking (the next one after this was just the front of the truck). I don't know anything about helicopters, but this photo captured a clear view of the model. A quick Google search on the R44 Raven II, tells me that what you're looking at here costs in the neighborhood of $200,000 to $400,000. That's an expensive toy. The trailer had a Texas plate, and the truck was headed in that direction, so it's entirely possible that whoever this was came east to pick up their new purchase, and were heading back home when I took these photos. If so, it's a good thing that they've got some money, because I would've hated to see what their gas bill was for that truck even to have come from Texas to Tennessee and back.

Between this trip and the weather, last year sure closed strong. The weather's a bit iffy so far this year, but at least I'm starting things off right on the blog, what with these being my favorite kind of posts to do and all.

24 comments:

  1. Happy New Year! I thought weather like that only happened here in Texas. It was in the 70s on Saturday morning, and in the 20s by Sunday morning.

    If you haven't read the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract before, you really should. I think it's the greatest baseball book of all-time.

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    1. Ditto! Now you know that you're not alone, John :)

      I haven't read it yet, but will be doing so soon.

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  2. Happy New Year, guess that weather happens everywhere. Fl/GA line below freezing 2 days running (it's should be done now for a couple of weeks). I hate ice more than snow, but not much more. We'll be in the 60's for a week or so, I'd rather have the 80's back.

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    1. 80's would be really nice right about now. Our weather seems to have gotten considerably colder, and keeps wanting to drop that white powdery stuff from the skies.

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  3. Happy New Year! Never seen a helicopter on the highway before!

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    1. Right back at you, AJ! Oh, and I guess now you have :)

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  4. Oh man, I'm not sure what I liked most on this post. Those CD's both look great, and I spotted a few songs off each I'd like to find including the Flying Burrito Brothers. However, the one that caught me off guard was The Gentrys. I've never seen a CD with any of their songs on it, thats a cool find. One of the members of The Gentrys was Jimmy Hart, the wrestling manager.

    I love these posts, so can't wait for your next trip and blog about them.

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    1. I remembered that Jimmy was in the music business prior to wrestling, but don't think I ever knew which band he was in. Thanks for dropping the knowledge bomb!

      Thank you, I know that they're not for everyone, but I really do like posting recaps like this.

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  5. That helicopter is an awesome find. Definitely not something you see every day. I would have bought the 1965 album too. I love the Time Life collections but they are expensive! I think the one I did get was something like $180 for 9 CDs. I don't regret it since it makes up the majority of my listening but it has kept me from buying any others, since now that I have one I'd be paying for a significant duplication of songs.
    Make sure to get a souvenir wig at the Sunsphere!

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    1. I'm glad that a few other people thought so too. That certainly was a chunk of change to drop on that collection, but I have no doubt that it was worth it. Given the amount too, I'm guessing that you bought that quite a while ago, because even though they can still be expensive on the secondary market, I don't think that they go for quite that much anymore.

      And I will. If I'm lucky, they'll still have Millhouse's pick in stock :)

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  6. A. I went through a short phase where I'd buy random compilation cd's to broaden my musical horizon, because they'd be in the dollar bins at my local record store. These days... I'll just play one of the Spotify playlists.

    B. I really want to get back out to the flea market... and find some good dollar comic boxes. I never actually read the books that I buy... but enjoy the cover art like that Captain America issue.

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    1. I'd probably be better off by using something like the Spotify, but for better or worse, I'm physical media kind of person, and likely always will be.

      And I wish that I could find some 25¢ or 50¢ boxes, but I'm pretty sure that those days aren't going to be coming back anytime soon, if ever.

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  7. Only World's Fair site I've been to is Shea Stadium, and driving past the other '64 remnants like the Unisphere.

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    1. I had no idea that Shea Stadium was a World's Fair thing?!?!

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  8. 1. My kids LOVE the Sunsphere. When we drive to visit family members in Missouri, we always pass through Knoxville and it's a time marker for them. It's roughly 5 hours from Raleigh, only 8 more hours to St. Louis. One of these times we need to actually stop and go see it.

    2. Any album with the Kinks and Van Morrison is worthy of your time and money.

    3. I love old baseball books. I have all of the old Baseball America prospect guides that are so much fun to flip through and look at. My son was besmirching the name of Pedro Alvarez a few weeks ago while we were looking through a stack of cards. I had to break out the 2009 guide to show him that he was a Top 10 prospect at one point.

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    1. Geez, that is a long drive! Your kids at whatever ages they are, are already a better human than I for being able to endure such a trip.

      Agreed!

      I've had pretty good luck in finding them as of late. I'm hoping that some of the knowledge obtained from them will carry over to the blog at some point, but it hasn't happened as of yet. That's really great that you get to have those kind of moments with your son too. He'll probably end up remembering a lot of them for a lot longer than you'd think.

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  9. Love that sprinkling of Motown mixed in with other classics on the 1965 CD. Love the helicopter pictures, too.

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    1. You can't have an album that's showcasing mid to late 60's music without some Motown on it, that'd be un-American!

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  10. Helicopter on a trailer? Wow! Nice job snapping those pictures while driving. I like the description of your technique lol.

    And that's quite a mix of song styles on the "Beat Goes On" CD. I think that was my favorite item of the bunch.

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    1. I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to top the main pic for awhile. As I said, most of my driving pictures do not turn out well, but if only one set had to come out good, I'm thankful that it was this one.

      The 60's were a very good decade for music!

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  11. Its great you found that Captain America that you remember from childhood. I have a few Marvel Comics from the 80s that I feel a similar attachment to - not particularly valuable or important issues but they are to me since I remember buying them in the store when I was about 10 or 11 years old!

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    1. Yeah, I know that this wasn't even close to the first comics that I owned, but might be the first that I can still remember. I didn't know that you were a comics guy too... neat!

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