Yes, acquiring our latest e-bay deal played out almost like an old spy novel.

It started with Tyler finding a fantastic deal on a Thermador double oven for our kitchen - we're no where near needing it, but we like to plan ahead... way ahead! According to Kitchen Direct the oven retails new for $4,200. In the past Tyler had been able to find some used ovens on eBay for $1,500 to $3,000. But, this one he was able to win for a mere $500. The only catch? We had to drive to Rockford, Illinois to pick it up.

With the "truck-a-saurus" and a day of good weather, we figured that driving the 3 hours to Rockford wouldn't be that big of a deal. And, the savings more than made the effort worth while. But first, we must pay for the oven... and the intrigue begins to unfold...

After the auction ended, Tyler promptly sent the seller an e-mail asking him if we could pick up the oven the coming Saturday and pay in cash. We anxiously awaited confirmation from the seller. But, Saturday came and went with no word. Considering how fantastic of a deal the oven seemed to be, we were worried that this was some sort of scam. And, with no word from the seller once we offered to pay cash upon pickup, we started to believe that it was a scam.

But then, Tyler received an e-mail from eBay asking us why the seller was claiming we were denying him payment. Very confused, we replied back and said that we offered to pay in cash. I'm assuming at this point that eBay contacted the seller and told him that he had to arrange for pickup and payment with us because we received an e-mail from him soon after this.

Eventually, Tyler was able to give the seller a call. He sounded like a very old gentleman and we then assumed he just wasn't very computer savy. He explained to us that he'd like to receive payment before we pick up the oven because he was going to be out of town and his wife was nervous about meeting us and handling the cash. Just wanting to be able to pick up the oven, we agreed to pay for it with our PayPal accout. Now, you're probably thinking we're pretty dumb for sending such a suspicious guy money. But, PayPal has buyer protection which meant that if he flaked on the deal we could get our money back.

Once the seller received payment, he told us to go to Rockford. Once we got within an hour of Rockford, we were to call for further instructions. Without an address we were unable to generate a Google map with directions as to the best route to take to Rockford. Therefore, we ended up traveling through the hills and valleys of the Mississippi river valley near Galena. In a normal car, this would have been a very enjoyable and scenic journey. In the constantly moaning and groaning truck-a-saurus, it turned into more of a "will my transmission survive?" and "are we still in the double digits for fuel economy?" type journey.

At the edge of Rockford, we called and asked for further directions. We reached the seller's wife and asked if we should take Business 20 or South 20 into Rockford. She said, "Stay on 20 till you get to Alpine and then take a Right and head North till you reach 140 Alpine." Sounds simple enough till you realize that Iowa is West of Illinois which meant that to turn North we'd have to turn left versus right. Oh well, let the journey continue...

Just like the beginning of our journey, the remainder of our route took us through the scenic parts of Rockford. And, by scenic I mean the only things to look at were the buildings because everything was boarded up or barred up and people were afraid to walk about. Thank goodness for auto-locks, that's all I've got to say about Rockford.

When we finally reached the intersection of Alpine and 20, we debated whether to "head North" or "turn Right" since it was impossible to comply with both directions. We opted for North thinking, "how could anyone screw up North. It's North!" Wrong choice. With the city limits of Rockford rapidly approaching and no sign of the mall at which we were to meet, Tyler and I figured we'd made the wrong choice.

So, we turned around and headed South. After once again reaching the conclusion that we'd gone too far. I called up the seller's wife to get clarifications on her directions. She told us that we were just South of the mall. After much confusion, we finally reached the mall. And, amazingly the nervous seller had left their teenage son to meet us alone at the mall. With his help, we got the oven loaded up in the truck.

Since Tyler's parents had lived in the Rockford area before, we called them and asked if there was a less "scenic" way back to Cedar Rapids. Tyler's dad gave us about 6 different highways to take back. One of these took us over the Sabula bridge. Originally, built in 1932! The Sabula bridge is a truss bridge about 500 feet long, only a mere 20 feet wide with a metal mesh surface that allows you to enjoy the river below. Yah, not scary at all to take "truck-a-saurus" over that little gem.

Please note how the motorcycle only has a couple feet to either side. Now picture the backend of a 1-ton dually.

Once we reached the other side of the bridge, Tyler and I both took a deep breath which was followed by a sudden gasp when we saw what they meant by "causeway." Causeway - narrow ass road with no shoulder and at least a 15 foot drop into waters of the Mississippi on both sides. Don't believe me? Take a look at these...

Yup, that little strip of land IS the causeway. The sight of a steep hill looming ahead of us was actually a welcome sight after making it over the Sabula bridge and causeway.

The adventure didn't end when we got home either because now we had to find a way to unload our very heavy (366 lbs) oven. Tyler decided that with the help of his friend, Dave. We could lift and carry the oven. Problem 1, my wrist doesn't hold very much weight at the angle necessary to carry the oven. Problem 2, because of my wrist Tyler and Dave would need to cary most of the weight. Problem 3, the door to the machine shed wasn't wide enough for the stove and two handlers - one on either side. As we struggled to find a way to unload the oven, I realized that the oven was resting on the 8' pallet I normally keep in my truck bed because of the gooseneck trailer ball and Denny had a forklift attachment for his Bobcat. I asked Tyler if he wanted me to go and get the Bobcat. He said that he and Dave would be just fine and that we wouldn't need it. After trying to unload the oven, I asked again and both Tyler and Dave said, "if you want to see..." Long story short, we unloaded the oven with Denny's bobcat and I managed to unload the pallet without putting it through the back window of my truck!

The oven is now safely resting in our machine shed awaiting the glorious day when it can take up it's permanent residence in our newly finished kitchen.