Fun filled day of driving

 Today was my off day with nobody in the house besides myself, and I did a lot of driving for me. Karen works out in Port Orange, which is a good 30-45 minutes from our house in DeLand, depending on traffic. I had it all planned out to go to Karen's work and visit her around lunchtime, drive 15 minutes to Daytona to meet with a Robert, a guy I've swapped card boxes with before, drive 15 minutes to Ormond Beach to KnT Sportscards, and then make the 45 minute trip home. It all worked out, but not without some kinks in the process. 

I met up with Karen and had some hot dogs at her work, as they were celebrating the upcoming holiday. She kind of kicked me out around 1 so she could get some work done. At this point, I didn't have the address of where I was meeting Robert. I met Robert on a FB junk wax group. He lives in Daytona, and I met up with him previously, and I swapped about 7 random sized boxes of doubles for about a monster box full of cards he had. This time, I was supposed to meet him at his work, but we had been FB messaging, and I didn't have the address yet. I had a plan. I drove to the Wal-Mart near Karen's work, got on their wifi, and sent Robert a message that I had the 2 boxes of doubles and asked where we were going to meet. Problem was that the message wasn't sending. I considered going straight to KnT's when Karen texted wanting to know how far away I was. An employee of hers had her sons baseball stuff in her car and forgot to leave it at home in DeLand, and Karen was wondering if I could go back and drop it off. I was planning on staying at KnT's for a few hours, so I asked when the stuff needed to be back in DeLand. She said 6, so I came back, got the baseball gear, was able to send Robert a message on the wifi at Karen's work, and was back on the road to Daytona. 

I got to Robert's work, a nice mini golf place in Daytona Beach called Congo River. If it wasn't 97 degrees out, I would've stayed and played a few holes. The course has many holes where you can hit the ball in the water or a hazard, but it will direct it to the hole. I met Robert, and loaded my 2 boxes into his trunk, which had a few 1,000 count boxes already in it. I figured those were for me, but he put the trunk down and said 'Well, I got to be going back to work'. I didn't know what to think. He seemed a little odd when I messaged him the first time we traded boxes, but I figured he collects cards. All people that collect cards are a little off'. Some things just didn't add up. I don't know if he's selling them, adding them to his collection, donating some to foster kids (which he told me the first time we met), or a little bit of everything, but I kind of feel like I got screwed today. It was just 2 boxes of doubles, but I asked him yesterday if he had anything for me, and he said yes. I got a 2005 Bowman Verlander rookie from the box he swapped me the first time, so it wasn't a box of junk, but I just don't know if I'm going to trade with him again. He seems like he just takes and takes and takes, and I'm either going to not trade with him or be very cautious. 

On the drive to KnT's, I could look out to the right and practically see the beach. It was almost a shame that I was that close to it, but I didn't have a swimsuit, it was mid '90's outside with a heat index over 100, so maybe I'll have to go another time. I'm sure Kyler would love it. 

I made it to KnT's maybe 2ish, and got to work on the dime boxes. Let me tell you, there were a ton of non-baseball cards mixed in, but they had some good stuff. 

Not many Topps cards for my set quests, but I found a few, and at 10 cents each, I'm happy to pay that. If only the '80's Topps cards at my DeLand LCS were that price. A Javy Lopez rookie was in there. That was a big card in the late '90's. I found a Jose Caballero Chrome rookie, which I hope to get signed at the Rays game on June 13. Don't know how the '24 Bowman Paul Skenes got in the dime box, but I grabbed it. Figured it might be 50 cents, but TCDB say it's a 5 dollar card. Dang. 

While I didn't add many Topps set cards to my inventory, the favorite players, Tigers, and Rays abounded. I found a few cards of DeLand native Nick Fortes for a buck, as I searched the dollar team bins later. I found a 2020 Heritage Minors and 2021 Opening Day Casey Mize card. I thought something looked off with the Opening Day card, and it turns out not only was it an SP, but so was the Heritage. There were a ton of Bowman and Bowman Draft cards, so I picked up some of Tigers I haven't really heard of. 

There was a 2020 Topps Chrome Update Randy Arozarena in the dollar box. A Randy rookie??!!!  For a dollar?!!!  Hell yeah!!!!!  I believe that completed the 2020 Topps Chrome Update Rays team set. the Xavier Edwards Heritage was also an SP. I'm stoked about the 2022 Bowman Chrome Black Wave refractor. Yeah, I know I got 2 Wander Franco's. The Black Gold card looked cool, and I had been wanting to pull the Chrome card since it came out. And all you Dodger fans still get Urias and Bauer cards. Heck, any Yankee collector would be hard pressed not to get a Domingo German, Chuck Knoblauch, Chad Curtis, Mel Hall, John Wetteland, Steve Howe, Luis Polonia, or Jim Leyritz card in a trade. Should Wander get convicted, well, I might accept cards in trades, but not seek them out. The Shane Baz 2022 LogoFractor is my first one. For a buck!!!  The 2023 Bowman Aranda Fuschia card was a buck. 

More Bowman rookies, as well as some 2023 Elite Extra Edition cards. There were 2023 Topps Chrome Blue, Green Sonar, regular, and Sepia refractors in the dollar box, and you can see what I found. I'm going to have stuff for these guys to sign that is just going to be dripping in refractor technology. 

I picked up the Randy 2024 Topps just because it's such a cool pose. I know I'll get the complete set in a month or 2, but maybe I can give it to a kid at the game or something. The League Leader cards can always find a home with another team, and I've wanted the Diaz AVG leaders card since he won the first Rays batting title on the last day of the season. I picked up a rainbow version of the Randy card, and if not for some sweet rookies of his, I think I would get that one signed at the game. I picked up the Ramirez Heritage, thinking it would just be a good card to get signed, no foil or anything, then when I looked at the back when I got home, it was an SP. In a 10 cent bin. I just can't believe some of the deals I got!  Getting to basically complete a Randy Arozarena rookie collection with an Update Chrome card for a buck, getting a logofractor and a black wave refractor for another 2 bucks, and pulling a few SPs and some Topps set needs for 10 cents just made my day. 

I left KnT's around 5, and dropped of the baseball gear around 5:35, and was home a little before 6. I have a splitting headache from mowing the lawn yesterday afternoon and from driving in the hot sun, but man, that trip to KnT's and getting to sort the cards when I got home almost made it go away. Thanks to John from Johnny's Trading Spot for letting me know about the shop. I'll have to go out there another time and find some more deals. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy