I've been looking for new thrift stores to check out, and I recently came across the names of three located on Lapalco Drive (across the Mississippi river in Marrero, Louisiana) during an online search. So, today at work I had to drive over an hour away to a town called Thibodaux, and while desperately trying to drive and read the confusing Mapquest directions, what do I happen to see? A street sign for Lapalco Drive. Yeah, you know what I did.
Hey, at least I waited till the trip back. I'm unfamiliar with this area, so I just drove down Lapalco till I came upon the first thrift store I saw: the 2nd location of Red White & Blue! And what's this? Why, right next door is another Bud's Broiler! No Ms. Pac-Man in this one, but they made up for it by having Bust-A-Move. First things first, though. Treasure awaits.
This Red White & Blue is almost exactly the same as the one I usually haunt in New Orleans. The only difference is that this one has a shitty record selection. Maybe I just came on a bad day. They did have a few videogame systems in stock, though: a Sega Saturn and two Sega Genesis consoles - one original design, one newer version. I decided to just snag one of the Saturn joypads (for a dollar) because it's a different model than the ones I already have. Hi, I'm a geek. Though I'll never use it, I picked up a sealed copy of the Dreamcast Web Browser v2.0 for $1.95 as well.
Crawling through the tightly-packed and nicely-stacked board game section, I came upon a box with a cover too goofy and a tagline too intriguingly retarded to pass up: Insite! Is it a game... or the future? It's actually some sort of Tarot-like deal that comes with a deck of regular playing cards, a board to flip the cards on, and an 85-page interpretation book to help you discern your future. I personally learned that my future involved putting this box on a shelf and never touching it again. Insite was $1.95 and sadly, there was no crystal head included.
Realizing that I had to get back to work soon, I made a quick scan of the toys. For 75 cents, I came away with a broken wind-up robot (with no identifying marks) and two Home Depot Men action figures:
These things resemble and are made almost exactly like G.I. Joes, only they have Home Depot logos emblazoned across their chests. I've named them Hank and Marv. Marv is the giver.
All in all, a decent trip and a good way to kill a few hours at work. I plan to venture back over the bridge this weekend to find other strange, new thrift stores. It's gonna be a harrowing journey into the heart of the "West Bank", but I shall remain strong.
If I'm not back in three days, donate all my shit to Goodwill.
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© 2005 seawall
