Back in early May my mother in law and sister in law were in Minnesota visiting my wife's grandparents. So on a Sunday afternoon, just for kicks, I did a FB Marketplace search for grills in Windom, MN. I didn't change the search radius, which I always have at 100 miles...anyway, in Storm Lake, Iowa this popped up, just three hours earlier, but 94 miles from Windom.
I immediately texted my sister in law who I knew had an SUV and was driving back to Missouri that day. She texted back that she was already in Hannibal, MO...so on to plan B. I shared a classroom last year with my friend and colleague Ben, who is from Iowa. I asked if he had any family or friends near Storm Lake (Northwest Iowa). He said no. Then I asked if he knew if any of our other co-workers were from Iowa. He tossed out a few names, and then said...and that new guy who asked about car covers the other day...
I contacted my other coworkers...all from the Quad Cities area...but the new guy...
Christian was a student teacher who had just completed his student teaching with us, and had accepted a position to teach at my school next year. He had my daughter in his eighth grade science class. I had talked with him at lunch one day...So after a bit of Facebook stalking, I saw he was from Galva, Iowa, about 20 miles from Storm Lake...Friend request sent! He accepted my friendship and I immediately sent him this message:
Christian...I sent you an email on the school email account...if you haven't checked it, I'm copying it here!
Hello Christian,
I'm Jason Crowder, a high school teacher...I've seen you on occasion during M3 prep period, and you have my daughter (Katie) in one of your classes. So, I collect Weber kettle grills. I have a huge collection, and I came across one of the few rare grills I don't have today in Storm Lake, Iowa...so, I texted Ben Phelps, a high school teacher who I knew was from Iowa, and he said he didn't have any relatives in Iowa, but mentioned that you and Amy Fischer are also native Iowans...I then did a quick Facebook search on you (friend request sent!) and I saw you were from Galva, Iowa, which is about 20 miles away from Storm Lake. So, here's the HUGE, mildly ridiculous question...do you have any family or friends in or around Storm Lake who could pick up this exceedingly rare grill? I'm including the link here for reference...obviously I'd pay to have this picked up, and there would certainly be a steak dinner in it for you! If not, I completely understand!
Thanks,
Jason
I also sent a pic of my collection for reference. So, I waited, and about a half hour later he responded that this was awesome. Then it got better...He happened to be in Galva for the weekend. He was heading back to his college in Nebraska for graduation the next day. Then it got better. He had a minivan. He would contact the seller. About an hour later, he had it in the back of his van.
I was super amazed and grateful. Here's this young guy, who barely knows me, who drove to pick this up, after a very short intro to the hobby. Anyway, then it got better.
I told him I'd pay for shipping whenever he could find time, but then he responded he'd drop it off at my house over the summer when he was moving out to Vegas. I couldn't believe it. I told him to take his time as we would be gone most of the summer traveling. Sure enough, he dropped it off at our house June 5. However, we left Vegas on May 29 and just got back last night. So, after unpacking and starting to get our lives back together here, I spent about 20 minutes doing a very quick clean on the exterior of the grill (It's blazing hot here). It's not perfect! Some crazing on the bowl, it's missing one daisy wheel, and the other fell off when I picked it up, but that's to be expected in a 55 year old grill. As a bonus, she came with a corn n tater ring! Once it cools off here in the fall, I'm planning on doing a cleanup of the interior and maybe try to figure out how to get the daisy wheel back on. On to the pics!
Finally, to complete the story, my wife and I are having Christian and his new wife over for dinner on Monday...the man deserves a big ribeye steak.
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