One would think that Las Vegas, the fastest growing city in the country, would be a prime area to build an IKEA. Despite pleas from myself and countless others, IKEA still won’t come here, which means we must go to them. Covina, CA is the closest one – a mere 4 hour drive each way. Did I mention that the drive is through barren desert? There’s like, 2 towns the whole way down there until you get to civilization again on the other side of the San Bernadino National Forest. Ok, 3 towns if you count Baker. Still, that’s a long way to go without anything to look at.

It’s been about 2 years since my last IKEA trip, and since I just moved into a new place, I figured it was perfect timing. Besides, I’m just about out of salmon sauce. I’ve been doing my homework, doing my budget and checking out what’s available so I could go in with a plan of action.

Saturday morning I woke up early to get a head start on the ride. I like to get there, eat an early lunch, shop my brains out, and be back by dinnertime. I was on the road a little before 7am, before most of the traffic. I had my carefully selected music since I detest playing radio roulette, and I had plenty of water and some snacks for the drive. Everything was going along fine until about 30 minutes before Baker I saw a small something on the road. I was in the left lane, and with a big rig next to me, there was no chance of moving aside. The shoulder to my left was dangerous at best, since it was in a pass (a pass, for those who don’t know, is a winding road through a somewhat mountainous area that has little of anything else except danger). This small thing was gray, looked like metal, and was about the size and shape of a 2-liter soda bottle cut in half. I tried to avoid it, and I thought I had enough room to either straddle it or go around, but I was wrong. I hit it with my right front tire.

Luckily, I had both hands on the wheel and was in complete control of my vehicle the whole time. I got to the right, put my hazards on, and carefully went out to survey the damage. Oy Vey! Who knew a little thing like that could do so much damage to a measly tire? There were 4, count ‘em, 4 huge gashes in the sidewall of my tire. It was toast. Even if I carried Fix-a-Flat with me, it wouldn’t have helped. Good thing I know how to change a tire – almost. I secured my car, set the parking brake, put something behind the opposite tire to keep the car from rolling, and got out the gear. My idiot tire had air in it, so I got that out and jacked up my car. Those stupid things that come with the car are almost useless. You can’t get enough torque to do the job properly! But I managed, until it came time to take the tire off. Those stupid lug nuts were so tight, I could not get them off. I had just given up and was starting to walk to the call box to call for help (I don’t have AAA, and I’ll tell you why in a moment) when a trucker pulled over to help me. He finished changing my tire and since he had a car carrier with some room on it, offered me a ride to Barstow, but I decided to go to Baker and see what I could do from there.

I got my scrap rubber put away and the rest of my tools in the trunk and continued on my way to Baker. Boy, was I nervous driving on the idiot tire on the highway. And in this part of the country, if you’re not on the highway, you’re on a dirt road that may or may not be legit, so highway it was. When I got to Baker, I found a garage that was open. The proprietor, who had 2 teeth and no hair, said he could fix my rim, which was dented by the mystery object, and said he’d sell me a new tire, all for the low price of $65. Since my Dad owns a garage, I knew this was a decent price, especially being in the middle of nowhere – I could have been seriously hosed with no other options. The guy fixed my tire rather quickly and I was on my way, praying hard that there would be no more mishaps on the way. I can’t afford it!

I got to IKEA just fine, only set back by 45 minutes which I believe is record time for being in the middle of nowhere. I ate my lunch in the Swedish Cafe, and continued my thorough search of the store to make sure I got everything on my list and didn’t miss any other incidentals. Here’s what I bought:

I wanted the Bjoberg storage bench, but taking into consideration the money I just spent on a tire, along with the fact that the box is a bit too big and heavy for me to drag into my 2nd floor apartment by myself, I ended up with this instead. I have it covered with a throw blanket so it doesn’t look so primitive, and someday it will go nicely in my lakehouse. Another bonus – it only took about 5 mintues to put together. I’m pretty well versed in IKEA furniture assembly, and this one is something anyone can do.

I also wanted some stuff for my kitchen, to make the best use possible of the ill-planned space I have. I’ve been lusting after the Grundtal series, so after careful consideration of my needs and some of the habits I’ve been developing in regard to my space, I got the mid-sized rail, the single paper towel holder, and the chopping board. It’s already hung over my sink and I must say, really classes the place up.

A spur of the moment purchase was this colander, and let me just say, that thing is HUGE! Sunday afternoon I made some pasta salad, using an entire 16oz package of pasta, and when I used my new colander to drain it, the pasta barely filled it halfway! I don’t usually cook large quantities, so usually my little old-style Tupperware colander does just fine. But this will come in really handy when I do have those larger amounts. Besides the attractive price, this colander will look really nice if I neglect to put it away.

I was looking at lighting, but I still have not decided what to do about my computer area, since both floor space and desktop space are at a premium, there is no outlet in the ceiling, and there is no wall switch that corresponds to the outlet there. So I’m still thinking that one over. I also thought about a picture frame for some art cards I got a couple years ago, but I decided that I should unpack my decorations and see what I still want to do at that point before I go and buy any more decorations.

Now, why I don’t have AAA. See, when I lived back east, my dad just put me on his account, and it didn’t cost me a thing. I still never really used it because the only times I needed a tow, it was either snowing like crazy and they wouldn’t come get me, or it was really late at night and even if I did get AAA to tow me, I’d still have to call Dad and wake him up so I could get home, so in those cases I just bypassed AAA and went straight to Dad. Once I moved to Las Vegas, I paid $79 to transfer my membership and didn’t use it at all. So I decided to discontinue it. Now, considering what transpired on Saturday, I still don’t think I’ll get it again. For one, I was in the middle of nowhere and might still be waiting if I had called for help. And I still would have ended up buying a new tire. Still not worth it to me. My car is fairly new and well-maintained, so overall I’m not worried about a breakdown, and we already know I can change a tire as long as I have some muscle available. My biggest worry during the whole tire incident was having my day ruined by not getting to IKEA at all, and/or being bit in the ass by a certain poisonous legless reptile that is abundant in desert areas. I was actually more afraid of that then my car being hit or some psycho trying to “help” me. Again, not something that AAA could help me with.

So all in all, my IKEA trip went well. I got set back just 45 minutes and $65, which considering the circumstances isn’t too bad. I got most of what I wanted and got home about 12 1/2 hours after I set out. For some reason I was exhausted when I got home, which is unusual. Long car trips usually leave me invigorated and restless, and I can’t sit still when I get out of the car. Saturday, though, once I got all my stuff in the house, I collapsed. Literally. I got home about 7:15pm and was asleep before 8, and I slept all night long. And that was the best part of my day.