Kayak Miracle!
In May, Tammy went on a field trip with Goldenview (where she used to work) to Whittier, where they boarded a boat for some cruising in search of glaciers and wildlife. She brought along Pete's 2 pairs of binoculars so kids could have an up-close look. At some point late in the day, however, one of those binoculars disappeared. She didn't realize until everyone was on the buses and they were pulling away, and it was too late. Upon arriving back at the school, she called the cruise company, and later talked to all of the students who went on the trip and even offered a reward, but they never turned up. She felt very badly about it, so we eventually decided to call USAA, our insurance company, to see if it would be worth it for us to claim them as a loss and get reimbursed. We have replacement value renters insurance, with a $100 deductible. The way it works is, they scour the marketplace for the best price on a new version of what you lost. Well. I had kept the box for the binoculars we had lost, and the box listed all of the features of this particular model of binoculars (nitrogen-filled so they never cloud up in cold weather, waterproof, etc etc). The box also had a sticker that said $600, on sale for $125. They were from Big 5 I believe, and were given as a gift. Big 5 is famous for marking their standard prices way up, and then having sales where everything is like 50% off, so we hadn't thought much of it. Well. I call USAA and tell them all about the binoculars, reading from the box. Then I call them back a week or so later (this was in the middle of the moving craziness) and they tell me the best price they could find on a comparable model was $950! Plus shipping, and minus my deductible, they sent us a check for $865. Our total kayak tab came to something like $880, counting shipping, sponges, and some survival gear we bought. Woohoo! So we know that our little kayaks are a gift from God, so we try to be as generous with them, letting most anyone use them (young ones must have parent permission!) who asks.