Hunting Down the Mysterious Wii

This weekend the wifey and I went to her mom's.  It was mostly a "business" trip to drop off the dogs.  That poor woman.  She has a Schnauzer of her own that is typical of that breed.  Very sociable and generally full of energy.  We left her another Schnauzer(my mom's) as well as our Yorkie and American Eskimo.  The Yorkie is a non-stop ball of fire that annoys the crap out of me.  She just does not ever stop.  The Eskie is a bundle of anxiety and nerves when I am not around and is more protective of people she knows than any dog I have ever seen (she once latched on to an old g/f of mine because we were arguing and the chick threw a shoe at me).  The Eskie is also 8 years old and does not put up with any crap from the other, more youthful, dogs.  She will get out and play with them at times.  But, if she isn't in the mood she will quickly set them straight.  My mother-in-law is an angel for keeping them.  I'm not worried about the dogs while we are away.  I'm worried about her.

So anyway, we head out Friday evening for the 300 miles trek.  The wifey is getting increasingly bummed because we still haven't been able to track down a Wii.  Only Best Buy and Gamestop got any in stock this week and those were gone before we could get to either. 

As we head out of town, the wifey digs her cell phone out of the mammoth cave she calls a purse and starts to dial away.  I ask her who she is calling and she gives me the index finger (which some times infuriates me as much as the middle finger).  I quickly deduce she has called Free 411 (if you do not know about Free 411, google it and start using it!).  Long story short, she is getting the numbers for every single Wal Mart in every single little podunk town we are going to drive through.  Brilliant!  She is so smart. 

Sikeston, MO?  Nope.  Dexter, MO?  Nope.  Poplar Bluff, MO?  Nope.  Corning, AR?  Nope.  (but they are getting some on a truck Saturday evening which will be on the shelves on Sunday when we drive back through!) Pocahantus, AR?  Nope (the first person she talked to in electronics had no idea what a Wii was).  Ash Flat, AR? Yep!  Wait a minute... they do?  Yep.  17 of them in stock.  They haven't sold one in almost a month!  What the crap?!?  So at 10:30 at night we stop in Ash Flat, AR, population 1135, and pick up a Wii.  The wifey was super stoked, as was I.

We messed with it a few times over the weekend and had a blast.  We haven't picked up an extra remote or anything yet.  She is going by Sam's this evening to get Wii Play (with an extra remote in it) as well as a nunchuck, component video cable, and a few other games.  We discovered in our mad search that games, controllers, etc. are generally $5 to $10 cheaper at Sam's versus anywhere else.  Especially Wii Play, for some odd reason.  At Gamestop it is $50.  At Wal Mart it is $48.  At Sam's it is $35.  Haven't figured that one out yet.  Oh well.  The why of it really doesn't matter to me anyway. 

The only big suck out of all of this is that I won't get to play it very much.  Board meeting at work tomorrow night.  We have already designated Tuesday and Wednesday nights as final prep for the trip nights.  Oh well.  At least we will have something to look forward to for when we get back.

I've rambled on and on here.  The whole point of this is a tip for those of you looking for a Wii.  Broaden your search area.  Apparently, the Wii isn't as popular in the smaller towns and rural areas (Corning and Ash Flat, AR both have a population less than 1500.  The other towns we called all have a population of at least 10,000).  With gas prices being like they are, it is up to as to whether or not it would be worth the drive.  I'm just telling you where to look for them.