Arlene's Truck Stop in Battle Creek, MI

Arlene's Truck Stop‎ - Map
4647 West Columbia Avenue
Battle Creek, MI 49015-8643
(269) 964-8908

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 2 1/2 Gavels out of 5

Auctioneers often work together which is widely understood. What is not so often mentioned is that as auctioneers we often consign items in each other’s auctions. There are number of reasons for this but often the reason is as simple as we want something to go away and will gladly pay our fellow auctioneer to solve the problem. Such was the case when Peter consigned two tractors to an upcoming auction held by Scott Vander Kolk’s Golden Gavel Auction Service.

We each have our own specialty in the auction business. Among Scott’s specialties is breathing life (and money) in old and often abandon tractors and farm implements. He does this through a combination of black magic, a farmer nicknamed Navajo and a mysterious and shady figure they call ‘the Tractor Whisper.’ All this means that what was once heap of junk is turned into cash…a skill many auctioneers have and Scott has in spades.

Thanks to Scott's considerable skill the only question Peter had when Scott picked up the tractors was where they were going to have lunch. Towing a large trailer the drive-thru was out of the question. Arlene’s Truck Stop in Battle Creek, Michigan was the answer.

As far as truck stops go the food at Arlene’s was pretty good. One would image the creepy velvet picture of the long pasted Arlene hanging in the joint helped keep the staff motivated for fear the spirit of the late proprietor might come alive. Our waitress was friendly and everything far exceeded the relatively low expectations. Being truck stop fair it was priced as low as possible. Despite a lively late lunch conversation we never got to the bottom of why a strapping farm boy from western Michigan has the nickname Navajo or if Scott was going to get his picture done in velvet as a surprise anniversary present to his long suffering auction widow wife.

The Common Grill in Chelsea, MI

The Common Grill - Map
http://www.commongrill.com/
112 S. Main Street
Chelsea, MI 48118
(734) 475-0470

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 5 Gavels out of 5

The Common Grill in Chelsea, Michigan is not a likely spot to find starving auctioneers. First they have cloth napkins. Most of the places the Starving Auctioneers eat you're lucky to have a full roll of paper towels on the table. However this was no ordinary auctioneer power lunch. This was a celebration of Peter winning the 2010 Michigan State Auctioneer Champion, winning 2009 Auction of Year, being elected to the Michigan State Auctioneers Association Board of Directors and besting all comers in tiddlywinks in his spare time. A high class place with higher standards was in order. David Helmer was buying so that helped as well.

The lovely and talented Ashley drew the short straw and was the server. Ashley was very observant and correctly identified Peter and David as auctioneers. Both were of course wearing standard issue The Auctioneer Channel attire which one can read clearly at 100 paces. Once the championship nature of the visit was made apparent Ashley got busy and made Peter a congratulatory greeting card out of receipt paper (seen here). Since she could not be in Kalamazoo the card was a nice way of saying she cared. She added extra dressing on the salads because Peter and David ‘looked like we might like that.’ GOOD CALL Ashley. As a matter of fact the only reason Starving Auctioneers eat salad is that it is a socially acceptable way to eat dressing and bacon bits. Doing Balsamic Vinaigrette shots with bacon as a chaser is just not as cool as it sounds and frowned upon in polite company.

The second reason that you are not likely find auctioneers in a high class place like The Common Grill is the food had both a quality and subtlety your standard issue Starving Auctioneers joint does not have. However given the jubilant mood, quality was the order of the day. Lunch was great. Peter had the Lobster Ravioli which tasted fresh and as if it had once been associated with a real sea going lobster. And it was very well prepared. David had the Grilled Chicken Club and in the process of putting ketchup on his sandwich covered his side of the table in the red condiment with one smooth motion. It was a neat trick and impressed Ashley who was just beginning to buy the line that we were successful auctioneers and Internet businessmen.

Lunch with David is never complete unless one makes a few unplanned side trips to walk it off. One of the many benefits to being the Michigan State Auctioneer Champion is that you receive a belt buckle that forever marks you as “The Champ.” After investigation however it was discovered that Peter did not own the required pair of cowboy boots that should always be worn with a belt buckle of that caliber. As luck would have it Chelsea, Michigan’s premiere outfitter of just such apparel and footwear was next door. Mule Skinner Boots was a store full of boots and hats and a few other leather odds and ends. Shortly thereafter, like a scene straight out of a bad ’80’s movie, Peter was walking the rough streets of Chelsea in a custom pair of brown 13 EE cowboy boots and looking for a fight or another bid calling contest to enter.

Ali Baba in Ann Arbor, MI

Ali Baba
601 Packard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3313
(734) 998-0131‎

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 4 Gavels out of 5

Our most recent pottery pick up saw Peter traveling to rural Michigan just north of the Ohio-Michigan boarder to pick some outstanding examples of Rookwood, Weller and middle period Roseville. After the pickup Peter travelled to meet up with friend and fellow auctioneer David Helmer in Ann Arbor and he filed this review.

David Helmer and I’s friendship is a product of the often cited ‘conversations in the hallway’ of an NAA event. We meet at the Certified Estate Specialist (CES) designations course held in Ft. Wayne, Indiana in November of 2006. Over the last three years we have partnered on auctions large and small. We often partner on lunch.

We entered lunch with great expectations of all the ‘work’ we would discuss. That didn’t happen and never does. We returned to one of Ann Arbor’s finest Middle Eastern establishments: Ali Baba. The restaurant is billed as Iraqi food but our waiter was from Morocco so I was a little disappointed. We both ordered a dish that consisted of chicken, beef and hummus. Basically meat and potatoes for those without potatoes. However you can get a side of fries, which we did so we still got us some potato action. The food was good and the service on point if not ethnically consistent. The price was right and the portion size was good. The place was clean if not a little worn, but what hole in the wall place isn't...that's what makes them great.

After lunch we sampled the styling’s PJ's Records & Used CD's just a few feet away and up a flight of stairs. Every college town seems to have one of these outfits and Ann Arbor’s holds a special charm because once the two shopkeepers, David and I were in the store there was little room for anyone else. I might be tempted to say I have never seen that many LP’s in one place before but I have: an estate auction in Columbus where it was our job to move them all from the basement in milk crates. We lost a lot of good men that day and gained great appreciation for the iPod

We went there looking for original Larry Norman LP’s. We didn’t find any but David did find and purchase enough to earn him a place in the PJ’s Hall of Fame. They have a strange and inexplicably long check out procedure made worse by David’s attempts to stump our hosts with 1970's music trivia. The shop keepers are examples of what happens when you are into sex, drugs and Rock’n’Roll…professionally. At least they have their music.