Hello everyone
I am eagerly awaiting my Speckled Black 23" KK. It's quite possibly the most famous un-owned KK in the history of KKs! http://komodokamadoforum.com/topic/6016-crazy-bent-what-happened-here/
A long story about how this all came to be below if you are interested.
This wasn't something I ever expected I'd do. I did a ton of research on every kamado I could find on the Internet before jumping in and buying a Kamado Joe Classic. I wanted the Big Joe, but when I saw it in person, I thought it was too big for my family (me, my wife, and her 3 young adult daughters - all of whom will be leaving the nest in the next 3 years or so). That entire process was probably 6 - 8 months.
I was never really a fan of the way the KKs looked, and, when I saw the price, I backed away. Not that I didn't think they were 'worth' it, it was just more than I wanted to spend. I really thought that KJ would be the last grill I ever owned, and never would have believed that I would jump up to a KK.
That all changed a few weeks ago due to an odd series of events. Bosco had posted the Project Smoke pictures over on the Guru and I noticed that the wheel was bent on one of the units. It was clearly from being manhandled across grass and rough terrain on the set. I made a quick post (tongue-in-cheek) asking if it would be sold as 'scratch and dent'. I never indented to suggest that I wanted it.
ckreef saw my post and PMd me and said if I was interested, to call Dennis as he was probably selling the 2 KKs as demo units and deals are rare, so this is a good chance to get one.
I replied that I wasn't really that interested... and I wasn't... but said I might give Dennis a call just to see what deal could be made.
About a week later, I realized that I had clicked on those pictures and the KK site over and over and over... I was devouring all of the information about KKs that I could find. So, I sent Dennis a quick email asking if those grills were available and, if so, what was the price - particularly of the 19" Table Top with the bent leg - figuring that would be the best to deal on. And I told myself, "If I can get a good deal, I'll take it. If not, I'm perfectly fine with what I have. I have nothing to lose by asking."
About 10 minutes later, I was outside cleaning my KJ and my wife came out with my phone and said I was getting a call from Los Angeles. It's my work phone and I get a lot of random calls, I don't know anyone in LA, so I said to just ignore it. When I looked later, there was a voicemail from Dennis! He said I should give him a call. This was on Saturday afternoon. He also replied in an email that the 32" was sold, but that the other two hadn't been sold yet.
He also tried calling me on Sunday, but I missed that call. I called him Monday morning when I got to work. He told me that the other two grills had been spoken for, so I figured that was the end of that... but no! He said he might be able to do something for me.
He said he had a 23" Speckled Black KK that was in Georgia somewhere that had a minor issue that needed repaired. And he explained everything that the thread linked above talked about. After a few minutes, he said that it was ckreef that was fixing up the grill.
Again, at this point, I wasn't really sure this was what I wanted to do - it's a lot of money for something that I don't really need (I know, I know... "Need" isn't really the point here;) ). I said I'd have to talk to my wife and I'd get back to him.
I reached out to ckreef to tell him about that conversation and ask more about the repaired KK. He assured me that the grill was as good as new and even graciously offered to open up the Bistro so I could come look at it - and check out his KKs. We were in the process of trying to find a day that worked best for us. We are about 3 hours away from each other. He also said, and get this, that he would deliver the KK and help me get it set up!
chreef took some extra pictures of the grill to send me and answered any questions I had.
I also talked a bosco for a while one night and he was very helpful answering my questions - it was a good perspective to hear from someone new in the KK game.
I talked to my wife, who is always super supportive, and after a few days of some back and forth, she said to go for it. I'm the one that has the issues spending the money, she's always fine with me spending on things I want to do. I'm the one that has to go to 10 stores to find a belt that I like... then when I get it, I say, "I probably shoulda got that other one instead..." lol I have to admit that a part of me wanted her to say "No" so that I didn't have to worry about making the decision.
I called Dennis the next morning to grab up the grill. 5 days had elapsed from when I sent that initial email to Dennis. Do I also have the title of Fastest Decision to Buy?
Now I am just waiting to find a date that works for me, ckreef, and a few helpers so that we can drag this thing to my back yard.
