Have you ever uttered those famous words – “I’ll never do that. I’ll never get up in the middle of the night to join a group of crazies trying to get a bargain. It’s not worth it. I wouldn’t go if they’re giving away gold bricks.”

Never say never.

The doublewide husband and I set the clock for 2:30am (yes, I said 2:30am, not pm) on Black Friday, finally decided to actually get up after the alarm went off, put on clothes and left the house by 3:15 to drive up the interstate to get to Bass Pro Shop at the break of day. Actually, the day had not yet broken when they opened the doors.

We staked out our spot in the parking lot and then decided to stay in the warm car rather than wait outside in freezing temps. We’re really die-hard Black Fridayers. Then, I watched the line of people and we made our move once the line started moving. Just inside the front doors, coffee and doughnuts were waiting along with friendly, smiling faces. They may have secretly wanted to choke us behind those smiles, though. I mean, think of how early you have to get to work to be prepared for a crowd of shoppers ready to pounce on you as soon as the clock struck 5am?

So, the big wooden doors opened and we filed in with the rest of the bunch in surprisingly orderly fashion. Nobody yelled. There were no fights. People were actually being kind to each other. Surely, if the Bass Pro Black Friday crowd can be nice to each other, there’s hope for the world! I think this might have been the cream of the crop as far as Black Friday crowds go.

I thought of something else as we were waiting, before the shopping began — anybody up to no good (i.e., criminals) surely realized that the Bass Pro crowd was not the crowd to mess with. You don’t  terrorize a group of gun toters wearing camo — they will shoot back.

We got in, made our way through the crowd, purchased what we went for and made our way out again. Cracker Barrel (affectionately known as the “Crack House”) was our next course of action. Coffee and gravy brought us back to life. We were nearly the only ones in the place, except for a group of gals who were doing Black Friday the right way — eat breakfast first and then go shopping. I was on my way home to do some napping.

Overall, I would give our middle of the night Black Friday experience a 9 — taking off points because it was so dadburned early. It was fun while it lasted, but I like my sleep too much. I don’t know that I’ll be doing that again anytime soon. If you want me to go on a shopping spree, you’ll have to wait till a decent hour.