When it comes to birding equipment I guess the old adage 'buy the best you can afford' works pretty well to a point. But if you can't afford much, you can still see wonderful things and achieve great inspiration!

I have at times been referred to as 'cheap'. My wife, in discussions with me about spending has said, several times, "you even sound like a bird - cheep, cheep, cheap!" And my own Mother has been telling on me to people for almost 50 years " this kid could make a dime last a month!". Since she was, usually, smiling when she said that, I took it as a complement. Cheap isn't a problem, it's a quality!. Frugal is the polite term I believe. Of course things have changed and I'd have to add a few decimal points to that good ol' ten cents for it to last a month these days.

After talking to a number of de facto optics sales people, mostly in the field, they all start to sound like "who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?". Of course I choose my lying eyes first. You can see clearly with your chosen gizmo or you can't. At a certain cost point I can't really see much difference between my best binoculars (cost $220 ) and something that costs more than all but one of the car's and trucks I've ever owned. "Hell, I'll never spend more on binoculars than on a car!" I've ranted more than once. But I caught myself in a lie. I forgot about the Terrarium.

The Terrarium (only car I ever named) was a 62 Plymouth Valiant I owned in the years 1977 & 78. Purchased for $100 in somebody's tall-grass backyard in Tukwilla, it was worth every penny, but not much more. It was named the Terrarium for a small patch of moss (real moss, not just algae) growing on the cardboard-like, and moist, rear dash. The moss survived just fine for the two years I had the car, surviving on sunlight and condensation I guess.

Bolstered by substantial baling wire (proto duct tape) repairs and such, the thing lasted two years of mucho logging road miles(I was working in the woods) and general hard use. Despite it's being a beater, it got pretty good mileage- about 24mpg. I loved that car though it wasn't much to look at. Aside from starting, stopping, running, steering, and having working lights (perfectly safe) it was also hard to steal since starting the thing required complicated motions that only I knew about. Good for a trailhead vehicle.

In 78 I decided it was time for a road trip! to visit an old birding buddy in Michigan. So off I went in the Terrarium. There weren't 'carbon footprints' back then but the Terrarium went thru about a quart of oil per state, between Seattle and Kalamazoo Michigan. How many fossil plankton that added up to I'm not sure. Oh well, I only did it once.

Thing was, on that cheap trip, with cheap car, and cheap (but Good) binoculars I saw many wonderful birds, animals, trees and all sorts of things. The trip added greatly to my life list, such as it is, and much of what I saw I saw quite clearly. Quality of experience, that's the thing for me! I had a great cheap time! I sold the Terrarium in 79 for $200, and with it's life experience, worth every penny.

Jeff Gibson
still cheap in
Everett Wa