Business with Pleasure

Journal Entry: Weight = unknown and don’t want to know (still in Destin, FL on vacation); Coinage = $.04; glass bottles retrieved = 2; objects found = 4, 1 lynch pin, 1 bic lighter, 1 #2 leaded pencil, and 1 ball point pen.

Feature Entry: For the first time, the MoneyWalker broke from his solo habit of fitness walking while looking for money and included a friend. The friend’s fitness level is high and he possessed a keen interest in knowing more about MoneyWalking. Off we went.

Discipline was required. First we had to focus on maintaining a fast pace while searching for coins. My inclination was to rely upon friendly banter typical of our long friendship and forego the hard work of spotting coins. Second, having read several of my blogs, he wasn’t sure how some of my techniques actually work. Writing about such topics as “hot spots,” “curb walking,” “walk-over coins,” “playing a hunch,” and “scatters” is relatively easy when addressing cyber strangers; but, talking with good friends that know you as Bobby rather than as the “MoneyWalker” is risky—“This guy is crazy!,” he might think.

The money gods were friendly. Condo parking lots are not good sources for mining coinage. My fears were that we would be shut out with a result of credibility loss. There it was in the first parking spot just outside our condo stairs, a walk-over penny. I carefully explained that given its dark color and scratch marks, its camouflage had prevented it from being found earlier by the masses.

Then it was “you take the outside and I will take the inside” as we zoomed around other parked cars in the condo lots. Then another penny was spotted, and then a bic lighter, a ball point, a yellow pencil, two beer bottles; and then it happened, rookie mistake—my friend stepped over a coin in plain sight. I good naturedly “scolded” him about making rookie mistakes.

The final lesson involved a gravel trail between condos. In mid stride, I said “Let’s play a hunch.” Off path was a condo tennis court. People change clothes, carry-in duffels, bounce around, sit on benches, throw things into trash cans—all behaviors that can result in dropped or lost coins. There it was, a recently lost penny. It confirmed the hunch.

My friend and I had a great time. I enjoyed his company and he humored me by listening to my longwinded moneywalking lessons. MoneyWalking with two is difficult, but this experience convinced me that the two are not mutually exclusive, that brisk walking, controlled scanning, and dual walking can be rewarding, both in terms of friendship and coinage found.

Go ahead, take a friend moneywalking.

MoneyWalker