AT&T did announce days before that iPhones would not be available until the 29th, but their PR wasn’t good enough to stop you. But those eggs and pig musta been delish in the wee hours of an Eureka morning…

Now. Go get your phone!

Just prior to our arrival into Eureka, I waged a little bet with Anthony that if we were the first one’s there, I would buy breakfast and if there was anyone else waiting ahead of us, he would buy breakfast. We both agreed and soon thereafter, anxiously arrived to find that we were the first customers to come on the Humboldt iPhone 4 scene this June 24th. The parking lot was empty and dark with not a homeless person in sight. Unfortunately, we soon discovered a small sign on the door that read, “We will be receiving our first shipment of iPhone 4′s on June 29″.

A dark cloud of disappointment and disgust filled my Toyota’s cabin. We both looked at each other with despair and almost simultaneously uttered, “…I got out of bed at 3:30AM for THIS?” Both feeling like we’d been kicked in the gut by both Apple and AT&T (mostly by AT&T) we pondered briefly the idea of turning around and driving south to the Santa Rosa Apple Store (3-1/2 hours) to hopefully attain our new phones there.

After serious consideration and wandering around the desolate, dank city of Eureka in the wee hours, Anthony suggested we search for a cafe to drown our sorrows in some chicken embryos, tubers and pig fat (a “proper” breakfast) OH! and of course a cup of bean juice to nudge our brains into high gear so we could figure out what to do next. Arrrrrrrgh!

I had previously arranged a 7:30AM appointment with Mid-City Motorworld Toyota dealership in Eureka to have the accelerator pedal recall work completed on my 2004 Prius for this same day. Something I’d been putting off since I received the letter from Toyota back in March, simply because after driving 80,000 miles in that car, never having experienced any problems, deemed it hogwash and unnecessary. I’d been praising the Prius to anyone who’d listen, since I purchased it new back in ’04.

So after a leisurely breakfast at the Golden Harvest Cafe in Arcata, we drove over to the Toyota dealership to take care of the recall issue. A young Hispanic man washing cars on the lot, yelled to us, “… they don’t open until 7:30.” So we proceeded to check out the rides both new and used lined up for sale on Mid-City’s car lot while we waited for the service department to open.

Well maybe it was due to my disappointment with the iPhone 4 incident now hours behind us, or perhaps it was due to my appreciation for Toyota’s incredible hybrid technology and resilience as a company to stay afloat in the wake of all the bad publicity this past winter. Maybe it was the Sandy Beach color or improved, sleek design and upgrade in performance of the new 2010 Toyota Prius, but after serious consideration and hard core negotiation with Doug Small the salesman, Anthony and I found ourselves, as if it were all a dream, driving home to Redway in a slick new 2010 Toyota Prius.

So while I don’t have my iPhone 4, next Tuesday I will activate the saved 3:35AM alarm in my iPhone 3G, and take that hour ride to Eureka, this time in my new Prius to trade in the old phone and hopefully come home with the new iPhone 4.

Have fun with your new phone today, and I’ll have fun with my new Prius!

Go on, admit it. You really, really wanted one of these.