Much in the same vein, this came and went during my dark ages as well. However, just a few months after diving into Lego again in late 2015, I walked into a Walmart on my way to a Christmas party. I rarely went to this Walmart and thought, why not have a look. The Lego isle looked like a bomb had gone off. There were non-lego toys and non-toy items all over the place. As I neared the end of the isle, nothing in hand, my eyes caught something I had never seen in the wild before. Two 79003s just sitting there among all the other crap strewn about in the isle. I quickly garbed them both and strolled to the checkout. They were only 20% off, but I was excited to not only find something that was retired, but pretty damn cool as well.
I sold one of them off a year or two ago, but still have one in box in the event I ever feel like opening it up with my son. If not, I may keep it for awhile as its been one of the more neat finds along the way.