Most days I shop for groceries at the little neighborhood shopping centers near my house. The closest grocery store is actually walking distance, If I was willing to take a little cart on wheel to help carry them back. It’s probably a quarter mile walk, which is doable, but not so great when lugging groceries back home with you up and down the hills. There is one particular hill so steep that even riding a bicycle back would be a hard go for me. I’d probably have to dismount and walk the bike up to avoid congestive heart failure, considering how out of shape I am.

The closest full service grocery store is a Food Lion. This store is good for basics and a quick trip when I run out of something mid-preparation. They have a limited selection of produce and all I usually buy there is maybe bananas, onions or potatoes. Their meat section is not much variety and too high prices, so unless it is on sale I might pick up a pound of hamburger meat or a ham steak. Their freezer and cooler sections are good and when they put things on sale I stock up.

But today I’m heading out for a long day down in the “Land of Excess.” Their grocery store is a marvelous wonderland of all kinds of treasures shipped here from all over the world. If they have some good prices on meats and vegetables, I’m prepared to take advantage because I’m taking my cooler in the back of the truck to keep them cold while I finish my errands down there. The temps will be in the 90’s today, so leaving groceries in the truck without benefit of a cooler is not practical. But I’m prepared – let the adventure begin!