HOW To Ruin a Neighborhood

Karen and I drove to Concord, North Carolina this last Friday for Karen's niece Shana's graduation from Catawba College. It was one of the nicest and easiest trips we have taken in sometime. It was an easy drive, ideal weather, and shopping along the way at Commerce, GA and Harry's at the Beaver Ruin Exit off I-85N.

Karen had a 40% discount AAA coupon at the Reebok Outlet at Commerce and it was burning a hole in her purse. The nice part is the outlet store is already discounted and this 40% is a discount that weekend only to AAA members. WoW! I bought some Reebok Running shoes MSR $129.95, discounted to $49.95, now $29.95! I bought two pair, why not? We bought running shorts, tops, T-shirts, and Golf Shirts all 40% off. She exercised her Mastercard to the tune of $150.00. But it was too great an opportunity to pass up.

We also stopped at Harry's (Whole Foods) Market at Beaver Ruin, and got beautiful fresh baked breads like Raisen and Sour Dough. They were sampling some great cheddar cheese and we got a nice piece for enjoyment. This stop is about 1/3 of the way to Concord and it is a welcome rest stop as well as a chance to grab a snack and stretch our legs and walk a little.

We got to Concord in 10 hours driving from Birmingham but that is factoring in the two shopping stops as well as other rest and fuel stops. Fuel is a real factor now as prices are all close to $3.00/gallon. We start watching at just over a 1/4 of a tank, and find high volume truck stops like Raceway at $2.69 to $2.79/gallon. You still spend over $30.00 filling up and that is no small change for this semi-retired meat peddler. But this is mother's day weekend and a very special graduation of Karen's and my favorite niece!

Kathi and Steve met us in the yard and motioned us to park behind her car parked in front of the garage. It was nice parking our car off the street as their street is relatively narrow and people park on both sides. Needless to say, we did not move the car the 3 days we were their guest.

We got our bags in, unpacked, changed into shorts and leisure tops while Kathi and Steve dressed for the baccelaurete service Friday night. They had fixed our dinner and all we had to do is warm it up, add some tossed salad, and pour a cold drink. Is that not coming home service!

Karen and I enjoyed our nice dinner with very little conversation as it was so good. I had brought our nice folding chairs and she and I retired to their front stoop with our gin and tonic, my nice cigar, and kicking back and reminesing about how nice the trip was and how we are going to enjoy our nice purchases. Several cars, their neighbors drove by as they oogled us blowing smoke into the evening air and sipping our tall glasses of gin and tonic over cooling ice. We were now feeling the effects of the long drive and the gin and tonic and the soothing of the smooth cigar smoke was getting to me.

They let us stay in their guest bedroom for 3 days and Sunday early, after breakfast, we headed back. We stopped at Harry's again using this as one of our rest stops. We did one in and out at Commerce at Bath and Body works to find a hand lotion and hand cleaner, the ginger and white tea version. They had this item on sale, usually $4.50@, now 4 for $10.00. Before we were through I had spent $40.00, exercising my Citibank Mastercard.

It is now several days at home and I can only hope our visit did not ruin this beautiful neighborhood they have worked so hard in building a good realationship with their neighbors. They may wish they never invited her sister and redneck brother-in-law Jeff from Birmingham. We still have some Piggly Wiggly bags to unpack! I had to wear some underwear a second day yesterday! Where did I drop that PW bag?