Date: 2005-03-04
To: Sams Club and Skeletons In The Closet.
Miles today: 0.0

Where would this country be without retailistic stylings of Mr. Sam Walton?-I don't know, but I do know that although Wal-Mart is getting more and more heat lately for ruining the culture of America, and sending countless owners of Mom and Pop shops into doggedly horrid living conditions as they board up old fashioned American Main Streets everywhere, I decided to go ahead and patronize Sam's Club in hopes of some good old fashioned bargains from buying in bulk.Upon being picked up and chauffeured with my broken leg to Sam's Club by my mom who is a member, (That¢s right, you have to be a member to shop here; Who else but Sam Walton could figure a way to charge customers to shop at his store?), we were off to this bulk and bargain paradise to possibly cut my dwindling "To Do" list down even farther.My main goal was to purchase a few items that I knew I would need in terms of food, that I couldn¢t get sick of, or I had to eat even if I was sick of them because they were items I consider staples, and are consumed for their nutritional value and not for their pleasant reputation among the palates of thru-hikers and civilians as well. Items I considered staples range from protein sources like beef jerky, (real jerky, made from steaks, not processed slim jims), tuna in foil, (not the type that¢s canned-it weighs too much), and oatmeal and other lightweight breakfast items.I also needed to purchase disposable cameras in bulk since I am now choosing not to bring my new digital camera because it would be kind of like placing all my eggs in one basket if anything happened to it, and downloading pictures would have been really hard. With my disposable Kodaks, I can just send them home, and a support person can download the pictures on a scanner, so I can post them up here. I got a great deal on the cameras, since they were sold in big packages; I only had to buy two packages for the whole hike. Well,I ended up buying over $150 worth of POWERBARS, and other energy producing substances like wheat cracker packages and dried fruit bars,And I got a great deal on my multivitamins that I will gradually send in little bags along with other items in my fuel/maildrops. But the main item I really went to Sam¢s for was the tuna, which is the most expensive item I will have to buy. Sam¢s had a terrible selection of tuna and oatmeal and so we bought the items that Sam¢s did have and then it was off to Kroger.Kroger had an amazing deal on the tuna in foil packs, and so I bought every package that they had in stock, which happened to be the same number of packages that I needed. The tuna in foil wrap only weighs 3 ounces and it provides over 200 calories and nearly 46 grams of protein which will helpfully halt or slow my bodies cannibalistic devouring of muscle protein on the trail.Kroger also provided me with various other food items that will help along the trail, such as food items that might be hard to find, so I can just supplement with the items that I bought at Kroger by placing them in my maildrops, since I will be purchasing the rest of my food as I go.Anyways,Now, I get to start wrapping up all of planning and finally start preparing all of my maildrops! I can¢t believe it is finally here! I had originally titled this journal entry, ¢Sam¢s Club and Skeletons In The Closet¢, because when I finished talking about the food purchases of today, I was going to bring up more issues from the past, (positive remembrances, but still from the past like I usually do), but in lieu of the great weather and the excitement of leaving shortly, (only 28 days left), I am going to write about the other stuff on another day. I call all this stuff skeletons in the closet, but it isn¢t bad stuff, I just constantly find myself writing about things from my past and even though they are mostly good stories, with lessons I have learned that I would never wish away, I still like to call them skeletons in the closet since they are stories I haven¢t brought up in a long time¢¦I am just so excited about the future today that I don¢t feel like talking about the past! Everything feels so new and fresh in springtime¢¦It is a sunny beautiful day; enjoy it!Until Next Time¢¦Take it easy everyone!