Extreme sticker shock
When I walked into Basha's grocery store yesterday morning, it was immediate sticker shock.
I seldom go into a grocery store that's not a Walmart. Not that I love everything about Walmart, but I do love their prices. I really like their large parking lots, and I appreciate them letting me spend the night there on occasion. But I guess it's really the low prices that keep me coming back. Like most folks, I tend to buy very similar stuff every time I grocery shop, so I get pretty well acquainted with what things cost as I travel around.
But going into Basha's grocery store yesterday, they apparently believed I was either a Saudi Arabian Prince whose assistant carries hundred-dollar bills around in a suitcase or a cartel drug dealer who carries his hundred-dollar bills in a Halliburton because those two people would be the only ones who could afford groceries at Basha’s'.
Everything I buy regularly was 30, 40, or 50% higher than at Walmart. And some things were actually double in price. Fortunately, I had stocked up on some essential items the last time I was at Walmart, or it could have been a lot worse. I spent $40 at Bashas' yesterday morning and carried it to my truck in ONE BAG !
I think the biggest problem was the eggs; I paid almost $12 for a dozen eggs, and even as bad as I am with math, I know that's almost a dollar an egg, and that's a lot for an egg, so I think they're worth too much to eat. So, with the dollar being worth less and less and the eggs getting more and more expensive, I plan on saving these eggs and any other groceries I can get my hands on until their value is high enough that I can trade an egg for a tank of diesel fuel. And then I'll be able to travel anywhere I want until I starve to death.
Theboondork
I walked around Wickenburg for a while yesterday morning. Sunday mornings are a good time to walk around the town since it’s a lot less crowded, and parked cars don't block up your view of the town when trying to take pictures.
Wickenburg still has that old-time 1800s feel to it since a lot of the buildings are that old. There are not many places you can buy a handmade saddle right on Main Street.
Henry Wickenburg was the man who started it all and helped put Arizona on the map by discovering the most productive goldmine in Arizona’s history.
In the 1800s, there was a large livery stable in downtown Wickenburg. It was a place to park your horse and have the animal fed and watered while you bought supplies before making the 10-mile trip back to the ranch. The livery stable was a useful place that served a much-needed purpose.
But the endless march towards progress has turned the horse from the most useful of animals into a niche hobby that appeals only to a few. It has also relegated the most useful of businesses, the livery stable, into boutique stores that sell the most useless items imaginable: thingamajigs, doodads, and bling.
An old building made out of smooth river rock. River rock shouldn't be hard to find since the Hassayampa River runs through town.