Abilene

The speed limit on I-70 is 75 miles per hour. Try as I might, I can't seem to get my car to go that fast. A life time of following the speed limit in Oregon has tainted me. I am unable to go over 65. Semi trucks are passing me and I feel bad. I step on the gas.

Abilene, Kansas, was the childhood home of Dwight D Eisenhower and the location of his presidential library. Everyone here loves Ike. The library is currently closed due to – well - you know.

There are no national supermarket chains in Abilene. Bill West owns the local Country Mart and three generations of West's work there. According to their website, they have bananas on sale for 39 cents a pound on Wednesdays. Today is Tuesday. There is a sidewalk sign advertising their Tuesday 5 dollar sushi sale. The American roll consists of crab meat, tempura shrimp, cream cheese, avocado and (lol!) cornflakes. Unfortunately it is too early and they aren't ready yet. Will have to try some later.

There were some people wearing masks in the store. Two women with a little boy, who was probably 8 years old, were all wearing masks. I'm thinking to myself, I don't care what anyone else thinks – that's child abuse. The little boy grabs onto my cart and starts pushing it back and forth. He throws an unholy fit when his mom tries to stop him. His mom chases him around my cart until he finally lets go. Brat. I change my mind about the child abuse.

There are signs taped to the door in the frozen section apologizing for the lack of products on the shelves. It really pisses me off. Manufactured scarcity. What a lie.

The girl that bagged my groceries takes them out to the car. I ask her if they get tips.

“Well, we aren't really supposed to but, you know...”

Yeah. I know. I ask her about the signs and the lack of products. She tells me that some products haven't been available for over a year. Others come and go but the lists of products that are no longer available get longer and longer as time goes by. I thank her and give her two dollars. I was, after all, pumping her for information.

Due to the construction on the road, and the fact that I was thinking about cornflakes, I missed my exit. I had to drive all the way to Chapman (5 miles away) before I could turn around and come home.

Okay. Living out of a cooler is beginning to suck. I think that may be the next step.