Being a part of society is exhausting

Waking up to a nice cool breeze is always nice when you're down in Fresno, so much nicer than muggy hotness and your hair sticking to your face! I walked my Nana and checked the phone to see if our mail came, it said that it was in Clovis so I was super excited, we can get on with our day now. I finally took some pics of "our tree" in the Wally parking lot, too. I just love these umbrella trees.

[caption id="attachment_645" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Under our umbrella-ella[/caption]

After getting everything back into place we headed over to the mail place, to only find out that our mail is at the post office and not at our postal place yet... we've been duped! haha No, I just read it wrong so we headed next door to the .99 cent store to roam around and see if there's anything we just could not live without, oh and also comparison shop! heehee We walked around, found a lot of fun items that we just messed with and helped a guy that couldn't find rice. We walked around and around looking for rice with him, just to find it right in front of his cart (and HE found it)! I said, "Well I guess we're all blind." And he said, "Yeah but I'm old...just an old Rastafarian blind man!" haha Thanks for the smile Mr. Rasta!

[caption id="attachment_647" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My kind of drink mon[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_648" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Now that's a mischievousness grin if I ever saw one[/caption]

 After all of our 'ruckus' at the .99 cent store we headed back over to Wal-mart and made a final decision (well for now) about our cooler situation. We were going to buy a 5-day cooler, because our regular cooler with two blocks of ice can last us about 5 days (we insulate it with pillows on top and on the side). We thought we could buy a 5-day cooler and make it last at least 7-8 days. On our way to the register we saw an iceless cooler, it made us double-think everything. We ended up leaving Wal-mart to go to Home Depot...free internet of course. We researched into the iceless cooler and I got a few albums of pictures downloaded so we scored there. After our research, we decided we would try out the iceless cooler and if that didn't work out we would just buy the 5-day cooler. Back to Wally-world, we bought the cooler and some toilet stuff and were so much happier with what we came up with. We found the same exact stuff (for toilets) just way cheaper than the stuff they want you to buy in the camping section. The camping sani is $6.88 for 16 oz., the RV sani is $4.76 for 32 oz, so we bought two of the RV sani's and the rest of our paper goods and we were outta there! We had seen this guy in this van, totally looked like a traveler, for the last day and half we were in town, so we figured we would give our cooler to him. We walked over and he was very appreciative that we thought of him, said if he can't use it he was sure he knew someone that could. It made us feel good, too!

[caption id="attachment_650" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Someone got a new cooler today![/caption]

 We finally got a phone call that our mail had come in so we went and got our day late mail and went on with our day. We headed over to the other side of town because we decided we were going to try to do our grocery shopping at Winco, instead of Wal-mart due to all of the frustration we go through there. On our way to Winco, we saw a Bargain Discount Grocery Warehouse and thought, 'eh, why not." We stopped in, with my forty pieces of paper, did some comparison pricing, bought just a couple of things in bulk and left for Winco.

[caption id="attachment_651" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Trying Winco on for size[/caption]

We got to Winco and that place is huge and just as crazy as Wal-mart but the aisles were way bigger so you can maneuver around somewhat better and the people that work there are super duper nice. Again, we just bought a few items like bread and apples and got out of there. It just seemed like everything was at least a dollar (or more) more than Wal-mart prices, so you guessed it we went to Wal-mart. BUT we went to a different Wal-mart, we thought it would be better but it was just as crowded and the shelves were just as empty. We still got what we needed and got out of there, grocery shopping (for the most part) was done...and we got to drive down some beautiful streets, take a look...

[caption id="attachment_652" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Trees that look like fireworks? I'm in![/caption]

At this point in time, it was roughly around 4:00 p.m. we were totally exhausted. We still had a couple more places to hit before even thinking about going back up the mountain, so we decided we would just bite the bullet and stay another night, do what we had to do in the morning and get back. After sitting in a shady area of a parking lot for about a half hour, trying to get some kind of spark to drive back to "our side of town" a.k.a Clovis, we got enough energy to go the last few places we needed to go. On our way back over to Clovis, we saw a guy riding a bicycle with something very familiar to us in his hand...our cooler. We were in the midst of doing a u-turn so we had to turn back anyway and I tried to get a picture but he must have turned on a side road, that was one of the funniest things I've ever seen! We then found ourselves in the parking lot of a Barnes & Noble, yay...more free wifi! We found a nice spot in the shade for Nana Bug, got our computers and headed to the tables of Barnes & Noble...to only find every single one of them full with what looked like people waiting for others to get up. Since we're not snobs, we just headed outside and found ourselves a nice patio front table, with a nice breeze and enough action to not be annoyed but just enough to be entertained.

[caption id="attachment_653" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Just a normal kind of day[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_654" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Front seat view to everything[/caption]

As the sun went down, we had to power back up, so J' went and got one of the GZ batteries (that we were going to give away but are now probably going to keep) and Savannah. We recharged and kept on what we were doing.

[caption id="attachment_655" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Glad we kept these babies![/caption]

I got about half-way through uploading our "adventure albums" and just a video or two, due to them not being in the right "version" so they take forever. It was a nice night, almost like a normal people night. We had quite the full day again and with just the fruit stand to hit in the morning we were done for now. We were headed to dance with the sheep and as we were laying there trying to simmer down for the night, (with no T.V. because we didn't bring the antennae), the thing you want least to happen when you're sleeping in a parking lot pulled up right next to us... a tow truck. For those of you that have read my blog in its entirety, you'll probably remember the tow truck that came and parked behind us at the Wal-mart that one morning and got us on our toes. It turns out that this was thee same exact tow truck and thee same exact guy. He came and parked pretty much right in front of us to where his tow-bed was in front of our bumper just about. I sat and watched him like a hawk for about 25 minutes, he just sat there and smoked his cigarettes, listened to his call-in radio (whatever they're called) and then he left.

[caption id="attachment_659" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Waiting for him to leave[/caption]

We figured this is probably one of his hiding/waiting spots, just an odd coincidence that it be the same truck AND guy. After the excitement died down we went into slumber for the night...

Tomorrow: back home with our minds at rest due to being stocked back up and ready to roll for the next month!

PEACE

 

Wait a minute Mr. Post Man!

A few days in town can mean a few things. 1- You get a lot done. 2- Time flies right out from underneath you. 3- You become completely exhausted because you forgot how energy depleting society can be. All three of these things have been entirely accomplished! We figured it was time to go into town to replenish our, well... everything. So on Friday, the 31st we took our monthly trip down into Fresno. The day before we set up a major plan, that we were not in any way shape or form going to deviate from. I might be walking into the stores with an entire notebook full of prices (for comparison) but I don't care, we need to stay on budget from here on out! We headed down the mountain to do our usual; mail, car wash, laundry mat, etc. When we got to the mail place, some of our stuff hadn't come in yet so we had to wait it out. We headed to the car wash and did a great washaroo on Joon Van, we even washed the inside of the van floor, along with our mats....she sure was a dirty girl!

[caption id="attachment_634" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Gettin' her done[/caption]

Went to do some laundry and found out we only had enough soap for two of our six loads, so I started the two and J' "rushed" to the store to get more. It was funny while I was waiting, I saw him drive by a couple of times in different directions.... he tried to go off of memory instead of using "Lisa" our cranky GPS.

[caption id="attachment_635" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cheapest in town[/caption]

The laundry took us about an hour and a half longer than usual because of the soap issue but we got it done and met a super nice guy in the process. Still waiting for the mail, we decided to kill some time and go to the mall. I never noticed it before, but there is like nothing in this mall. We went to the amazing three floors of a girls wet dream Forever 21, so I could gawk at all of the major sales and pretty clothes that I can't buy right now...that was "fun"! haha We were also looking for a pair of winter boots for me because I don't really have that great of a winter shoe selection, we went in and out of stores looking at material and prices. If it were up to me I'd have about 15 pairs of new boots right now, but J' didn't like the quality of any of them, so I'm left with zero boots...sad face, haha. As we were leaving JC Penny, we were trying to find the door out and all of a sudden we were in a different part of the mall... a part of the mall we had never seen before. It was crazy, like stepping into a different dimension. We walked out into it, J' said, "It's another mall!" I turned, with surprise face,  and looked back in JC Penny and there was the door to the van, the outlet to the other part of the mall and here we were standing in the other dimension... it was weird. This part of the mall was pretty much only a small food court and a couple of stores but it was cool to find...the little things people! We even went into a Spencer's Gift Store, haven't been in one of those in probably ten years. I forgot how funny some of the stuff they have in there is. Good times!

[caption id="attachment_637" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Who needs a snuggie, when you have this gem!?[/caption]

After having a huge piece of pizza for our dinner at Sbarro, we headed off to Best Buy to see if they had the guitar tuner I have been researching for the past few days. We walked in, right to the tuners and they didn't have it on the shelf, so after asking someone and waiting for what seemed like forever, she finally emerged from the warehouse with one in her hand! Thanks cute little mexican lady! I got me a tuner...if you say that like a redneck it sounds even funnier! haha

[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Let's hope this works better than my ears![/caption]

With the mail being late (okay not there at all) it tied us up a little later than we figured it would so after all of this we ended up staying at "the old Wal-mart", for old times sake! haha One thing I wanted to do before this day was over was use our 'Free Drink' coupon at Dunkin' Donuts to get us all jazzed up before bed...and it expired today (the 31st). I put in a Dunkin' Donuts into the GPS and this is what I found...

[caption id="attachment_638" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bummer[/caption]

Really California!? You don't have a friggin' D'n'D in Fresno?

I was a little bummed because it was a full moon and I had covered up all of my stones before we left, so they weren't getting their full dowsing of the Full Moon Light but it was still beautiful to see, even if it was in the Wal-mart parking lot!

[caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I ❤ You![/caption]

Hopefully our mail will be here in the morning so we can get some more things done and get on back 'home'. After all it is Labor Day weekend and you just never know who is messing with your stuff! Luckily, we have our fellow friends close to our spot so there shouldn't be any problems.

Sleep tight, don't let the Nana bug bite!

PEACE

Change for change

Okay I think an update is in order here! I would say things have been hectic but I think it's just that way in my head and before I know it several days have gone by! haha Anyway let's see what have we been up to...?? Well...oh Lúnasa sásta (that's Happy August to the people that don't speak Irish...I don't either I just think it's fun to translate stuff!) On the 2nd of August we went down to Fresno to pick up some stuff at the Postal place and grocery shop, among other things as always. We didn't leave super early thinking we could definitely get all of our stuff done by the time the sun would be setting...haha we are silly, yes we are! We left about 10-10:30 a.m. We went down with a plan this time, a list written out for the groceries, a list or budget you might say for the entire day. We thought this would lessen our stress but we can be fooled ya know!? We picked up our stuff and a few things for Bob & Miss Cherry at the Postal place then headed onto the rest of our errands. We proceeded to the laundromat with our 6 loads of filthy laundry. I didn't think it was that bad, we did 6 loads of laundry for $15.00 roughly and we were only there for about an hour and a half...maybe 2 hours (I'm quick and to the point man, I'm a folding machine). There is something strange about going to the laundromat though, it makes me feel like a normal person...maybe it's the domestication. J' helped by making the bed while I folded the rest of the clothes, this helped on time immensely...thanks babaa'! We went to a self car wash instead of the one we went to before because we now have the solar on the roof...not good to go through a car wash with that!

[caption id="attachment_388" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dirty girl[/caption]

We got to the car wash and their coin machine didn't work so we drove back to the laundromat to get change and then back to the car wash. The van was filthy, just like everything else we own haha...including our feet (yes we washed those too!)

[caption id="attachment_391" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Gotta get the tootsies clean![/caption]

We thought it was neat when we got to the car wash there was a couple of guys, that looked like they just bought this Westfalia, they were cleaning it out and up. It was pretty nostalgic.

[caption id="attachment_389" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Wonder what they're going to do with her?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_392" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Just like new[/caption]

Now that our clothes were clean and Joon Van was clean, it was time to grocery shop...ugh...the dreaded Wal-mart. We had to get some vitamins there anyway, so we just planned on getting what we needed and getting the hell out...we had a list, should be a breeze. I swear this place just sucks the life out of J' & I, the only time we argue is when we are in THIS store, it's so annoying. We got what was on the list and didn't get a lot of stuff on the list, too and left. We still had two more stops to make before we even thought about making it home and it was already 5:15p.m.

[caption id="attachment_393" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Wonder what an Ice Sandwich tastes like?? Ice cold![/caption]

We made a stop into The Vitamin Shoppe to get my new supplements and since I had done all of my research and knew exactly what to look for (& I had someone helping me) we were only there for about 10 minutes. Out the door we go to the Fruit Stand, oh and I found out their name it's, Takahashi Farms Fruit Stand at Copper Avenue & Auberry Road.

[caption id="attachment_394" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I ♥ you[/caption]

I was, again, like a little girl in a candy store and since we budgeted this time for about $20 in fruit and veggies here, I was grabbing everything I could think to put in or on something...without it going bad. We walked out with a big box full of goodies and the mom (the lady that yelled at me last time) even gave us a free bag full of fruit. She was saying to me, "Grab some of those doughnut peaches and some dapple dandy plums and some of those." I was grabbing things I didn't even know what they were, just thankful that we had the chance. By the time we got back up the mountain the sun was starting to sink but we still needed to get water and be Santa Claus to Bob & Miss Cherry....rollin' rollin' rollin'. We got our water, handed everything out and got back to camp just in enough time to make a quick bite and get in the van by night fall.

[caption id="attachment_395" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Cookin' in the dark[/caption]

The next day would be like Christmas for us we will open the bags of groceries, fruit and the boxes we got from the Postal place and access "the damage" once again!

[caption id="attachment_390" align="aligncenter" width="300"] What a nice sign[/caption]

PEACE

This day will definitely pay off

Phew, let me sit down a second to catch my breath from all of the running around we did today! We woke up at a half-way decent time to get out of here, probably 8:15 or so. I was actually still in bed but was woken up by J' starting the van. I said, "We're not like leaving, leaving right now, are we?" He says," Yeah, we're gone." I love how he is so cute to let me sleep in but not when my clothes and my shoes are sitting outside...and he's like come on, let's go! I have to laugh about it now, but at that time I wasn't finding it very humorous. I understand he just wanted to get on the road and down there, we had a lot to do. I got dressed, got my shoes, "did my hair", and hopped in Joon Van. We headed straight to the Postal place, well with a slight detour to Burger King for breakfast...they made us Whoppers at 9:50 in the morning! We figured it wasn't what we planned on but it's better to fill the belly with something rather than nothing, especially when we have to go deal with a lot of stuff (that could potentially be damaged or broken). We get to the Postal place, open the van and J' starts bringing one (big) box at a time. It was a good thing that we left all of our stuff at Tai Shan, these boxes were super big and heavy, there would have been no room for them. After we loaded them in the van, we opened them to make sure there was no damage...better to open them here than get all the way home and then have to make the trek all the way back. Everything looked in good condition, so off to the grocery store we go. Since I sincerely loathe the Wal-mart in Clovis, I wanted to go to a different Wal-mart. J' suggested we just go to a regular grocery store instead of Wal-mart. We found a Save Mart (reminded me of a Winn Dixie). They had some pretty good veggies, so we got just a few potatoes, onions and apples (we were planning on stopping by the fruit stand on the way back). We got some things that they are always out of at that Clovis Wal-mart and a few other things and then had to wrap it up... the prices are definitely not Wal-mart prices.

[caption id="attachment_214" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I think we lost Nana![/caption]

We tried to find another Wal-mart that's a little better than Clovis and it kept putting us at Sam's Club. Our food was starting to get a little warm so cringingly we had to go to the Clovis Wal-mart because there was still a lot of stuff we needed that the other store didn't have and I needed to pick-up a Rx up there. I cannot emphasize enough how much this Wal-mart makes me never want to be around people ever again! They are so unorganized, the people (customers & staff) are so very rude, there's no room to walk, yet alone push your cart anywhere in the entire store, they are always out of everything and are of no help when you ask them for anything, half the time they make up crap just to get you to walk away. It's horrible. We are going to have to find a solution to this because I don't think I can walk in there one more time. I thought it was just me because I am very sensitive to things like that, especially big crowds, but even J' said something to me the last time we were down there about it. Anyway, sorry I think I rant every single time we go there...it's sad to think that's what the human race looks and acts like...sad, very sad. Moving on~ We were almost done and J' just had to run into Home Depot real quick to get the rest of the parts and tools for the Solar install....I stayed in the car with the bug. Forty-five minutes (and counting) later, out emerges J' with his handy little bag of implements! Hooray!! We had one more stop...the fruit stand of course. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. There is a little fruit stand that sits on the corner of these two streets that we come down to drive into town (sorry don't know the names of the streets). I LOVE fresh fruit so we stopped on our way back 'home'. It's just the cutest little stand, probably a small bathroom in a regular sized house. At the very front there is nothing but tomatoes, this probably changes with season.

[caption id="attachment_215" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Maters Maters Maters[/caption]

As you walk into the little "hut" area, there are tons of fresh fruits and veggies. Let's see if I can remember a bit of what they had; Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Italian Peppers, Bell Peppers, Onions, Potatoes, Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Figs, Plums, Peaches, White Peaches, Apricots, Grapes, Cherries and they had more than that but that's all I can remember.

[caption id="attachment_217" align="aligncenter" width="225"] So delectably delicious[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_216" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ummm... I'll just take everything. Thanks.[/caption]

And guess who got 'yelled' at??? haha Yep, I'm not even kidding. I told you I get 'yelled' at everywhere I go! Unknowingly, I put my fruit in plastic bags ... crime of the Century I know, well I was told I am supposed to have Fruit in papa' bag and Vege-tables in pwastic bag. Apparently they have signs up that say all of this. I guess I was overwhelmed from all the excitement! I wish J' was there to see me gettin' told by this cute little Asian woman, but I asked him to go get my camera out of the van...rats! In the end, I walked with 4 amazing Tomatoes and 4 Peaches & 1 White Peach equaling out to a whole $3.74!!! Ganga for fresh Fruit...you know this girl (ME) is jumping for Jehoshaphat's!!!

[caption id="attachment_218" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I got some goodies![/caption]

When we got back up to Shaver Lake, we stopped and filled up on water. Don't know if some of ya'll even know this (because we didn't), but in the state of California gas stations HAVE to supply free air and water (they say for automotive purposes, but how do they know what you're using it for!?) We filled up both of our gallon jugs, water bottles, and then our 5 gallon jug, we call it the water cooler.

All stocked up, off we go again, to home, to get this stuff on some ice before all that money goes down the drain. I'm sure J' wants to sit and look at all the new "toys" for the install tomorrow.

[caption id="attachment_223" align="aligncenter" width="300"] We got new solar and lots of other things...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_224" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our Brand New batteries[/caption]

All of this craziness and racing around (and we were rushing) still took us about 7 hours. No trip to town is ever a 'hurry and come back' ordeal, just glad all of our food is safe, bagged and cooling again. We're going to (try) to eat like Kings tonight baby!!

[caption id="attachment_222" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Only a lot burnt, but still edible[/caption]

PEACE