I live in a remote river valley, so when I'm forced to go shopping in the big city I'll have one of two common reactions to the experience. Sometimes I feel it is a blast to get out of the valley and experience the hustle-bustle population explosion of a bigger town. Then there are days like today when I feel alarmed by the hugeness of the human settlement, and long to go home to the boonies.
We drove into Medford this morning and went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. That part was alright. Then we went shopping at Win-Co. That was moderately stressful. Next we got gas and proceeded to Walmart for a few cheap provisions. Before long I was wandering through the store looking for my best friend, buddy, and very significant other, looking at things and thinking "I don't need that. I don't need that either. I don't NEED any of this stuff!" I got only the few items on my list and then announced I was ready to go. He got a few goodies for his fishing kit and we headed home again. I was so happy to retreat!
On the way back into California (yes, we have to cross the Oregon border to shop) we were stopped by a state employee asking if we had any fruit or live plants. This agricultural inspection has been going on for many decades, but in my many trips across the border in the last five years or so, we've been allowed to pass uninspected -- they were stopping trucks only. I don't know why they are suddenly doing agricultural inspections for cars again. It is no big deal. We stop, an agent asks if we have the forbidden objects, and we say "no"... then are waved through. It isn't like they actually insist on looking through our grocery sacks. Fortunately we didn't have fruit or live plants... I would hate to buy a bag of oranges then have to turn it in at the border. We live only twenty miles south of the Oregon-California border and nowhere near any orange trees. I don't think they do well in our climate - but there are a lot of old apple trees; you have to know where to look for them.
I get enough "civilization" from checking it out on the Internet... I don't need to be out in it to be happy.
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