Ahh dear. It was my own fault. I didn't use the restraining cord, so the Little Cute One's water bottle popped onto the ground somewhere, on a mountain bike ride. Well, I could replace it with the most common and inexpensive bicycle water bottle. I dropped into Walmart. Nope. I can't believe how often the modern Walmart disappoints me.
I tried several other stores. Nope. All the water bottles have gotten so fancy. And they usually have Yeti written on them.
Then I panicked and went to food stores and a Dollar Store, and looked for a disposable water bottle, filled with colored sugar water that could be poured on the ground. None of them had the groove around the equator that helps hold the bottle in place on a bike. And the screw-on lids will be lost in a week. (Actually, you'd be surprised how quickly the thin plastic cracks on this type of bottle.)
I was desperate by now. So I waited half the morning until a bicycle shop opened at 10 a.m., according to Google Maps. But when I arrived, the sign said it didn't open until 11 a.m.
I went to the other bicycle shop that was also supposed to open at 10 a.m., but its electric 'OPEN' sign was not lit up. But it was open. By now, I had relinquished all self-respect and pleaded my case. Apparently I did such a good job of sounding pitiful that the shop owner went in the backroom and came out with a used bottle that he had recently found on a trail. He didn't want any money, but almost in tears by now, I offered him $5.
At one of these stores, the public address propaganda warned people about leaving dogs or kiddies in your car before shopping. Perhaps the fools should open the store at a decent hour in the morning!
Vernal UT has a commercial strip where everybody drives 45-50 mph. I consider that dangerous, with all the people coming out of commercial driveways and trying to turn left. When you exit the Walmart parking lot, they don't even give you a traffic light!
Police and ambulance sirens started howling, just when I thought I was in 'Mission Accomplished' mode. They diverted traffic away from an accident at the most screwed up intersection in town. I saw two cars involved, but there must have been a third. An SUV was smashed up and completely rolled over onto its roof!
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| from pritchettcartoons.com |
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