We walked the main downtown shopping street in Melbourne twice. Once when we went for lunch and a second time because went back when the “candle light” thing was going on between 5 & 9 PM. There were a fun assortment of stores and restaurants to keep us entertained and fed both trips.
Outside one of the funky little shops there was a colorful flashing, rotating light that danced on the sidewalk that prompted passers-by to dance on the spots.
We walked from the hotel to a place for breakfast, but it was just a drive-thru, so we went with Plan B, Micky D’s. As we were almost done eating our Egg McMuffins we heard an employee shout, “We have a bus! We have a bus!” Sure enough, a stream of high school aged kids came piling in the door. A few just came in and sat (the ones with not much spending money), some headed for the restrooms (those with small bladders) and the majority of them got in line. They made a queue that was three wide that snaked all the way to the entrance door.
We finished up our stuff and cleared off the table figuring that it would be needed soon. As we were exiting the restaurant through the door on the other side, we were met by an older couple coming in. I looked at them and said, “You might want to find another place to eat, a bus just unloaded a big bunch of high school students on a field trip to Epcot.” The man replied, “I know, I just dropped them off. I’m the driver.”
This is what the Purple Whale looks like reflected in the side of a tanker truck, possibly carrying Black Oil, on one of Eisenhower’s Interstate Highways. Early this morning, somewhere not too far from Aiken the Sonata’s digital odometer blipped past the 9,000 mile mark.
We searched for a total of 10 caches today and found 7, while DNFing 3. Those finds were very productive though, as they did net 7 GA Counties, 2 GA Delorme pages and one State Park.
We shop at Krogers where each dollar you spend gets turned into “Fuel Points.” Every buck equals 1 point and each 100 points equals 10¢ off a gallon of gas. Simple, Right? Not so much. Each prescription, whether a $4 generic or a $50 non-preferred, gets you 50 points. Buy a gift card and you get double points, but right now for the holidays we are in the middle of a two week period where you get 4x the points.
Points not used during the month are not lost, but carried over for one month in their own bucket. When you redeem your points for money off a gallon a gas it will take from last months points first if it is greater than the current month’s total. This is handy, in case you forget to fill up before the last day of the month, you can use them up in the first week or two of the next month.
At first we didn’t really pay attention to all this and just let the fuel points fall where they may, but when we noticed that sometimes a substantial amount of points were wasted at the end of the month, we changed our attitude. Now, we have gone so far the other way, that it borders on a game.
Tonight we needed a few things at the store, we needed to pick up 4 prescriptions and we needed some gas. When we left the house we had 176 points, add the 200 points for prescriptions, we are now up to 376. Our few items didn’t look like the $24 we needed to bump us up to the 40¢ off level, so we added a $25 Panera Bread gift card. Our total came to thirty five bucks and change.
Now our total points no stood at 486!?! Oh yeah, 4 times the points for the gift card. So now we need to spend $15 to put us over the next level. Donna says buy a $15 DD gift card. “Brilliant,” I say, “We can always use one of those.”
So I go back through the self check out line that I just came from and buy the $15 gift card. When I’m done I look at my new point total, 546. How the heck…? Then we both come to the same conclusion simultaneously, idiots, you don’t get the 15 points for the $15 and the 4x points, you just get the 4x points.
Donna says, “Well, go back and buy another $15 DD gift card and that 60 points will put us just over 600 level.” At first I refuse, but finally relent, under one condition, I get to go through a different check out line.
The Purples Whale’s low fuel light was on, so the 17 gallons of gas we got for $40, would have cost us $50 without that 60¢ discount.
My head hurt from all that cipherin’.
A very cool little roadside park along the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Highway in upstate South Carolina that we stopped at on Saturday. It is where we found one of the 15 geocaches we found during our three day trip to the SMH for Turkey Day.
From the Pearson Falls History page:
A military man, farmer, and an engineer, Captain Pearson bought the Glen as part of a large tract of land that he wanted for his family. For years he and his heirs allowed generations of young people to picnic on the great stone table-rock that you will see at the foot of the Falls. Botanists and bird-fanciers from all over the country have come to discover and catalogue the wonders of this Glen area.
In 1931, the Tryon Garden Club bought the property in order to preserve this unique mountain Glen. Through the generosity of an honorary member and careful planning, the club members purchased the several hundred acres of this wildlife preserve. Although open to the public, the property remains under the ownership and protection of the Tryon Garden Club.
Over 17,000 people visit Pearson’s Falls each year. It is also a wildlife preserve, and outdoor laboratory for the botany departments of the surrounding colleges and universities, and the site of frequent field trips for local science classes. Pearson’s Falls is designated as a North Carolina National Heritage Site of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, a North Carolina Birding Trail Site, and is placed in the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Gardens.
