Nuggets of wisdom

#62
#62
Tin Man said:
First road trip in the new Scoobydoo?
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It’s the longest trip so far, although an hour+ drive to go shopping doesn’t yet rise to road trip level.

We had hoped (silly us) to do a serious road trip in August or September, but the October 9 delivery definitely interfered with that!

We’re making noises about trying to get away in early December, after the Master Gardener classes are done and before Grandson #2 makes his entrance around Christmas. It would be a short trip though.
 
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#63
#63
VolNExile said:
It’s the longest trip so far, although an hour+ drive to go shopping doesn’t yet rise to road trip level.

We had hoped (silly us) to do a serious road trip in August or September, but the October 9 delivery definitely interfered with that!

We’re making noises about trying to get away in early December, after the Master Gardener classes are done and before Grandson #2 makes his entrance around Christmas. It would be a short trip though.
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Is there not a Costco in Asheville?
 
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#64
#64
82_VOL_83 said:
Is there not a Costco in Asheville?
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No!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤬1637206065055.gif🤬1637206074672.gif🤬

They say that the demographics don’t support it, but that’s ridiculous. The greater Asheville/Hendersonville area has a big retirement community with a lot of income to throw around and not many places to throw it at.

It’s especially galling, because they built one store in Greenville and another in Spartanburg, twenty-freakin’-two miles away. 1637206479074.gif

There’s another one in Charlotte, but I’d rather be buried in a fire ant hill than go to Charlotte to do much of anything at all, other than change planes. (Sorry @volwindy and @VolInNorthCack)

Edit to add: Boone people would come to an AVL Costco, Tri-Cities people would come (hell, they drive to our Trader Joe’s), Waynesville, Cherokee…
 
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#66
#66
joevol33 said:
How long does it take you to get to Greenville?
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An hour ten or fifteen, depending on the time of day. Now that they’re done blowing up I-85, it’s not bad, once we get past the I-26 Construction of Endlessness.

We go every 8-10 weeks or so. It’s worth the trip.
 
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#67
#67
VolNExile said:
An hour ten or fifteen, depending on the time of day. Now that they’re done blowing up I-85, it’s not bad, once we get past the I-26 Construction of Endlessness.

We go every 8-10 weeks or so. It’s worth the trip.
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Not bad, about an hour and a half for me.
 
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#68
#68
joevol33 said:
Not bad, about an hour and a half for me.
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Do you go to Greenville too? I guess you’re sort of betwixt and between, where you live.

Is that where you get your ribeyes? Most of what we spend is on their meat and chicken, followed by wine and booze, ahem. (Be kind, we are at the mercy of the NC ABC stores for our reasonably modest consumption of bourbon and friends.)
 
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#69
#69
VolNExile said:
An hour ten or fifteen, depending on the time of day. Now that they’re done blowing up I-85, it’s not bad, once we get past the I-26 Construction of Endlessness.

We go every 8-10 weeks or so. It’s worth the trip.
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How far is Knoxville?
 
#70
#70
82_VOL_83 said:
How far is Knoxville?
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About an hour twenty, but it involves crossing the mountains, with all the frequent lane closures for rockslides and other oopsies.

Back when I drove monthly (!) to Memphis, we stopped at the Knoxville Costco on the way back. Their handy not-Costco-but-there liquor store packed it in though, meaning an additional stop at the Topside exit liquor store off Pellissippi.

Unless you live in a state with ABC stores and even higher sin taxes than Tennessee’s, you don’t know how maddeningly difficult it is to keep three or four bottles o’booze on hand.
 
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#72
#72
VolNExile said:
Do you go to Greenville too? I guess you’re sort of betwixt and between, where you live.

Is that where you get your ribeyes? Most of what we spend is on their meat and chicken, followed by wine and booze, ahem. (Be kind, we are at the mercy of the NC ABC stores for our reasonably modest consumption of bourbon and friends.)
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I don't go for shopping, but we've been to the zoo several times over there. I've told Tiffany if we ever fly again, I'd bout rather fly out of there, than fight Atlanta.
 
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#73
#73
VolNExile said:
Do you go to Greenville too? I guess you’re sort of betwixt and between, where you live.

Is that where you get your ribeyes? Most of what we spend is on their meat and chicken, followed by wine and booze, ahem. (Be kind, we are at the mercy of the NC ABC stores for our reasonably modest consumption of bourbon and friends.)
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Is their meat good? I usually get our meat at ingles, and the ribeyes from Walmart, of all places, it's the best. We have one in Buford, I've thought about getting a membership.
 
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#74
#74
joevol33 said:
I don't go for shopping, but we've been to the zoo several times over there. I've told Tiffany if we ever fly again, I'd bout rather fly out of there, than fight Atlanta.
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It’s a very civilized airport. Just the road from the interstate exit, with the amazing landscaping, puts it in another category.

Southwest used to have good connections from there, but then they started routing everything through ATL, so never mind. Good connections for other airlines, though. My younger daughter and The Aussie Boyfriend are flying into GSP nonstop from Denver for Thanksgiving.

Back before The Plague, Greenville had really good concerts at the Peace Center.
 
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#75
#75
joevol33 said:
Is their meat good? I usually get our meat at ingles, and the ribeyes from Walmart, of all places, it's the best. We have one in Buford, I've thought about getting a membership.
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Their steaks, and everything else in the meat department, are flat-out awesome. We’ve never found any better except at Fresh Market ($$$). They’ve gotten a lot pricier than they used to be, though, like pretty much everyone else, due to the never-ending supply chain crap.

I don’t know how they compare in price to Walmart. The quality is way better than Ingles, and the price is lower. You have to have a freezer, though, or a lot of daughters (and sons-in-law!), because everything comes in massive sizes. We bring two coolers and vacuum-seal everything when we get home, and then load it into the basement freezer. You need to have a pantry mentality for Costco to make sense.

The steaks are all thick-cut, to the point that once or twice we actually had to cut them in half through the middle, because they were too thick. Not excess fat, but not too lean, either. Very tender, great flavor.

We buy NY strips and flank steaks, chuck shoulders (pot roast), briskets, pork shoulders/ Boston butts, St Louis ribs, pork chops, chicken thighs (bone-in and boneless), chicken breast tenderloins, Italian sausage, sumpin sumpin else. They used to have one-pound containers of crab meat, but those seem to have vanished.

Other than the above and wine, we don’t buy much else in the store. The 5-ton can of pecan pralines keeps my mother alive for several months. They have some good (giant) spices, like butt rubs and granulated onion, and we buy paper towels and cat litter, but that’s it. There are a zillion other things that we don’t bother with. You will walk yourself to death until you figure out your tactical approach.

Oh, and we always gas up. I’ve never seen lower gas prices elsewhere.

—and we more than make back our annual membership fee with the rebate or whatever it’s called.
 
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