October 8, 2016. Hanging Out On the Lake.

October 8, 2016.  Hanging Out On the Lake.  Somewhere in the USA within the last year, we bought a 2016 Atlas.  As we were leaving Colorado and entering New Mexico, Annie was trying to figure out where we were.  "Hey," she exclaimed, "there's no New Mexico in this Atlas!"  Upon closer inspection, there were eight pages missing from the center section of the Atlas.  The staples were fitted perfectly in place, so it wasn't a matter of the pages being torn out of the book.  Somehow, that Atlas company had manufactured a book without the 8 pages in the center.  New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and enlargements of urban areas didn't exist in this Atlas.

I've never seen that before.  I remembered buying it at a Walmart, but where and when, I had no idea.  The sales receipt for the purchase perished long ago.  "Well, we'll just return it - "satisfaction guaranteed" and all that rot," I pontificated.

"Yeah, good luck with that." Annie responded.

The first picture above is the service desk at the Osage Beach Walmart.  The intimidating lady behind the desk is Ragenia.  I was a little alarmed when I noticed that the first four letters of her name spelled the word, "Rage."  I could imagine how the conversation might go.  "What, you idiot, you have no receipt!  Out with you before I call Security!"

My fears were completely unwarranted.  "What, no New Mexico!  What kind of Atlas is that.  Here, let me give you your money back, no questions asked."  And, she counted out $8.48 in cash and handed it to me.  "I am so sorry for the inconvenience.  What could be worse that being lost in New Mexico."

She had made a very good point.  I hadn't thought about that.  That Sam Walton, he created quite a business, didn't he.

So, yesterday, we visited the Premium Outlet Stores and spent absolutely nothing.  We walked around for nearly two hours.  There must be nearly 100 stores there, and we couldn't find anything we needed or wanted.  Today was a quiet day in the campground.  Scores of campers arrived yesterday for the three-day weekend.  It was nice to look across the campground tonight and see campfire smoke filtering through the trees.  Kids are riding bicycles as their fathers clean and fillet their daily catch for dinner.  This is such a great country.

We will be here tonight and two more.  We leave for home Tuesday after having lunch with Annie's Aunt Dink and her cousin Jo.  They are from Seattle.  We tried to connect with them in the spring of 2015 as we passed through Seattle but we couldn't make things work out.  We look forward to seeing them Tuesday.  Dink is 88, so she may not be up to making the trip again.

For now, goodnight.