IN THE PAST, I have posted about how far we have to drive just to get to the market. It is a two hour drive one way. We take a desolate 2-laner, 4.6 miles of which is unpaved, through a corner of Arizona, past the community of polygamists, through a city called Hurricane (which the inhabitants pronounce Hurr-ah-cun… since I’m from Florida, you know how I pronounce it), into the thriving community of St. George, which appears to me to be 75% stores and 25% people in traffic on their way to the stores.

Once there, the high point of our trip is lunch in an actual restaurant. Secondarily, we go nutso in Costco (hey, that could be the title of a song!).

I like to buy myself at least one treat, something I have no business ingesting but what the hey, life’s short. Today’s treat was a 4 lb. container of Jelly Belly “gourmet jelly beans.” Last trip, it was a big plastic container of oatmeal raisin cookies. I used to purchase these ridiculously costly bags of Aussie black licorice, but they’ve stopped carrying it.

As usual, when it appears the cashier is close to totaling up and telling us the amount we owe, I walk away. I do not want to know what we’re spending. Remember, I’m the guy with the collection of Three Monkeys, SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, ETC. As George W. Bush must have said somewhere during his abominable presidency, “Ignorance is bliss.”