Wild Cucumber

As Phil put it, I can knock  'driving into Menard's back lot' off my bucket list.  (Even though it was never on my bucket list.)    After getting Svaldilfari stuck in the mud and needing to call Brother Russell to pull me out, something had to be done about the access to the back 80.  The topography of the land means there is no good way to get across if we've had rain.  Brother Phil talked w/ Neighbor Blake about it and Blake suggested drainage tiles.  This morning Phil and I drove over to Churchville to do some errands and to just see what the drainage tiles would look like.  We found them plus we found seven bags of sand for another project.  Instead of dragging all of that through the store, I got a slip, paid for it at the checkout, and drove around the back of the building.  First you needed to scan your receipt to get into the backyard.  Probably to keep people from driving back there to 'look around'.  Picking up the tiles were no problem.  We only needed three 10 footer's and they were very flexible.  Easy to bend them into a 'U" shape in the back of the car.  For the sand bags, we drove down the paving material alley in the back lot.   Allowing cars into these relatively narrow alleyways seemed to me insanity.  Items were stacked higher than the car. Some item stacks intruded into the alleyway here and there. There were semi's, trucks, and cars all on their own mission w/ no set routes.  Phil kept assuring me this is the way it's done.  (Personally, I would have pulled the 'old lady card' and asked if I could just drive to the pickup doors and have employees bring everything to me.)  Fortunately, my car has an excellent backup camera, I drove slowly, and always gave the semi's plenty of space.  On the way out, there was a guard to check that we'd only taken what was on our receipt.  I'm guessing if I really want a thrill I should go back there next spring when everyone is getting materials for their DIY projects.