Stray Observations Whle We've Got Internet

Had a great trip to the Walmart. In our cruising thus far we've been almost exclusively in very rural, backwoods areas and I've come to realize the tremendous and mostly positive, impact Walmart has had on rural America. Cant' say we ever visited it when we lived in the Twin Cities, in fact we sort of turned up our nose at it. If we went discount at all, it was always to Target. On this trip, however, Walmart has been a lifesaver -- the most exciting shopping we've had! The only place I've been able to get decent produce, and the range of supplies we are accustomed to. I am disappointed that they don't carry any caviar at all (not even the inexpensive lumpfish caviar), but they've had just about everything else we've needed, including canvas fabric. In the small towns we've visited, having a Walmart is pretty much a sign that the town is thriving and is worth putting on the map.

Many of you have asked about cooking. It has mostly been just great. We have a good oven and a three burner stove in addition to the little propane bbq. We make many of the same dishes that we've always made at home but try to keep it simple in terms of number of pots required and length of cooking time. We brought all of our spices and condiments as well as 5 of our favorite cookbooks (wish we could have brought all 40). Also, we've got all the main accoutrements: microwave, Cuisinart, pasta machine, magic bullet, espresso maker, pizza stone, mortar and pestle).

We have a large freezer compartment that has been great for storing meat. We brought a lot of meat with us and have had not difficult replenishing our supplies. Our biggest challenge has been fresh produce -- either we haven't been able to find good produce (the local stores sell 10 different kinds of biscuit mixes and 20 brands for frying catfish, but their produce is old and tired) or we haven't been able to store it properly because the refrigerator section is already so full of other things. The lettuces always seem to go bad too quickly. Lately I've been able to buy "green" (unripe and unrefrigerated) produce from Walmart and store it in bins around the boat. This has worked well for peppers, tomatoes, avocados as well as sweet potatoes and Fall squashes.
When we get to Belize we anticipate that we'll be able to shop at outdoor markets for fresh fruits, vegetables and fish, but we've heard it will be hard to get meat and staples. When packing up the house before we left, I vacuum packaged all kinds of staples. I suspect it will take us a year or two to run out of beans, rice, flour and sugar. I also bought two dozen cans of "roast beef" from Trader Joe's and through some experimentation, think we'll be able to make perfectly good dishes using them (e.g., Cornish Pasties, Indonesian beef stew).
Last summer we bought a pressure cooker in anticipation of this trip. With it we can cut the time for cooking most things from hours to minutes (e.g. rice, potatoes, stew, etc.) which will be helpful if we become concerned about refilling the propane tank. Using it, we made a terrific ratatouille just before we left that took less than 10 minutes.

One of the nicest things about cooking on the boat is that we are not rushed or tired. Until we left Minnesota we tended to eat out 3-4 times per week just because we were too bushed to cook. Now it is more a pleasurable end to the day than a chore and I've personally cooked more than I have for the past 30 years.

Last observation: the further South the travel the more confederate flags we see. Lots of good old boys drinking beer and talking trash. On the other hand, most people are very friendly, helpful and polite. The Kentucky Dam Marina, run by the State of Kentucky was top notch in terms of both facilities and management. Pickwick Landing, run by the State of Tennessee and bordering Mississippi and Alabama was run down to the point that its transient docks had been condemned two years ago and they have no money or plans for repairs.