I've been meaning to mention this in one of my journal segments, only to be reminded again while I was driving back to the hotel from WalMart: there he was again, Las Vegas Elvis, promoting a local candidate in the imminent election. I'm not exactly sure what an Elvis "endorsement" would do for a candidate; he passed nearly 40 years ago. (Maybe dead Chicago voters?) What's next, a moonwalking Michael Jackson?
I suppose if I directly paid property taxes I would pay more attention to local races. For the most part, I don't follow or know local candidates, their records or policies. Of course, zoning issues and other policies impact individual economic rights, public safety and education are significant. My brother once ran for the local school board and lost. This was shortly after my sister-in-law uncovered evidence of local corruption in personal expenditures on the taxpayer dime and even made the local newspaper; it's not entirely clear why she didn't run herself, except maybe it was because she hadn't earned her college degree yet. At one point, he asked for my feedback, but what he wanted was a validation of his campaign strategy. I had channeled my inner Karl Rove, but he wasn't interested and never asked again. In fact, my brother's support was decisive in the only election I have ever won, to head the altar boys at our local base parish during my high school years.
Tucker Duke Mystery Solved (8/28/16)
While I was waiting out housekeeping at the hotel, I asked the hotel clerk/manager if he knew where Tucker Duke's is. He said, "As a matter of fact I do. I do my grocery shopping at Grocery Outlet, and the other day as I drove into the strip mall I saw a cardboard sign saying Tucker Duke's is now open." In fact, I made specific note of the same mall in yesterday's post (although I hadn't noticed said announcement):
Earlier at lunchtime, I found a Google reference to its location in a strip mall with a Grocery Outlet and a Dollar General a few blocks away from the Reynolds spot, and I recall reading one Yelp customer not happy with the idea of Tucker Duke's moving to a strip mall, so maybe that was the place, but I don't know why the corporate website wouldn't reference it. I went into the strip mall and couldn't find it--a vacant space for lease where I expected to find it. No Tucker Duke sign anywhere including the strip mall's registry of mall shops.I mentioned the Reynolds intersection, and he said, "Oh, that's the original location. They moved from there to the Marina (a location on Sims right at the T intersection with the uphill 85N split); but they again recently moved. (The Marina includes a Greek/Italian restaurant where I enjoyed a calzone today.) Well, that explains why the Tucker Duke site gave a street address inconsistent with the map location--but both locations are obsolete. I have no idea why the Tucker Duke site shows old, irrelevant locations.
Here's a Google map of the strip mall in question:
Now what happened the other day, I thought Tucker Duke's was to the LEFT of Joey's heading into the strip mall or to the RIGHT of Joey's reading the map from right to left. I couldn't find it from Joey's to the end of the mall (Allstate). There is a minor problem with Google's strip mall map; I think they give Joey's and Tucker Duke's the same street address, and this contributed to my problem.
So after talking to the manager I headed out to the strip mall again. I don't see a cardboard sign but I did see a freestanding plastic sign with the message that Tucker Duke's is now open as the manager suggested. But where was it? I noticed again a vacant space near Joey's. I parked the SUV and started walking from the Allstate end. As I pass by Joey's, I notice a painted Tucker Duke's on the window of the next shop (to the right of Joey's from an inbound car's perspective or to Joey's left, i.e., in the direction of Dollar Tree). It was open with customers coming out as I found it, but it closes early on Sunday's, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow night to try it. Stay tuned as I pass judgment on whether it was worth the fuss.
More Fun With My Garmin (8/28/16)
I don't know what it is with computerized maps but at least a half dozen to a dozen times I've run into issue where they get a turn direction wrong. It happened most recently on my first day's trip to a federal facility in Yuma. The directions were to take a left at exit 3 on I-8 E.
As I mentioned in a recent Journal post, I got lost going down Route 20 the other day looking for Tucker Duke's. On my way back, I noticed a WalMart to my right. I made a mental note because I needed to purchase a few items like a notebook and some laundry soap. I felt I knew where I could find it but I brought my Garmin. The Garmin is noting I need to take a right at an upcoming intersection while I can see the WalMart complex to my left. The Garmin continues to insist I need to take a right, and I ignore it. Here's the kicker: I'm exiting from WalMart back onto 20 heading west (towards the hotel) when the Garmin comes back to life: "Now arriving at WalMart on your right." Right on except I was leaving WalMart on my right.
