IMS - Day # 4 - Getting Ready

Our five day "get ready, get set, and GO" window is quickly melting away.  Here it is Thursday already.  Both TLE and I needed to pick up some additional clothing items to complete our IMS uniform.  IMS provides two yellow button down collar dress shirts with IMS emblems.  We wear one shirt one day, and the 2nd day we bring back the dirty one while wearing the second one, and pick up another clean one. They launder the shirts.  We are responsible for providing black pants, socks, shoes, and belt.  I have one pair of black pants, but wanted a second, pair....the same for TLE.  I also needed some black socks, and one more black coolwick undershirt, as well as some ExOfficio briefs.  The  whole point for me is to be able to hand wash the socks, briefs and undershirts each night and then throw them in the dryer, or hang them up.  Kind of like backpacking. We will be in our uniforms 10-12 hours a day, and don't want to have to do a major laundry during our 16 day assignment.  Unless something catastrophic happens to our black pants we should be able to make it 16 days without needing to wash them.  Anyway that's the plan....we'll see how the execution of that plan turns out.

Since the day was so nice we decided to drop the soft top on the 'Bird and enjoy the weather as we drove 17 miles up to the northeast side of Indianapolis.  I don't think we've taken the hard top off since Cedar Key.

Indianapolis has two of our favorite stores.....Trader Joe's and REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.).  We headed to REI first......REI is a outdoor outfitter, and I love their customer service.  There is an REI about 2 blocks from my former office in Rancho Cucamonga, CA that I used to visit on a regular basis before we hit the road.  We got there just before 10, and they did not open until 10, so we drove across the street to TJ Maxx to look for pants. I found a pair of black Levis, which is exactly what I wanted, for $25, and another Nike coolwick undershirt for $14.  TLE found a pair of suitable black pants, also.

Next we headed to REI.  I quickly found my black socks, and ExOfficio briefs.....cool!  When I was checking out I found I had $11 of unused dividend (store credit based on your previous year's purchases) that they applied to my bill.  I always forget about my dividend!

By that time it was just after 12 so we headed over to Granite City Food and Brewery for lunch.  We had visited one of their stores when we were in Lincoln, Nebraska last year, and loved their in house brews and robust food.  They have locations in 12 different mid-western states.  Our experience Thursday was comparable.

6 in house craft beers on tap!

We had a lovely lunch.  Yelp only give them 3 stars.....they are definitely 4-4.5 stars in our book. 

From there we headed to Trader Joe's (or TJ's as they are affectionately referred to by their legion of fans), and picked up some food items, and some more of their Blue Fin Pinot Noir, TJ's Zinfandel, and TJ's Sauvignon Blanc.  The quality of these wines at 1/3 the normal price we are used to is remarkable!

We arrived back home just as weather was coming in.  We could see the thick, black clouds coming from the east as we drove home on I-465.  We had barely gotten our shopping items out of the car when it started to rain.  It ended up being a brief rain squall, but the National Weather Service had put out a possible tornado warning, along with T-storms, so we had to put in the patio awning, and the window awnings, as well as all the patio furniture, BBQ, etc.  Within a couple of hours the main storm arrived, and it rained the rest of the afternoon/evening.  We were also treated to an electrical storm on the eastern horizon, which was quite spectacular....BUT, no tornadoes.

We headed to bed by 10:30....we've got to change our habits for the next 16 days, and get to bed much earlier!

Thanks for stopping by!