Nu Shooz

I couldn't wait. My old hiking boots not only developed holes in the uppers making for soggy socks, but the rubber sole on one of them cracked wide open. That's not a good thing when you're trodding through the vineyard in slush and mud.

New on the left, old on the right.

So we drove up to Blois the other day to check out two sporting goods stores. The first, a Décathlon, was picked pretty clean. This is one of two annual sale times in France and a lot of merchandise is marked down. The sale started over a week ago.

The second store, Go Sport, wasn't much better, but we both found something we liked, that fit, and that was marked down by a good amount. So I say good-bye to a comfy old pair of boots that have served me well for close to ten years. Now I'm in the break-in period with the new pair. I already have a band-aid on my right heel.

We also stopped at two other stores along the way, one of which was the Paris Store where we buy Asian food products. Lots of beans, grains, noodles, and frozen raw shrimp. And we got home in time for lunch. It was a productive trip.