looking for drugs in all the wrong places

I finally got The Letter from my doctor, along with my first-ever long-term prescription (one I expect to be on for the next dozen years, thanks to my ancestors). Since this will be recurring, I did the unthinkable: called several pharmacies to see who had the best price!

Since The Good Doctor's prescription didn't say "no generics," I found the generic name for mine, then Let My Fingers Do The Walking. In my case (your mileage may vary), the best price (by about 8%) was at CVS Pharmacy, followed closely by Walgreen's; then Eckerd (recently owned by JC Penney, then sold and set to be merged into CVS); Kroger Pharmacy and (highest - by about 45%!) Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market. The only place who didn't give me an exact quote was Wal-Mart, who said the cost was (quote) "about $30" (CVS was just over $22).

Depending on the shelf life, maybe I should sneak over the border into Mexico and buy a year's supply? Let's see how the math works out:

1. the nearest border town is probably Laredo (about 725 kilometers - 450 miles - away)
2. my gas mileage is 13.2 kpl [kilometers per liter] - 31 mpg (highway)
3. a tank of gasoline costs about $31
4. my car's gas tank holds 60 liters (a bit less than 16 gallons)
5. there are only country music stations south of San Antonio
6. I am allergic to country music
7. roundtrip airfare [Dallas-Harlingen (or El Paso)] is $220 (Southwest)
8. roundtrip bus fare [Dallas-Laredo] via Greyhound is $72
9. the number of armadillos increases exponentially as you leave the interstate highway

uh .. carry the two, divide by zero .. uh ...