Our Town

For the remainder of February I’m going to write some basic, random bits about our new “home town.” In the nearly eight months time we’ve become nicely accustomed to our new home and its surroundings. Now my writing will not match the haunting, existential beauty of Thornton Wilder’s play about Grovers Corner. But I like the idea that maybe, if I save my writings, someday my great-grandchildren may read about our experience of moving from the big city to a rural area and even, maybe, find it interesting. Much in the way I would love to now read the words of my ancestors.

Our “town” is really an almost-completely, private development situated in the middle of a rural county of 90% farmland. Yeah, I know it’s strange, but there you have it. We have, our county that is, one stop light and erecting that was a politician’s nightmare. They didn’t have to pull a Mayor Daley “middle-of-the-night Meigs Field bulldozing” to get it in, but it was hard fought and much protested by the local community. Other than that, we’ve only stop signs and small town municipality’s speed traps to slow us down and that is usually sufficient to keep things in check around here. Most of the crime found on the “police beat” of the local paper deals with DUI’s and speeding. 

If you’ve read my past postings, (and if you knew how few people actually read my blog, you’d know why I’m even mentioning this ;-) ). Anyway, you’d know that I enjoy old-time television. So my husband and I have nicknamed all of the local areas according to our memories of “The Andy Griffith Show.” We call our ‘privatopia:’ Myers Lake. Myers Lake has a lake, a golf course/clubhouse, a small ski/tube/snowboard hill and tow, and an “aquatic complex” with indoor/outdoor pools. It’s not at all like the simple rowboat fishing hole near Mayberry. We have our own security officers, but rely on local towns for volunteer fire forces.

We share a zipcode with a small nearby town of about 1400, (although we are pretty sure that includes the 400 or so of us ‘full-timers’ here in Myers Lake). Here we include another nearby town of about 750 (this town didn’t have the savvy to let us use their zip and thus share our tax base. But due to county regulations, they are within our “township” and so it’s where we vote during local and national elections.) We call these two collectively our “Mayberry.” Between the two Mayberrys, which are both about 10 miles from us, there are two main gas stations, which serve as fast food/convenience centers. They sell mostly gas, cigarettes, beer, milk, donuts and fast food, and I’d gauge it’s about in that order of volume from highest to lowest. They seem to both have that “general store” draw and it’s where you’ll rub elbows with area farmers and townfolk.

The Mayberrys also have one small grocery store, one biker bar, an on again/off again cafe and a pizza carryout/delivery place, which is run by a guy who preaches during the day and makes pretty good pizza by night. Each town has a post office, but I’m sure that one will close as the USPS makes future cuts.  One of the towns has a public library. They share a high school and I’m not sure but maybe even an elementary. It’s where our few children from Myers Lake would be assigned.

Nearby is a town one step up from our Mayberry, and they have about 1800 residents. We call this town, “Mount Pilot” and it is our county seat, so if we're called for jury duty this is where we’ll be assigned. They have a jail attached to the courthouse, (kind of Mayberry-ish) and they have a beautiful Carnegie Library. They have a medium-sized grocery store, which I think is owned by someone from Myers Lake and has a delivery service that includes Myers Lake. Mount Pilot has a drugstore, a hardware store, a Dairy Queen, two gas stations, four bars all serving food, and a couple of which feature live music on weekends. They also have a couple of restaurant/cafes, one of which is billed as “upscale.” They have a couple of quaint antique shops, and also have a crazy haunted house, which has been featured on network TV and is a huge draw near Halloween. They also have a 8-lane bowling alley, which was recently revamped with new, slick lanes, and includes the latest in video, automatic scoring, live television entertainment. It gives you the speed of your throw and shows hints on where to aim to pick up your spare. It’s where I am a sub on Myers Lake’s women’s league. As a league player one can bowl any time for the bargain rate of $5 per two hours. Oh, and I almost forgot, our Mt. Pilot was recently named one of the 15 finalists in the "Coolest Small Town in America" Budget Travel's annual listing. How cool is that?

The next biggest town is a place we call “Siler City.” It rests on the Mighty Mississippi and has the only movie theater in our county, and all the bells and whistles to go with that famed stoplight, bars, restaurants, gas stations, a drugstore, grocery store, an actual “True Value” hardware store and a couple of big biker bars. Being on two main state highways, adjacent to the river, and nestled in rolling hills it is a big draw in warmer weather for motorcyclists.

The other towns we visit are outside of our county. For the nearest large town of 20,000, we use the name of the place where they actually filmed The Andy Griffith Show in California: “Culver City.” And for the ‘big city’ that has ‘everything’ we give Rockford, Illinois, the name “Raleigh.” And just like Andy’s show, we can find whatever we need in “Raleigh.” It's where Barney Fire had his annual vacation in a corner room at the YMCA, and where he wrote this letter to Andy:

Dear Andy: It certainly is exciting up here in Raleigh. Really having a ball. My head hasn't hit the pillow before 11:15 since I got here. Catching all the shows. Saw that Italian picture that we read about in the paper, Bread, Love and Beans, and it was plenty risque, let me tell you.

The food here in the cafeteria is terrific, and I've been eating up a storm. The breakfast special is unbelievable: three hot cakes, two strips of bacon, one egg- any style, juice, and coffee, all for 35 cents. It's served only between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m., but I can't sleep anyway.

I ran into a fellow on the street the other day who tried to sell me an iron deer for my front lawn, but I don't know.

Well, it's almost 5:00, so I better get down to breakfast. Love to Aunt Bee, Opie, Floyd, Goober and all the boys.

10-4, Over and Out, Barney 

P.S. I'm not saying anything, but there is an awful lot of pretty women up here. Ha Ha.

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” 

     - Thornton Wilder

Took this picture yesterday in "Culver City" where we went to pick up plumbing supplies.

Read the Jimmy John's sign ;-)