Camping Trip, Day 2

Friday, July 24:

We were up early this morning, so we could get an early start touring the little community near the campground. Though the town (founded in 1835) is small...only around 3500 population...it has a lot going for it. First stop: the visitor's center/chamber of commerce, to ask where we might buy peaches. The lady we talked to referred us to the fruit stand we'd visited yesterday.

She noted that the vendor at the fruit stand arrived around 9 a.m. each morning, when people were already waiting in line to buy his peaches. However, she said that this peaches weren't as good as last year's. "But he's mighty proud of them," she said. Translation: he's overcharging for an inferior product.

From the visitor's center, we went to the historic museum. Several women were meeting in a small room off the museum proper, but one of them greeted us when we entered, and gave us a personal tour.

Along the way, she pointed out a handgun and several newspaper articles in a glass case, noting that early in the town's history, two young men got into a shootout over a young woman. They ended up killing each other, she said, but what became of the young woman afterward is not known.

Also in the display case was a photo of a young soldier and his oriental war-bride. The couple lived in the community many years. Even now, the lady said, the son of the couple travels a long way from his home in another state to mow the yard of his parents home once a month, though the parents are now deceased.

The museum has lots of neat stuff, including an old service station gasoline pump, a beautiful Victrola record player with brass horn amplifier, a shiny red cast iron coffee grinder with crank wheels, an industrial pressure canner, a ladies side saddle, and a lethal looking permanent wave machine.

From the museum, we went next door to a mini-mall antique shop and flea market. This is a rather large building, so Mother was comfortable riding in her transport chair. We found a few bargains...a pretty little bud vase ($1.49), a beverage set that includes a two-quart pitcher and four 8 oz. cups, that all look like canning jars ($5 for the set), and a set of perfect condition queen-size comfy soft cotton sheets (white with small pink roses), for only $3. Mother found a large brainteaser puzzle book for $2.

At both the visitor's center and the museum, we were told we should have lunch at a certain barbecue restaurant on the town square, where the food is great and serving portions generous. So at noon, we headed for the restaurant.

There were several people waiting in line, but we got a booth within minutes...maybe because there were only three of us. The restaurant, decorated with lots of antiques, had a museum quality about it. We ordered half salads (under the menu heading "Slop and Salads) which featured crumbled barbecue pork, and which, as promised, were huge. But, drat it, the salads were covered in shredded cheddar cheese, so I had to send mine back and request one without cheese, since I'm allergic to yellow dye.

With the salad came two dessert-size dishes filled with ranch dressing (enough for several large salads) and slices of buttered Texas toast. Hubbie and I preferred mild barbecue sauce rather than dressing on our salads, anyway. Mother and I were only able to eat about half of our half salads. We took the rest of it home to have with more leftover goulash for supper.

Besides the usual expected barbecue fare, a list dinners concluded with "Creamed Possum with Sweet Potatoes with Coon Fat Gravy" for $7.95. We never got around to asking if this was a real menu item, or a joke.

After lunch, we returned to camp to feed Shih Tzu and tend to Snoops, and then we went out again. This time, we visited the bank where there is a wonderful mural that stretches the length of two bank walls. It is carved sandstone, inlaid with California redwood, with enamel paint, that depicts the history of the area. It is a remarkable work and we were fascinated with it. It features ten overlapping panels, beginning with Cherokee Indian immigrants, and progressing to settlement by pioneers, steamboats bringing goods up the river, the Europeans settling in the area to farm and grow vineyards, and historic landmarks, like founding churches, and the lighted bridge.

From the bank, we toured around town so that I could take pictures, and then we took Mother back to camp, so that Hubbie and I could go to the grape festival to enter Grandson in a grape stomping contest Saturday morning, and buy 24 quarts of our favorite kind of grapes...a sweet pink table variety called Reliance.

Back at camp, after supper, Mother and I sat in the yard again, where she worked puzzles and I read until Son, Daughter-in-Law, and Grandson arrived around 7 p.m. Within a half hour of their arrival, we went to the festival and just walked around looking at the crafts booths and listening to the prison band perform. Grandson was amazed that prisoners, dressed all in white, and being watched by an armed guard, were allowed to leave prison to perform at a festival. I assured him that these guys were serving time for non-violent crimes...maybe drugs, or petty theft or something.

At 9 p.m., we drove to the area where there was to be a fireworks show. There weren't a lot of people on the lot where we parked, and we got a good view of the 9:30 show. For a small town, the fireworks are always pretty spectacular each year, and Son and family were impressed with them.

The only thing we didn't like was that the fireworks scared the bejeebies out of the geese on the small pond nearby. The panicked birds, wings spread, ran honking into the field and across the road, where we feared they might be hit by passing traffic. They escaped harm, however, and I suppose they returned safely to the pond shortly after the noisy pyrotechnics ceased.

Afterward, we headed back to camp, making a side trip down to the end of the campground, where there is a beautiful view of the lighted bridge.

At camp, Son quickly set up a tent for his family. They brought two tents...one for Grandson...but Daughter-in-Law discovered that the cap to the inflatable air mattress was missing, so all three of them slept in one tent.