Travelers' Tale

As a member of the Atkins Community Club, it was my duty this year to take posters advertising our upcoming Watermelon Days celebration to several small towns located along Highway 30. I went to Newhall, Van Horne, Keystone and Blairstown. I took Hannah with me, while Mary went to her last day of Girl Scout Day Camp (read the previous blog). This kind of task can be very boring, but it wasn't.

Stopping in Newhall was painless: in, out, no problems, no hassles. Somewhere along the road I turned on the Tony Snow radio show, and he was interviewing some woman about the vacancy left on the Supreme Court by Sandra Day O'Connor. While we were parked at the convenience store in Van Horne, the woman Tony was talking to said the "h" word. This was the conversation between Hannah (H) and me (M) that followed:

H: Did that lady on the radio say a cuss word?
M: Yes.
H: Well, I think she should get a spanking.
M: (trying not to snicker) That's right!
H: If her mom was there, SWAT, right on the butt.
M: (trying harder not to snicker) Oh, Hannah, you are so smart and so sweet.
H: You'd better believe it!
M: (now laughing almost uncontrollably) And funny, too!
H:That's right!
M: (still laughing)
H: You're not gonna blog this, are you?
M: Yes, I am, if I remember everything.
H: I'll help you remember!
M: (now laughing harder) Hannah, you are so fun.
H: Only if I want to.
Short moment of silence
H: Mom, can I have a piece of paper to write all this down?

So she writes all this down as I'm driving. What a kid.

The next stop was Keystone. I don't know the town very well, so I decided to drive around a little to try and figure out which two places would be the best places to hang posters. In the course of driving, we came across a garage sale, where Hannah bought a Barbie horse, a Barbie-sized pool mattress, and a dinosaur. (What a combination.) I bought a big stack of plastic storage baskets. Then I asked the guy running the sale where I could go to hang posters. He sent me to the gas station, aka the convenience store. Now, prior to this I thought Keystone was one of those unfortunate farming towns that was slowly fading away. Not necessarily so. They had the largest, nicest convenience store of any small town I'd ever been in. It wasn't in the old business district; it was on the north edge of town. I was really impressed with the place. I wish Atkins had a place that nice. Anyway, I hung up a poster there (and used their impeccably clean rest room) then went to the bank and hung a poster there. On the way out of town I stopped at Five Seasons Inc., the only place in Benton County that sells John Deere lawn tractors and accessories. I talked with a guy about getting parts for my JD 214, and I also bought a cup holder. I couldn't help it. Sorry, honey.

The last stop was Blairstown. That was pretty painless, too, except that we were delayed getting out of town by two Union Pacific freight trains. But once the trains passed and the gates lifted, we went home.

And that was the end of the tale, until the phone rang. But you'll have to read my previous blog for that story. Meanwhile, I have other things to tend to, like the green beans Carl picked last night, and the big stack of baskets I have to wash. If only I wasn't so tired.....