Roadside Treasures in Unexpected Places

I took a trip (by car) recently that had me traveling through the countryside of my home state of North Carolina until somewhere within Virginia before I reached the Interstate I needed to go further north to my destination.  I highly recommend this type of trip now and then because it really gives you a feel for the sameness and the uniqueness of all the different areas of our country.  Leave the Interstate Highways when you can, even if it delays you somewhat.  You won’t regret it!  To travel by plane often gets you there faster, but from a plane, everything looks like a multicolored carpet occasionally obscured by clouds.  From a car, you see the color of the houses and barns, the density of trees and the dancing of flowers on the roadside.  When you drive through the countryside (or the Appalachian Mountains) you can roll down your windows and SMELL the freshness of the air.   

I had forgotten about Kudzu before driving down those roads.  For those unfamiliar, this is a viney plant that covers everything on the sides of the roads, and I do mean everything… bushes, trees, even telephone poles and abandoned buildings… all covered like a thick blanket of deep green snow.  It makes the roadside look soft somehow.  Sometimes, on winding country roads, with their “switch-back” curves and rolling hills, it can sometimes feel other-worldly… like you’ve somehow entered another dimension where everything is soft and quiet.  Then you’ll go around another curve, and there’s a pasture speckled with black and white cows and a deep red barn off in the distance… and you’re quietly pulled back into the present.  Those slow country roads can be a vacation unto themselves sometimes. 

There are treasures to be found on this type of trip.  Google’s GPS voice quietly chirped at me to go down to the end of the road (a few miles) and then take a left… no stop lights, just a stop sign on another quiet two-lane country road that was now starting to wind its way through the rolling hills toward the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  The roadsides were covered with fluffy green trees, thick with their summer growth of limbs and leaves, surrounded by the undergrowth of bushes, sapling trees, and wildflowers.  As we all do, I stopped at the sign and began looking right and left to make a safe turn onto the next road.  I looked right… one car coming, so I wait.  I look left, and about 20 feet down the road in that direction was a delight… a large-ish country store looking building, nestled back into the mountainside, as if it had grown there of its own volition.  On the covered porch that clung to the entire front of the store were flags (like you hang in your yard or from your house) and all sorts of antiques.  Handmade signs adorned every post that held the porch roof up, homemade birdhouses clung to the rafters of the porch, and so much other stuff that it was impossible to take it all in just by driving by.  I instantly knew I’d found a treasure that had to be explored in some depth. 

Pulling over and parking on the narrow graveled area, deep with ruts in places from rain washing down the edge of the road for years, I took my time getting out of the car simply because I was so busy looking at everything on the outside of this marvelous place.  As I approached the door, I notice a sign that has an old outhouse on it, with an arrow pointing off to the right, and wondered if, indeed, this meant an outhouse (which would have been believable in a place like this) or if it was just a cute way to show the way to the restroom.  I wandered to the door, taking the time to look at this and that on the porch, and found an old screen door that delightfully squeaked as I opened it, as if it were welcoming me as it had done for visitors for years gone by.  Inside, I was instantly delighted with the scents of homemade soaps and candles… and amazed at the collections of various items crafted by local artisians (potters, woodcrafters, weavers, etc.).  I chose a few items as I was going along, to take back as gifts and/or souvenirs, grateful to be supporting local artisans rather than corporate souvenir shops found in other places.  Behind the old wooden counter stood a man who greeted me with a smile, and welcomed me as if I had stepped into his home.  As he boxed up my purchases (so very carefully, so that everything would “travel well”), he explained where everything came from… the two mugs from a potter that lived nearby… the small jug from a potter in North Carolina where lots of potters lived (“… had I ever heard of JugTown,” he asked.  And I laughed and nodded, knowing it was only two hours from where I lived.)…the coasters from someone he goes to church with.  Each item had a story and he told it as he gently wrapped each item in old newspapers, stuffing scraps of bubble wrap in the gaps in the box.  I paid for my purchases, bought a bottle of water, and made my way back to the car… grateful for how refreshed and rested I felt from such an unexpected adventure.  On my way back from my destination, several days later, I noticed the “store” was closed (it was Sunday, after all), so this made me extra glad that I had taken an unhurried approach to my trip, and had stopped.  Unexpected treasures… found!!!

This reminded me of another time, when my youngest son and I were driving across the US (Florida to Washington State).  Our habit was to pull off at any “Overlooks” we ran across because “you just never know what you’re going to see, and besides, Mom needs to stretch her legs”.  We pulled off at one, and found ourselves looking at the Badlands of South Dakota.  This was our first time seeing mesas… like misshaped stalagmites made from stripes of colored earth… as far as the eyes could see… and it looked like another world to us.  This is truly one of the most unique sights in America, and one I highly recommend seeing at some point.  Not only the beauty of the mesas greeted us, though… there were bison roaming the property.  BISON!  Not in fences!!  We had driven over some huge grates at the entry to the Overlook which kept them within the confines of the area.  ……….And we stood there, amazed, imagining so many of these huge shambling animals that the whole plains looked black… and realized just how very fortunate we were to get to see these creatures up close. 

Treasures can be found in the most unexpected places, and can lead you on some of the most rewarding adventures.  I highly encourage you to take one of these kinds of trips from time to time.  It renews your outlook on Life itself in ways both unexpected and delightful!

  

Treasures, Memories and Mysteries

Memories

Sometimes things happen in our lives that end up making us feel like we've been on a treasure hunt of some sort.  That was often how I felt as a child when I'd go exploring in my Grandmother's upstairs rooms (that had become an attic, more or less, by the time I was a kid).  There would be hidden treasures in every corner I looked in, but none were more special to me than her collection of tiny salt and pepper shakers that she'd gotten from all over the country.  There were animals and covered wagons and all sorts of things, and I used to love rearranging them in the cupboard she kept them in up there.  

That attic had a smell all of it's own too.  If "history" had a smell, that's what it was.  Like a mixture of old wooden floors, linens that had been packed up too long, old newspapers, and dust.  Some folks might call it a "musty" smell, and wrinkle up their nose at it... but to me, it was the smell of memories.  Everything up there had some sort of story to go with it.  The rooms.... the dressers... the pictures on the walls... the little kitchen that wasn't used anymore.  It all had stories, and Grandmother was quite the storyteller.  

The Old Rolling Pin... with signatures all over it

Sometimes though, the "treasures" come from unexpected places.  One such treasure was bestowed on me by my cousins not long ago.  My Aunt (their Mom) passed on a few years ago and in the course of sorting through her stuff, they came across a mysterious item.  At first it was clear that it was an old rolling pin, but upon closer examination, it became clear that there was a lost story that went with the thing.  On it, some in ink, some in marker, some in pencil, were lots and lots of autographs.  Two dates, from in the 1940's, were on it as well, but nowhere was there any indication as to the event, or series of events, that lead to such an interesting memorial of sorts.  

There are enough signatures from church members, long ago passed away, that my thought was that it HAD to have something to do with some sort of organization that they had at the church at one time, but no one that I have asked about it (and I've passed it around at church quite a bit) has any idea of its origin either.  Everyone agrees that it has to have been something that was done at the church, but other than that, it remains a mystery.  

Signatures on top of signatures

So what do you do with a mystery?  I have had it preserved, and a stand made for it, and will be placing it in the new church library soon as it's finished.  Just because we're unsure of it's exact significance doesn't mean it shouldn't be given a place of honor.  It meant something to our ancestors of the church somehow, and who knows... maybe someday someone will see it and say "Oh, I remember my Grandmother telling me about this!"  

Things are like that sometimes..... things cast off become just so much clutter and junk, until someday they become symbols of memories... of times gone by and people we still miss after all these years.  Then they become priceless treasures... for while we can't get those times and people back, we can hold the "symbols" and remember.  

Maybe that's why Grandmother's attic was so full of this and that..... it was her Memory Palace packed full of memories of times past and folks long gone.  

Grandmother & Granddaddy  - Back in their Courtin' Days
Kin & Berteen Bailey