Big City Comes to Small Town

I was able to spend part of the afternoon helping introduce one of my friends, T's, college friends to our small town. This is always a fun experience. Since T's friend is from Wichita, an Ozarks small town was a new experience for her.

First we went to the nearby "big town" to eat out. Now this is by no means a big town, but at 10,000, it isn't really a small town either, at least it's not a small town by our standards. For her, however, it was a small town. We gave her a tour of the town square, and that was about it.

The fun really came when we drove her down the road from my house to the local cult. Yep...cult. Just down the road from my house is a commune type place with what we locals call the "orange people". They are called this because they wear long orange robes. I'm pretty sure they are new-age Hindus, but I'm not 100% positive about that. They have a huge dorm facility and several other large buildings right out in the middle of nowhere. I told her how they have a huge gathering during the week around the 4th of July. 100's of people come from all over the world. They walk the road in front of my house in large groups and pick all the blackberry's along the roadside. It's all very annoying.

Anyway, T is going to take her friend to our small town tomorrow to go shopping. By shopping, I mean that they are going to the local thrift store. T loves it there because she always manages to find a funky t-shirt for 50 cents. I can't wait to hear about that trip. Already T's friend was enthralled with how far out we really lived and how many trees there are. You must keep in mind that T and I both live over 8 miles outside of town.

On a funnier note... You know you live in a small town when your cat just takes a nap in the middle of the road.





For more small town stories, check out On the Front Porch.