a trip back in time

Saturday was the kick off for our Spring Break, and as landlocked Southerners are prone to do, we hit the road to go to Florida. Holy shit, we were not alone. After nearly 3 hours of maddening traffic on I-75, we couldn't take it anymore, and just south of Warner Robins, we made the decision to avoid the interstate and take backroads instead (we were nudged along after being refused a restroom break at an overcrowded gas station). So, we hit route 41 and, unknowingly, took a trip back in time.

I don't mean that in a derogatory way. It was just, well, different. We started at a roadside "restaurant" in Dooly, GA that we choose simply because we figured it had a restroom. It did. It didn't have a sign though, but it looked clean enough and I'd rather chance eating there than at a McDonald's off of 75. A couple of BBQ sandwiches later we were happy and back on the road.

From there, it was a series of one (or no) stop light towns. Vienna. Cordele. Arabi. Ashburn. And others.  It struck me how these towns are so driven by agriculture, and not retail. While we are consumed by social media, they are consumed by the cotton crop. Or tobacco. The local retail is largely made-up of small main street stores, or dollar stores. Lots of damn dollar stores. I should have counted all the churches. These towns love their churches. But if you were looking for a bar, you were largely out of luck.

What stuck me most, is that as urbanites (or suburbanites), we tend to think that most of America lives like we do. The truth, is that America is still largely rural. And, in a sense, they live in a different time than we do.