WEBVTT - Ep. 301: This Country Life - The Country Store 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.640 Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:12.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:14.680 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:19.200 my experiences and life lessons. This country Life is presented 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:23.200 by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:28.240 the best outdoor podcast the airwaves have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.680 grab a chair or drop that tail gate. I've got 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:42.400 some stories to share. The Country Store. The country Store 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:44.879 was the hub of a lot of activity throughout a 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:49.400 rural community. Times have change, and with less people living 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.560 in the country, and with modern development moving the city 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:56.560 limits further and further away from town, those places are 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.840 becoming a thing of the past. I'm talking about them 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.680 and what I think we're missing when they're going away, 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.840 and what we can do to preserve everything that was 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.160 the country Store. I think you'll like it, even if 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.840 you've never been in one, and after you listen you 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:19.800 may realize that maybe, just maybe you have. But first, 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:30.640 I'm going to tell you a story. Finus. That's pH 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:37.240 I n I E. S. Finess Sly. My maternal grandfather 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.039 had a head full of white hair and it had 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.000 turned that way early in his life. Making him look 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:47.280 older than he was now. One thing he was not 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:52.760 was quote unquote an old man even when he was one. 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.720 He was strong and smart as anyone educated beyond his 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:01.440 high school diploma, and was a reader of everything. He 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.480 was self educating him cell pH on anything he could 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.959 pick up and read at night before bedtime. Readers, Digest, 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:14.799 Popular Mechanics, National Geographic, Progressive Farmer, and Western novels were 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:19.760 his favorite. He was also the epitome of a Southern gentleman. 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:23.520 He worked every day at the farm and at that 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:29.320 time our family store, Slies Grocery. Sunday after church would 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:32.040 find him at the farm looking after the chickens, the hogs, 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.440 and the cows, and put a lot of work into 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.359 his farm and his business, and so that the folks 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.920 that worked for him. He believed in doing things the 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.560 right way, treating folks like he wanted to be treated, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:49.519 and had a low tolerance for anything else. Let me 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.440 jump a whole generation later, and while I was occasionally 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.880 attending college, I worked as a weekend dispatcher at the 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:00.560 local police department. The chief of police at that time 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.280 in the mid eighties, had been the chief since the 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:07.280 late fifties and he told me a story once about 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:12.320 my grandfather and our store. He said he was standing 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.640 outside of the police department talking with someone when a 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:16.959 man from out of town walked up to him, nursing 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.880 a black eye in a bloody nose. He claimed to 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.760 have been attacked and assaulted by an old man at 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.320 a store on the edge of town. The man said 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:30.520 the altercation was unprovoked and proceeded to explain to the 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:35.240 chief the location of where the incident occurred. He had 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.320 the man waited city hall while he drove out to 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.080 my grandfather's store, reasonably sure that he knew who the 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:45.600 alleged perpetrator was since everyone in town knew my grandfather. 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.360 What he didn't know, since he knew my grandfather so well, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:56.640 was what had actually happened and why now. Upon arrival, 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:58.880 he said he remembered my mother sitting on the counter 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:03.200 in the store, laughing when he walked in, my grandfather 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.280 standing in front of the counter, ready to meet his fate, 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.000 and my grandmother saying, well, finus, that temper of yours 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:15.560 has landed you in jail this time now, my mother. 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:18.800 My mother said she and other folks who were in 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.400 the store shopping when the fight occurred, saw the whole 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.520 thing from start to finish, and were standing there waiting, 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.800 ready to tell their side of the store. Here's what happened. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.680 The man, unknown to my grandfather, had asked for a 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.960 tank of gas and a bill of groceries on credit. 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.240 My grandfather explained to him that since he didn't know 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.880 him and he didn't have anyone with him that could 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.960 vouch for his ability to pay him back, he wouldn't 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.080 be able to help him out, but if he could 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.760 get someone to speak up for him, he'd be glad 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:56.000 to help him. The man got angry and my grandfather 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.200 told him to leave the store, and as he was leaving, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.240 he said he's had some very profane things to my grandfather, 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.000 which probably would have been bad enough, but he made 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.400 the mistake of saying it in front of my mother, 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:12.599 who was just a teenage girl at the time, and 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:18.360 my grandmother, who was a saint all the time. According 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.600 to the chief of police and my mother. My grandfather 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.040 grabbed an axe handle as he walked by a barrel 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.679 full of him that were for sale and that sat 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.200 beside the door. As he walked out following the man, 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.599 words were exchanged outside about his lack of manners, and 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:39.600 shortly thereafter a lesson in manners was given and received. 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:46.040 Sly's Grocery Store in Warren, Arkansas a place where you 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:51.360 could get staples like groceries, gas, and educated on manners. 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:58.320 No arrests were made more on that place than a minute. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:08.520 But that's just how that happened. The big indoor mall, 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.520 the strip mall, and all the other businesses that would 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.520 become the modern day places to meet, eat and shop 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:18.560 all have the country store to think. The rural business 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.679 for exploring Europeans trading goods and services started soon after 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.360 they hit the bank in search of a better life, 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:30.320 adventure and treasure. Everyone at one time or another had 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.279 to make a Walmart run, and that started not long 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.680 after May the thirteenth of sixteen oh seven, when one 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:41.200 hundred and four enterprising men and boys started making tracks 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.480 from their boats westward on the beaches of Virginia after 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.080 four and a half month at sea that kicked off 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.760 from London, England. I bet the lads were getting a 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.960 little spicy by the time they hit the east coast. Unfortunately, 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.719 the first washing area was still one thousand, three hundred 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.440 and fifty nine miles away in Fort Worth, Texas, and 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.120 wouldn't be invented for another three hundred and twenty seven years. 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.560 Now that's a long time to wait for clean drawers. Fortunately, 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.680 there was someone willing to fill the void for services. 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:17.600 The country store, or a reasonable facsimile of what we know, 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:22.000 is one soon after I told you about the little 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.320 store of my youth, not far from where we lived, 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.280 that sat in the wye of the gravel road, that 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.960 if you went right coming from town, when you got there, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.520 it would take you to our house, and if you 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:35.760 took a left, you were headed toward Crane Lake or 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.840 the Saline River. That little country store was owned and 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.880 operated by a lifelong resident of the community who ran 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.000 it until he retired. It was sold to an enterprising 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.320 family whose questionable hand washing was brought to light back 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.040 on episode one thirteen of This Country Life. You should 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.680 go back and listen to that one if you hadn't 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:01.640 already anyway, the country store in most places was the 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.560 department store of today. They didn't have it. They could 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.400 order it, they couldn't order it, more than likely didn't 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:14.560 need it. Everything from canned grocers to bread, leather goods, clothes, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.960 and bullets and beans could be bought there with credit 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.560 accounts for those that qualified, the qualifications being that their 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.320 word was good and when and if there was ever 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.320 a problem, someone would be standing before the grocer with 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:32.040 the reason why they needed extra time to pay or 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:34.840 make an offer to trade something of value or time 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:41.800 and labor against their unpaid balance. Remember my Grandpa papall Sly, 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.600 the Southern gentleman's store owner. Well, he and his wife 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:50.720 Beulah known to us all including my friends as Mamasly, 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.160 lived in town across the road from that store. They 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:56.960 had sold it by the time I got old enough 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.280 to remember it, but my mother told me stories of 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.320 my grandfather extending credit to folks that needed help and 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:05.960 tolding the note for him for a long time, or 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.240 sometimes forgiving some debts altogether. For families that were just 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:16.120 struggling but trying. He delivered some groceries to those that 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.640 didn't have a car, and not everyone did back then. 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.280 He'd load the pickup with the orders people had called 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.560 in and my grandmother had gathered up from the shelves. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.560 Then he would make his deliveries and collect what was oweding. 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:31.760 Most families that had accounts at the store worked for 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.000 the lumber mills in town that would pay their bills 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.440 from the previous weeks on payday as new groceries were 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.320 delivered from their orders. It was a good system, and 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.160 it worked for the most part. There were a few 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.280 that tried to get by and take advantage of my 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:52.640 grandfather's generosity. Excuses were cheap and plentiful, and even when 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:54.960 he knew better, my mother told me he'd give them 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:58.520 the benefit of the doubt until they crossed the line. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:01.280 I had to go with him when he made his 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.600 rounds delivering groceries and collecting the money. Regardless of the task, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.959 he'd let her go with him, the little girl sitting 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.520 beside him as they went through the neighborhoods, dropping off 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.800 goods and collecting payments. She hopping out of the truck 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.240 in her little ruffled dresses and bows in her hair, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:19.680 walking with him to greet all the people that she 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:25.360 knew that traded in her daddy's store. She told me 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.920 the one day, after several stops, he pulled up to 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.480 someone's house that was notorious not only for not paying 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.520 his bills, but for not taking care of his family, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.840 not the way he should have spending more time looking 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.960 for something to drink and work and provide feed his 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:46.160 wife and children. My grandfather got out of the truck, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:47.839 and as she slid over in the seat to get 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.280 out too, he said, no, baby, you stay here this time. 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.320 And with that, my grandfather reached behind the seat of 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.360 the truck and took out a hammer and walked up 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.680 the path to the front door of the house. Called 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:06.080 the man out on the porch. She said. He came out, 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.400 and I could hear Daddy talking to the man and 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.199 the man talking back, but I couldn't hear what they 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:15.280 were saying. They were both talking really low. Then the 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.120 man went back in the house, and he came back 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.040 with some money and handed it to my daddy like 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.120 he was mad, and he started to go back in 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:26.560 the house, but Daddy wouldn't let him leave. Then your 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.280 grandpa counted some money out, stuck it in his shirt pocket, 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:34.200 and handed the man back what was left. The man 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:38.839 looked surprised, and they shook hands. And he never said 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.800 what they talked about or exactly what happened on that porch. 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.560 But after I got older, I knew why he took 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.800 the hammer with him, But I also know that he 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.680 gave the man back money that he owed my daddy 0:11:50.720 --> 0:12:06.200 with a promise to use it for his family. The 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.040 first example I highlighted in this opening story of this 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.720 podcast about my grandfather may make him seem like he 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.000 was a mean or a violent person, and if you 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.800 think that, you'd be wrong. The second account described him perfectly. 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.960 He was a well respected member of the community who 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.960 would give all he could until the giving took away 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:30.120 from his ability to take care of his family. Family 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:34.160 was his first priority, and he believed everyone else's priority 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.600 should be family as well. He stopped at nothing to 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.800 take care of his and would do all he could 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:46.560 to take care of others. Country stores were a lot 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.960 of things. The main things they were was a community 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:54.200 gathering place for friends and neighbors to visit. A few 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.880 miles up the road in New Edinburgh, Arkansas, there were 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.600 several stores that fit this mold over time, only one 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.680 remains there now. It was there that we would gather 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.560 sometimes after a morning of hunting during turkey season. We 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.000 checked the signing sheet to see if anyone had killed 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.920 the turkey, and meet at the back to hear everyone's 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.480 report from what had gone on during the summer. We'd 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.959 be there buying crickets and crappy jigs, asking in line 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:24.439 about where the fish were or weren't biting. My all 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:26.959 time favorite was when it was cold outside and there 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:28.720 was a fire in the wood stove and the old 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:32.120 men were holding court, reading the paper and drinking coffee 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:35.600 and solving all the world's problems. Right there in the 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.559 back of that story, you could warm your hands, you're 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.440 behind and your soul with stories of long ago from 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:47.040 the folks who witnessed and lived. Those places are fewer 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:52.959 and further between now, but they're still around. Eleven years ago, 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.120 back when I was still having to really work for 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.080 a living, my job took me to a little community 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.640 in the Delta region of eastern arc and Saw farming 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.360 was and still is the main employer in that area. 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.360 And that'sle between large expansions of plowed ground rest the 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:14.680 tiny community of Melwood, Arkansas, sporting a bustling population of 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.720 twenty one. It lies one mile due west of Island 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:22.200 sixty five, the famous Jackson Point Hunting Club on the 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.840 Mississippi River. This place is exactly what I assumed it 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:31.160 would feel like walking into my grandfather's store sixty years 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.280 ago and warned, and what it did feel like walking 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:36.760 into the one in neew Edinburgh, where I lived later 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.920 in life. I was there around dinner time or lunch 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.400 if you prefer but I went in to get a 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.040 cold drink and something to eat, and the smell of 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.360 cooking food drew me to the back of the store 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.360 and I ordered the plate lunch. I don't remember what 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.080 it was. I just remember it was good and hadn't 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.320 been microwaved. I sat down at a table and across 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.360 from me sat several folks who were older than me. 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:04.400 They weren't eating, not yet anyway, but I could tell 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:08.240 this was their group and regular place to meet, to 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:12.280 sit and to visit. I needed to be on down 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:14.440 the road at another point of interest that was the 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:17.240 focus of my trip. I was on a schedule, and 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.040 the twenty minutes out allotted to eat that day quickly 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:24.760 turned into an hour and a half. I got home 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.960 that evening two hours late and told Alexis about my 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.880 day when she asked, and it was the best day 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.720 I'd had at work in a long time. It inspired 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.000 me to write the following day what I'd like to 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:44.040 read to you now February seventeenth, twenty fourteen. Two and 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.160 a half hours from my home is a forgotten farming community. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.760 A post office that could fit inside my house stands 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:54.120 next to a general store. The flag of our nation 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.520 flaps gently in the breeze, and here it seems time 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:02.040 stands still. The old folks are positioned behind and in 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.040 front of the counter and places one can imagine or theirs, 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.800 places that they assumed yesterday, places they will be tomorrow, 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.440 and places they will be as long as they're able. 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.640 The floor creaked with ages. I walked inside, but it 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.960 held firm. It held the way things hold that were 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.320 built when the measure of a craftsman was gaged by time, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:29.600 not budget. Invited, I sat down and we talked, And 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.880 for an hour I talked with four old strangers who 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:36.520 spoke of family in simple times. Little Rock was a 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.200 far away place. If they chose not to go, why 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:43.640 should they? Everything and everyone they needed was here, And 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:48.200 for an hour they let me watch. I missed those 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.440 folks today, in the times of which that encounter reminded me. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.320 Majority of you who will read this and played a 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.080 part one way or another in my life, and without you, 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.080 good or bad, I wouldn't be where I am today 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:07.760 and today, my friends, I'm in a good place now. 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.280 That's what I wrote that day, and all these years later, 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.439 I still get the same feeling of reverence reading it 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.359 now as I did then. It makes me want to 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.480 get up and drive over there to see my old 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.640 friends at a place I have never returned, to see 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.440 people whose names I never learned, and people I'd never 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.280 seen before that day, but made a lasting impression on me. 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:37.360 Just the same, Bellwood's Grocery is still open. I have 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.840 no idea how long it's been there, and even though 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.160 I've only been there once in person, I've been there 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:48.000 a thousand times in my memory, just like mister almas 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.400 Mark's story at the why in the county road where 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:54.280 my brothers and sisters, cousins and I would make our 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:59.199 way to either walking, riding bicycles, horses, or hitching a 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:03.240 ride from someone headed in that direction, a four and 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.600 a half mile trip on a hot, dusty gravel road 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.760 that held the promise of adventure and discovery between home 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:14.000 and a coke if we had enough money a candy 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:18.359 bar or two to share. Those roads are all paved 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:20.240 now and have been for a long time, and I 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.480 drive them now without kicking up a torn of dust 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.160 as I make my way along those roads that six 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:31.760 generations of my family before me it as well. I 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.600 wonder what they thought about as they traveled along, passing 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:38.160 familiar homes and places. At what point did the reverence 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.200 for this land and the community become so strong among 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:46.680 the folks who've lived there. It's always been an important 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:50.680 place in my life. Naturally, everyone's home is, but sometimes 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.159 it takes moving away just to see how important those 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.880 places are, or visiting a place for the first time 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.960 that it's so similar to your own you feel right 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:06.120 at home from the beginning. Places like these are all 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.280 around us, and they don't necessarily have to be isolated. 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:14.119 Rural stores with hot, dusty, barefooted youngers running in and 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:19.600 out of a park bench, a diner, a church, a 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.680 friend's front porch, any place where we have an occasion 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.600 to pause and enjoy the company of familiar faces, even 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:31.639 those of strangers, all looking for the same thing, kind 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:38.400 word from an old friend or a new one. Tomorrow 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.080 is March the first, and me Bear John and his 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.800 pappy Clay Bow will be attending the Black Bear Bonanza 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:49.800 at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Bentonville, Arkansas. Look up 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.760 the Black Bear Bananza twenty twenty five and get directions 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:54.920 and ticket information. It's going to be a lot of fun, 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:59.520 so load the wagon and y'all come. Seis until next week. 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.240 This is it read sign it off. Y'all be careful.