You can't go back home...

So today I got up and talked to my sisters for a little while, and then they left me.  I was all alone. :-(  They had another wedding shower to go to, and I really didn't feel like showering, so I had to figure out what to do.  Luckily, just as I went out to the car to go drive around aimlessly, Michelle showed up. 

Michelle is pretty much like family.  She's been around forever, and mom just pretty much "adopted" (not literally, mind you - just figuratively) her and she's been like a sister to us.  She honked the horn, I rolled my window down, and she said, "I've just been driving around, and I'm bored".  She doesn't live here, either, she just came into town for my sister, Jo Beth's wedding shower last night, so she was in the same boat as I was.  I told her I didn't have anything to do, either, so I'd just get in with her and we could just drive around aimlessly and be bored together. 

We drove down to Washburn to see our old school, Southwest R-5 (home of the Trojans, thank you very much!).  The high school is now the middle school, and they've got a whole other high school and gymnasium.  Other than that, everything looked exactly the same - except that someone apparently climbed to the top of the water tower and spraypainted "EXETER" (a rival school) right below "Washburn". 

I saw one of my old job sites, Pennington Seed, where I worked summers growing up.  I'm guessing it's closed down.  I worked some long hours there, though - sometimes we would work up to 20, maybe 21 hours a day, in the height of the season! Here's a picture of it - you can see the fence in front of the building on the left.  We built that almost 25 years ago to help block the sound of the fans, which were extremely loud!


We went through Seligman, MO, by Michelle's old house, where she grew up, then through beautiful downtown Seligman.  That was just plain depressing - every single building was vacant!  They moved the main highway going through the town several years ago, so it just completely bypasses the downtown section now. 

After that, we made our way back home, and decided we wanted to grab a bite to eat, so we went to Oriental House, the best Chinese restaurant owned by Koreans in Cassville!  It really is good food, so I make a point to eat there every time I'm down.  Only problem is that I always forget THEY DON'T HAVE A FRIGGIN' CREDIT CARD MACHINE!!!  It's cash only!  I had to scrounge for change just to pay the bill!  Then we went to an ATM so Michelle could get a little money for a tip (the girl did treat us well, otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered)!

So that's my day so far.  I'm going down to the Barry County Museum this evening to hear my mom's band, The Hometown Sound, play as part of a Smithsonian exhibit that's in town for the summer. 

Today's stroke, by the way, is maroon and black, in honor of my beloved Southwest Trojans!