By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
Joann and I really enjoy our trips on the backroads. We always find a lot to laugh about. Sometimes things seem really funny at the time, and later, when we have time to think about it, we wonder just what made it so funny. Sometimes it’s probably our long days and lack of sleep that make everything funny and sometimes it’s probably just our weird sense of humor.
One of the first mills we ever visited in Wisconsin was the Red Mill in Waupaca County. We have visited this mill many times over the years. On our most recent visit, as we walked towards the gift shop inside the mill, we passed this sign on the side of the building. Even though we have seen the sign before, it always makes us smile.
On our way to North Carolina this spring, we stopped in Kentucky at Levi Jackson State Park to have lunch and photograph the mill in the park. It is a small mill built in 1939 by the CCC as a replica of one of the original McHargue family mills. There is a long winding path leading to the mill and it is lined with the biggest display of millstones in the country.
As Joann finished photographing, I started to set up lunch at one of the picnic tables. When Joann joined me at the picnic table, a truck passed by proudly proclaiming “Stevie and Velma’s Furniture and Finance.” For some reason, this struck both of us as very funny. Looking back, I realize it probably meant they would finance your furniture purchase, but at the time, it seemed like you could do your banking and buy a sofa from them. Okay, so it was a long morning on the road by that time!
Last fall in Minnesota, we came across a man as he was finishing up his scarecrow display. Since it was a display of former Packers quarterback Brett Favre, now playing for the Packers’ archenemy, the Vikings, we had to stop and get a picture.
This fall on our trip to Iowa to photograph barns, we came up to a crossroads. The road to the right was closed, and I told Joann to go straight. As she pulled forward into the intersection, I noticed a sign in the ditch on the side of the road. I started to read the sign, but couldn’t finish it before it was out of sight. Since what I could read sounded interesting, Joann turned around and drove back to the intersection. Once we could read the whole sign, it was definitely worth our turning around.
We hope you also find things along the roads of your life that make you smile or laugh out loud.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
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