PODUNK TOWN, OR YOUR HOMETOWN

via maxedoutminivan.com

Nothing Explains Feelings For A Hometown, Your Hometown, Than Traveling Though Others.

Drive down I-5, Highway 99, 101 down the coast, or 97 east of the Cascades, and you roll through one podunk town after another.

You don’t even have to go far off the road to see them. Just drive by, take a look, and plug the image into what you’ve seen already.

Chances are the podunk towns along the road aren’t much different than the one you grew up in.

That’s when the similarities set in. No matter how depressed looking, rundown, and broken the towns look, they mean everything to the people living there.

It’s sort of like that dog image on facebook that says, “I may be a part of your life, but you are all of my life.”

That’s the feeling I get when I see baseball fields and schools and fire stations.

They might be feeder towns with everyone living out and only coming in for supplies, but the kids in the families don’t know the difference between any other town.

I recall moving to North Bend, Oregon as a little kid and the first time we all drove through Empire on the way to the beach.

Where is the Empire State Building in Empire, I wondered? How is it going to look next to all the single story buildings? I was disappointed to find out the Empire State Building was actually in the Empire State, and not Oregon.

Every town has a highlight.

The longest beach, the gateway to a wilderness or canyon or wine country.

Hyping a town is trickier now that everyone has cable, or internet, or a smart phone. The casual observer knows too much to believe the baloney so towns try harder.

Do people seem friendlier in small towns because they’re desperate to see anyone new? Or is it because they’ve seen other places and want their town to show a better side?

One old coach said this about the big time you hear so much about: “The big time is right where you are because too many people love where they are and don’t need reminding there’s any place better. To them there’s no other place better.”

That sentiment grows stronger the more you travel.

People don’t want to hear how lame their town is, what it used to be, or what you’d do different if you lived there.

You’re passing through and passing judgement. It’s a podunk little town? Not worth a second look? That’s one of the more ignorant ideas you’ll ever have.

Find something in each place you see, something you can take with you. More often than not you’ll see things you can add to the memory of your own podunk little town.