The turnoff to Thomasville is just ahead. This is the main road, running roughly 20 miles north of the Arkansas border. Ever since I really bought the Goose, something I've been talking about for several years, people have been asking whether I have lost my mind. "Why Missouri?" they ask. They theorize that I've found a lover or taken up cooking meth. They propose other, more convenient or trendier rural areas I could settle in. No, I'm not coming here to write (as a former professional I know you can write anywhere)."Well, it just seems so weird."
Here are some of the reasons I like it.
Spring comes early.
Block Island, New York, Thomasville sounds good on my letterhead.
The sound of rain on a tin roof.
A halfway stopover to Santa Fe.
Childhood in the Ozarks
The only store in town is the beer store.
Heredity: My family is either building or renovating or dead.
My inner redneck.
No house guests.
Beautiful rivers.
Everybody waves if you're driving a truck.
Trying to break my media habit.
I like feeling slim.
It's a folly.
But mostly, I just like it. People live here, you know—I have a lot of friends who do—and they don't think it's odd at all.
What about how your daughter likes mining and your son-in-law likes catfish? Do it for us, Ma.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget to mention that it's fun to be in the center of the continental US - that's pretty cool. Other Mother
ReplyDeleteMaybe being in the middle of nowhere means that you are not always on your way somewhere, you're already there.
ReplyDeleteI've known you for 33 years. You don't like meth, and even though you may be a sex mangnet, your lovers are at other ends of the earth's magnetic poles.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, who can write without first painting the Ivory Tower a nice shade of white?
And duh. All these people who say they know you must not know you if they are forgetting one of your cardinal traits. You like wierd.
So, when I get there, serve me a cold one, Babe.
I'll drive the Silverado out.
See you on the 14th.
And: Oh, yes.
ReplyDeleteWho knew the Police were going to be superstars before anyone had ever heard of them but her?
Who knew Bruce was going to divorce Julianne before The Post did?
Who knew Warren was terminally ill two years before he was diagnosed?
I know you don't believe in psychic prognosis, but hey.
Thomasville may just be the next Westchester.
Find me a good piece of property, babe. Before the rush begins.
If you draw an X connecting Jacksonville/Seattle and SanDiego/Boston the intersection is Thomasville!
ReplyDeleteI assume you've seen:
http://ortrackm.missouri.org/towns/Thomasville/history.html
I particurlarly like, "No ____ Yankee would ever be allowed to settle in Thomasville"
Do you count as a Yankee?
I'm half a Yankee and thus don't really like chiggers.
ReplyDeleteWait, do you even have letterhead?
ReplyDeleteAlso--I'm out of Kiehl's Face Lotion. Do they have one down there in Thomasville?
ReplyDeleteThe Vanderbilts had Newport.
ReplyDeleteSurf City has The Goose.
Let me amend that: The sound of rin dripping through the tin roof and flooding the floor. . .
ReplyDeleteis it time for a new roof or are you just kidding?
ReplyDeleteoh yeah nice shot wish I was there to see it in person...
ReplyDelete