... where the sign outside Shoney's has changed from "Try Our Breakfast Buffet!" to "#3, You'll Always Race in our Hearts," and everyone knows why.
That's right, friends, it's race weekend! And here we are, mere minutes from the Bristol Motor Speedway, where people have been "camping" for upwards of 10 days, shelling out hundreds of dollars a night for plots of asphalt to park their RV's.
Oy.
So I had a revelation today, while I was waiting in line at K-Mart for a very, very, very long time as the many people ahead of me bought tailgating supplies. You know how some people have tried to reclaim Black Friday as "Buy Nothing Day", and pledge to spend no money to try to counteract the impact of all that retail madness?
I am hoping to make the remainder of this weekend "Drive Nowhere Weekend." If anything, this will preserve some of my sanity, since most places we might find ourselves driving promise to be absurdely crowded. But also... maybe I'm a snob, but my biggest issue with Nascar and the like is the utter wastefulness. So hey, maybe I can find a way to make "Drive Nowhere Weekend" catch on in communities The Race descends upon once or twice a year, and use a little less fuel. Or maybe I will just enjoy walking places this weekend. It shouldn't be hard. Here's a list of cool and useful places we can walk to:
(1) Zazzy'z coffeehouse and independent bookshop. OK I really am a snob because I just feel cool and intellectual and interesting when I'm there.
(2) The Washington County Public Library.
(3) The Trail Cafe', which is situated at the head of the
(4) Virginia Creeper Trail.
(5) At least three different churches, two of which we've been to, and the third of which(the closest, actually), we might attend this weekend: The Charles Wesley UMC, which has its roots in the African Methodist Episcopal tradition.
(6) Food Country, an average-sized, average-quality grocery store.
(7) The Whole Health Center, a tiny, very crunchy grocery store with local eggs, meat, and milk, and other fun things like homemade soaps and really interesting looking teas.
(8) The Barter Theatre-- Virginia's state theatre, in fact (whatever that means!)
The only problem is that the S-curve on Walden Road (which connects our little street to the main part of town) is without a sidewalk. Not such a big deal if one of us is feeling energetic enough to tote the kid in one of our various baby carriers, but a bit dicey with the stroller. Every once in a while I envision myself in a Stars-Hollow-town-meeting type situation, petitioning the town council for a sidewalk around that curve. I think if the circumstances were just so, I could get crazy into local politics. Especially if I found myself up against a Taylor Doose. That'd be awesome.
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6 comments:
I agree about the utter wastefulness of auto racing, but maybe I'm missing something. Let's see - it uses up a lot of fuel, people occasionally get killed participating in it and it only makes headlines in the sports section (unless it is #3 who is apparently still racing somewhere), once in a while people get killed WATCHING it (mostly in the road races in Europe, I admit), the cars and drivers are covered with decals (okay, that's happening with golf now, too), and it's god-awful noisy. Yeah, I'm really out of step with America. I like your idea of boycotting driving; I also commiserate with your issues with the curve. It is scary - maybe you could at least get the town to put up a sign or something.
Glad the race isn't NEXT weekend!
Love the cafe and can't wait to see some of the other spots. Hope it's nice enough to walk on the Creeper Trail at least once when I'm there.
I did the same thing last year for the Kentucky Derby. I didn't eat sugar or oats all weekend.
i'm surprised eric didn't warn you of the dangers of becoming involved in local politics. after hearing about yet another 3-hour city council meeting last night, you couldn't pay me to attend one. and i have to disagree with his assertion that he avoided sugar all derby weekend; there was a considerable amount of beer and mint julep and freeze pop consumption. and kfc. this sounds like a very negative comment, but i didn't mean for it to be... just sarcastic, maybe?
Yeah, on Gilmore Girls the town meetings are in that fun rustic building and everyone is entertaining. I'm sure the real thing can be pretty agonizing.
Hope you have survived race weekend - Loved your Drive Nowhere Weekend resolve! I have never appreciated nascar or race weekends either - choosing to "go around in circles" has always seemed strange to me and the pollution issues re burning all of that fuel "for no reason" are major obstacles for me. Of course, I say that as one who commutes about 38 miles to work each day, one way.... hmmmmm! A glaring inconsistency between my convictions and my choices - again!
Re local politics and the S curve -I can see you pulling that change off! It also makes me appreciate what Brian does re community organizing and working through the political process...
Can't wait to see you guys in a couple of weeks!
After reading this I had a flashback to you as a pickalittle... definitely have someone take photos of you at the town meeting if you ever make it there...
and wear some sort of bonnet or something.
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