Confederate owned gas stations

hummmm...hemmm...i cut my bangs the other day. it's not easy to get an appointment with my hairdresser i have gone to for the past 9 years. she lives and works in Des Moines. I did however, promise her that if i ever make it to stardom for any reason and i need someone to do my hair, she will be hired. living in the woods and working with children aint quite "makin it" so for now i am my own stylist. To my (somewhat) surprise i noticed a few extra grey hairs pokin' around my forehead. Mind you they are totally uninvited and although i have asked them politely to leave, they insist on staying, and are now inviting their like-minded friends to join their colony on my head. it makes me feel a few things. A: old, and B: dignified. kinda. Like i'm sorta proud to have them, but sorta not since i can generally pass for a 13 year old on most days (and in the right light) Whatever though...they had to come eventually. I tell my eight girls at camp that those hairs only appeared after meeting and living with them. Partially true indeed. Speaking of my girls..I had the delight of navigating a 15 passenger van down the winding mountain roads of the Appalachia-parts of Georgia last week. 5 days in the middle of nowhere. Suches, Georgia is home to another Eckerd camp, and a proudly displayed "confederate owned" gas, ammunition and panning for gold station. Honestly. I could go on and on about the thousands of stairs and slippery rocks we scrambled over as a group to reach the top of Amicalola Falls, or how we braved the vertigo of a 200 ft long suspension bridge in the pouring rain over the Tullulah Gorge, but that nature kind of stuff is hard to translate well with words. I mean, don't get me wrong...it was all BEAUTIFUL. Breath taking lay of the land was in endless supply in every corner of Georgia that we visited, but my favorite story has to do with what i lovingly refer to as the "red neck gas station."
So it's about 9 AM on a Wednesday, rain pounds the windshield of the Dodge 15 passenger van full of "bad kids" and two chiefs. (they really arent anywhere near bad kids by the way...they just like to joke that that is how they are seen by people.) anyway...so we have my ipod hooked up to the radio and some random and completely inappropriate Brittney Spears song is blasting out of the speakers. My girls are all singing and bouncing along with the music as i pull the van under the awning of the red neck gas station and prepare to get out. I pause Brittney for a moment and as i do 8 snide comments and sighs of disapproval are heard in every little corner of the van. "Oh my god Chief Sara, that was like my faaaavorite part!" the girls don't get to listen to music at camp, so the fact that i just put Brittney on pause almost has them hurdling the van seats to strangle towards me and my ipod. (yes...my ipod just so happened to have ONE Brittney Spears song on it, sue me.) after calming the masses and assuring them that Brittney would soon return, i venture out of the safety, comfort and very liberal atmosphere of our van and walk into red neck paradise disguised as a gas station. i meander towards the walk-in coolers passing by glass cases full of blades, belt buckles and confederate thongs and finally catch a glimpse of the iced coffe drinks. salvation is mine as i grab my caffeinated beverage and head back to the counter to pay for it. "Debit please." i say as i hand the nice man with a volunteer fire fighter shirt, camo hat (with fish hook attached) and giant dip in his lip my card. "Umm..ya gotta purchase enough stuff to be 5 bucks or more for us to charge yer card maa'm. " Looking around the store from where i stand i state "well then surely must be sumthin i can find me a good use for in here" and i head to the confederate clothing and supply section. Upon browsing i decide that my good friend, Klob could use a nice set of confederate flag pot holders. I snatch the dusty pot holders from their rack and go back to the nice man standing at the counter. We talk weather for a brief second, i ask about directions to the nearby suspension bridge, sign my debit receipt and thank him as i walk out. Hopping back into the driver's seat my girls are cracking up at the fact that i actually bought dixie pot holders. I remind them that it was THEM who told the only black girl in our group to "get down!" as we pulled up to the gas station in the first place. So with Brittney back on and blaring we haul the van about a 1/4 mile down the road and start up the winding muddy trail to the suspension bridge. The nice man at the "gas station" said it would be about 3.5 miles to the bridge. at what feels like about 5.5 miles we decide we are lost and turn around to head back down the mountain. I assure the girls that this time i will get more accurate directions from the red neck gas attendant and we WILL find the suspension bridge. Pulling the van back under the awning i put her in park. One girl shouts "hey wouldn't it be funny if like, you did the same thing and bought the same stuff like ground hog's day and totally freaked out the attendant?!" Hmmmmmmm.......i sit for a few seconds digesting this and reply with...."Whyyyyyyy YES! it WOULD be funny!" Ya see, my job is awesome for this very reason....I am often encouraged to act younger than my age as to keep my girls entertained and enjoying life. So that is what i do. I climb out of the van, walk into the gas station and head back to the coffee drinks. i pay close attention (once again) to the knives, buckles and dixie thong and then locate my iced coffee drink. i walk straight faced back to the counter and place the drink in front of the clerk. He looks at me somewhat confused and states that "You need to buy enough to charge 5 dollars on a debit card here." "Well then surely must be sumthin i can find me a good use for in here." i state as i head back to the confederate section. laughing my ass off in my head but re-enacting the scenario to a T i pick out another set of confederate flag pot holders and walk back up to the man at the counter. Cocking his head to the side while ringing me up he asks "is this some sorta groundhog's day er what?" I finally break a little smile, ask him about the weather and then tell him that I am back because we got lost on the way to the bridge. He gives a good hearted, but still a bit confused chuckle and goes into more detail on the trail that leads to the bridge. I walk out thanking him once again for my purchases and back to the van. Inside the van my girls and co-chief sit perched on the edges of their seats just waiting to hear what i did. I show them the pot holders, pull out my second iced coffee and they start bustin out laughing. They all can't believe that i "actually went through with it," but what fun is it to NOT do something like that and instead just talk about doing it....i'll tell ya...it ISNT fun. And that folks was the highlight of my trip to Georgia last week. Haa....Klob...those pot holders are in the mail.