Day 40 contained a first for our journey...... I did not take a single photograph. We spent the day just being tourists and blending in the Memorial Day arts fair and BBQ competition in Seneca, South Carolina. This little burg was nothing extraordinary but served well to give us a bit of a rest. We ambled along looking at the arts and crafts within the booths and were struck by how we could have been in Anywhere, USA. Funny how similar this holiday event could have just as easily been in Colorado or California. There was music and dancing kids from the local dance studio. We also wandered around in a few antique shops and the quintessential arts co-op/studios. We thoroughly enjoyed the eats and the ever-consistent southern hospitality.
Day 41 - After having spent two nights in Seneca, our Oddasee feet were getting itchy and we were anxious to hit the road. Our main goals looked very promising and we were genuinely excited. We decided to make a bit of a beeline to the target town of Bishopville, SC in one our few Interstate dominated days.
The highlights:
1. We stopped off in Columbia for a bit of diversion and leg stretching. First we found the "Big Hydrant". Cool and big.
2. "Tunnelvision" - hyper-real mural on the side of a 3-story building. Impressive.
3. Accidentally we came upon another of the old and out of use state mental institutions, The Mills Building of the South Carolina Asylum and School for the Deaf and Blind.
We were confined to looking from afar and forced to stay behind a fence. There were photos to be taken but the lust for interior views was undeniable. Mid-photo journalism, I was confronted by the first "B" of the day...... a badge! "Okay hold it right there. Slowly step away from the structure and lay the camera down." Yep we had committed the crime of the century. Apparently the local gendarme did not like our choice of artistic exploration. Susan was off around the side (on the proper side of the fence) and I had just emerged from behind a tree (on the proper side of the fence). Well Barney had some important questions to ask and rules to enforce. After running our plates (insert soundtrack - "Bad boys, bad boys. What ya gonna do?") and a quick scan of our obviously getaway truck, Mr. Fife decided we were okay but I was going to have to erase my photos. Why? Unclear. Some nonsense about past patients and blah blah hooey about that being the law. Keep in mind we just drove into an open parking lot off a main street and stopped to take a few photos. Not wanting to have a visit with a supervisor named Major Prophet (didn't make that up, that was the name of the threatened big man/sheriff on campus), it was requested/demanded that I erase all my photos of the old abandoned asylum. In a slight of hand move my magician friends Joe and Carol would be proud of, I kept a few
photos to share with you all. See a sad few pics from the many but at least I didn't have to surrender my camera or have to experience the joy of a full cavity search. So Oddasee watchers be very grateful for this series.
4. After our new life of crime we headed to Bishopville to see the topiary wonders of Pearl Fryar. "B" number two; bushes. This artist is somewhat famous due to the documentary "A Man Named Pearl". In what now seems madness, part of the story is that when he and his wife were first moving to the house, his new neighbors did not want them to move in because they feared he would not take care of his yard. This was yet another sad example of prejudice. Pearl proved them wrong. He has even now trained those doubting neighbors to embellish their yards with their own living sculptures. Alas, we did not get to meet the man but his work speaks volumes; we were "green" with envy and awe.
5. Button button, who's got the button? We know now the answer to that Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder version) query..... the answer is Mr. Dalton Stevens; the third "B" of the day. After losing his job to chronic insomnia in his late forties, he needed something to keep himself busy. Well he had some buttons and an old jacket. Hmmm? A few thousand buttons, some thread, a lot of time and the rest is history. With decent directions and the far too rare existence of good signage, we found this off the beaten track museum in a mostly farm focused area. Uh oh! There seemed to be no one around but there was an open sign. We tried the door and turned on the lights for an instant smile-o-thon. Wow! A hearse covered with 600,000 buttons and a casket with 60,000 more. There was a button enhanced Chevette, another casket, an outhouse, a toilet, a bathtub and various other objects d'buttons. We took many photos and never lost the smiles on our faces. We signed our names in the book, turned off the lights and left just ahead of another couple of intrepid curiosity seekers.
Yes another grand day of sights and color.
Love and Mugshots,
Rodney and Susan
No comments:
Post a Comment