The Shape of Today

Getting away from it all

I can hear them as I type: the fun seekers.

It's an irony when one resides in a scenic rural community; on the one hand you have the peace and quiet of country living (or so people imagine), and on the other hand if you have any kind of tourist attractions you can expect to be overrun by tourists on a regular basis.

When I first moved here back in '88, you could literally walk down the middle of the highway even during the day without fear. Now simply approaching the mailbox is an act of courage, and there are days when it's nearly impossible to pull into the road to get to work. The annual Big Fall Festival is this weekend; the library won't even be open because none of us will be able to get to it. The plan is to get some supplies in tomorrow morning and avoid town for the rest of the weekend.

Of course, I've fallen into avoiding town as much as possible all the time. People are pouring into the region much faster than its infrastructure can handle, and it's starting to show. We see entire families coming into the library for cards and while that's good for us, it's a little nerve wracking because these families inevitably arrive during busy times--and our staff is small. New residents are often shocked that the only grocery shopping opportunities in the immediate area are one badly managed grocery store and the local Walmart. They bring with them their noise, their pollution, their poor manners, and their big ideas on how things can be improved around here. It tends to involve paving something. And the traffic never, ever stops anymore.

Well, all I have to do is get through the workday today and tomorrow morning's grocery trip. Then I'll hibernate while these good people fall over each other as they get away from it all...