I used to get crazy assignments to go teach computer classes in out-of-the-way places like Dexter, Maine (home of Dexter Shoes) or Los Alamos, New Mexico (home of the A-bomb) or Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin (where Cray supercomputers and Leinenkugel beer are made) or Aberdeen, Maryland (fresh crab year-round). So when RaineyM said, “Let’s go visit my family at Goose Lake,” I couldn’t think of a better place to spend Thanksgiving. RaineyMot had warned me so thoroughly about what to expect that I was almost surprised to find people walking upright.
The residents of Lakeview are very kind. Their kindness takes many forms (not just turning down the TV a notch when you visit):
- allowing you to opt out of a fourth slice of pie after a 4000-calorie turkey dinner (i know–pot:kettle:black)
- waving at you on the street
- letting you win at Skip-bo when they suspect you are NEAR THE EDGE
- giving you the use of any gun in the house!
Apart from meeting RaineyMot’s blood relations (who are lovely, except for Snoopy who brings terrific violence to his chew toy when he becomes excited), there were some unexpected wins:
- My hands were visible to every one of the sensor-operated paper towel dispensers (in busier towns I just don’t think establishment owners take maintenance very seriously)
- I got a chance for first-time Yelp of every restaurant in the place
- Caught up on the last 500 episodes of ‘Pinks’
- Was not even tempted to shop the day after Thanksgiving: what a relief from consumer appetite!
- The cold: neither wet nor dry–it was cold cold
- Mountain lion bacon is cheap and plentiful (yes those are cougar prints)
