Bonesteel part 3 (drizzly day)

Day 3
Starting early (ish). Apparently you can eat granola with a fork, which is the only utensil the girls at the local restaurant/store gave me along with my meat/potatoes/eggs/cheese breakfast bowl. That lineup of ingredients seems so common here, must be "rancher" food. Gratefully, the store attached to the restaurant offered gluten free granola, fruit, non-dairy milk, etc. I'm definitely the outlier in this region in terms of dietary restrictions, although I wonder if someone isn't eating the usual fare here and wondering "why do I feel like crap all the time?" the same way I did before realizing I had an aversion to milk and wheat.

Woke up later than expected. Church in an hour, got to force down as much of this deconstructed breakfast burrito as possible. Had to leave town to buy it (nothing open in Gregory on Sundays). Locals behind the counter joke about some of their residents coming from "way over" the other side of the county, marking me an utter alien by those standards. I'm once again reminded I must photograph the giant gorilla and pheasant statues around town. Weather is drizzly, to a degree that I'm uncomfortable exposing my camera to the elements, but perhaps it will clear up enough to get this job done (shots of golf course, pickleball court, etc)

Church is a pleasant, low, long building with interior woodwork slats that remind me of Norwegian design. Four little kids in the pew behind me who refuse to sit still, parents powerless to control them. My mistake for sitting so far back, but that's my anxiety of forgetting responsorials and resultingly not sitting closer to the front. Good service overall, a few regional changes (prayers offered for rain for the cattle, "Lord, hear our prayer") and once mass ended everyone knelt and quietly prayed instead of bailing out of church as is common elsewhere.

Rain prevents any scenic photo work. Head to aging bowling alley for a photoshoot, speak to the owner who visited Savannah only a few months ago. Seems this coincidence is following me: by the end of the day I'd meet three other people who had recently visited Savannah.. I take an extended tour around town with JMe, who knows the history behind every building in town, too many to list. An old high school, owned by a California resident, sitting vacant and falling into ruin. An enormous 5-bedroom manor for sale ($500,000) that used to be a bed and breakfast. Many businesses, several without any signage whatsoever, including a tattoo shop that attracts people from hundreds of miles. "They're really good," I'm assured. The rain keeps up and makes photos at golf course impractical. Decide to get lunch before carrying on, but with everything closed (Sunday) have to leave town.

Downtown theater with UGA flag above it, because G is for Gorilla

Drive to Dallas, just four miles west, for lunch at Frank Day's. Unquestionably a saloon, almost a museum. Walls adorned with cowboy hats, boots, mugshots of ranchers from the area, names denoted in crooked Sharpie, deep shadows penetrating every surface, no music playing for the few customers playing poker in the back corner. The bartender (also chef) recommends "chislic," a regional favorite. I acquiesce and order it; turns out to be excellent, a sort of chopped beef deep fried in fat and coated with garlic salt. Take back to my motel room, watch Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel on the Western channel to set the tone. Starting to enjoy Westerns a little more, having gotten over the dry scenery and sleep-inducing black and white.

Two dinner events happening, one at American Legion and another a fundraiser to develop a small park downtown. The town, small as it is, has a fairly large park, where the Fall Fest happened yesterday, but there appears to be a desire to have a smaller version closer to the center of things. I don't know enough about the social culture here to comment. Both feature beef-heavy menus, and I chat with the locals about their history, culture, etc. Another couple that went through Savannah on a cross-country tour tell me how much they enjoyed it.

Decide to take a trip out of town for a drink to end the night. End up in Dallas again, at one of two options available, Cody's, which doubles as a fine dining and strip club (the other option is to revisit Frank Day's). End up talking with bartenders and a couple of the performing girls, pleasantly discussing how to train dogs, local events, and of course their "entertainment industry," of which I know next to nothing. That said, now I do have some idea about how it works and have considerably more respect for it (which is not to say I was disrespectful before, but I'd never had the opportunity to learn.) I pay an exorbitant amount for a gin & tonic but as the only customer in the entire building- pheasant season starts in 2 weeks and they'll be jam-packed then- feel I'm helping keep the lights on, dim as they are. Charming girls however, despite how the media portrays their industry. Clients fall in love with them often and it's easy to see why.

At the last moment, receive a text message that the school system does a pep rally Monday mornings, and I ought to attend tomorrow's. The mascot of the school system is a Gorilla, hence this is a "Gorilla gathering" for the entire school body, which amounts to about 300 kids. Graduating class sizes vary from 13-30 in recent years. I suppose when everybody knows everybody, there's more accountability? Not sure how that pans out. I remember only a handful of classmates from ... (how many people were even in my class?) Numbers elude me. I've been asked multiple times the population of Savannah and fail to offer an estimate. "Less than Atlanta" seems adequate. Past midnight now. Tomorrow I'll capture what I can, sleep as well as I can during the early evening, then drive back in the late hours to make my 6am flight. The weather's been so crappy I haven't had a chance to sit down and relax in the quiet like I wanted. Hope I can find a brief few minutes to do so in the afternoon.