Small Towns & Empty Backroads Of Southern Georgia - First Stuckeys / Rental Car Problem On Road Trip
Small Towns In Southern Georgia
Transcript
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here on the Florida into Georgia state
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line I will be departing the
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State of Florida heading into Georgia
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momentarily a couple miles up the road
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here starting off at the
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Pines this old desolate bar sitting
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empty as the recording of this Thursday
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June
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13th 2020 4 it's a road trip day it's a
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back road Small
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Town Road Trip day welcome everyone Adam
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the woo here south Georgia now in full
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effect cross the state line the place I
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was at was just over that way just a bit
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but now I am in
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folon
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Georgia I know that because there is a
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water tower right there that says so so
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be spending time in this area heading to
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the middle of Georgia but starting off
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here in South Georgia in folon I'm
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inviting you to join
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me I'm excited to be on the road and not
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in an airplane it's been a while since
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I've taken a car and drove through a
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multitude of States not going to be
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driving through a multitude of States
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today but over the next two
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weeks I will be today it's all about
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Georgia and Tiny communities throughout
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it join me good to have you here shall
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you the gateway to the Oki
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phoi alligator up on I thought it was a
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lizard but it is a facted
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alligator and just up the way a bit 40
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50 mil up the road I'm going to be going
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through a town where I almost bought a
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house and I changed my mind and then I
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bought a house in Celebration Florida
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but I'm going to be going through Way
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Cross where I was about 2
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seconds of wait of making an impulsive
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decision on buying a house there but I
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did I ended up in celebration wasn't
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expecting to see this type of door from
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the end of this wall of Windows
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here oh yeah
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train rolling through look at this old
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building I'm on the corner of First
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Street and Main
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Street that's right down the middle of
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Main Street
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USA Georgia
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USA supposed to be the old Bank building
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it's all boarded up that one the front
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of the front of it Street sign even has
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a train on
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that nice rocking chairs
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here those are nice and solid rocking
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chairs
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too there's the post office over there
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here in
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railroad oh there's even some train
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Watchers over there look at that train
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watching
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station what the heck that's awesome
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that's pretty dang cool like a group of
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people sitting on their rocking chairs
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over there watching the train go
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by I like that a Small Town Georgia life
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it is hot out
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here that's a great image right there
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even a nice little Coca-Cola sign right
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over here old school Coca-Cola
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Signet birds are even
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chirping doesn't get much better than
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that
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nice old ghost sign there South Georgia
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Timber Company the whistling Dixie
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Cafe right up here look at this the
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Whistlin Dixie
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Cafe go back the other way the opposite
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way I'm heading is the Wildlife Refuge
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says 7 1/2 miles there it says 10 mil on
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this side the okoi
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swamp meaning the land of the trembling
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Earth hunting of fishing grounds TR
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of
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Indians 250
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drons drove out to the LA the last of
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these the simal in
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1873 Indian Rebellion Southern Georgia
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37 the US fish and wildlife service
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acquire most of the 400,000
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Acres hunting is prohibited there is
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some fishing allowed there some fishing
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is a lot catac corn of the street is
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this kind of cute little
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Hopkins Gowan Oil Company building and a
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an old gas pump or an oil pump here with
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the US flag ethanol free gas just
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carrying along the road here couple
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miles outskirts of the town I was just
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in this yard has well this item is for
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sale for $1,200 little classic car but
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look at this little weird futuristic
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looking thing here in the
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middle it's really not futuristic
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looking but it just looks like something
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out of like a sci-fi
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movie I don't know what better way to
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describe it but you got some Volkswagen
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bugs over there you got a looks like a
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hot pepper chili pepper on the side ooh
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this might have even been an old gas
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station cuz there you can see where the
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gas pumps used to be on that concrete
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slab right
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there this is right here on Highway 1
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and Highway 23 you can refer to it
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either way I see the sign off in the
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distance I'm going north on Highway 1 or
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Highway 23 this is looking Southward
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though
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I see an Ecto over there I also see a RC
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Cola
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sign this is called the house of
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rust check this out
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cool classic cars and
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parts McDaniel's House of rust that sign
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says with the arrow pointing over there
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look at this car has like a it has a
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couple little back feds on it
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this gray
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one see the feds there then that license
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plate says here comes old
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Emma classic car alert
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cars alert here at the house here's
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Mater at the house of
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rust directly across the
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road not on the same property as the
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house of
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rust or some classic cars probably
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somehow affiliated with the house of
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rust
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these
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items
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bus this old Sharon Baptist Church
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bus looks like something from out of end
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of the wild as the Jesus saves across
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the back
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it's amazing what you can find off the
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side of a
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road here it is downtown Way Cross
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Georgia what could have been my little
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Hometown you know how a lot of times
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I'll walk around downtown St CL uh
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celebration home said St Cloud downtown
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celebration Lake ryanard I could have
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done a lot of walking can talks right
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down this very Road pretty wild to think
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about
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right little Coca-Cola factory here or
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maybe just an office way across
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Georgia more rocking chairs right along
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the train tracks
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tower yeah it was really I had pretty
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much decided that I was going to live
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here and then I started driving home and
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then it hit me what am I doing why do I
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want to be 4 hours from my parents 4
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hours from Central
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Florida even though it is a cute little
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town and the house was a really good
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deal definitely would not have been the
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best of decision I ever made but it is a
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cute place there's definitely been a
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handful of places that I have thought
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about moving to Way Cross Georgia was
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one Pigeon Forge Tennessee was one
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Marceline Missouri I looked at a couple
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houses there but this was the one that
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made me decide that it was the correct
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place to get or the correct decision to
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get a
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spot in Celebration Florida because once
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I started driving back talking to the
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realtor looked at a house I was like
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this is awesome said I want it I would
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be in touched and then driving home I
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realized what the
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heck I need to be in Central Florida and
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obviously Southern California was always
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on my mind too but anyway I just wanted
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to pass by here show some of the town
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this used to be a this used to be a gas
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station at one point also All Right
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Moving On
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as I'm cruising along the road I'll see
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something I have to turn around real
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quick
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to see what it's all about this is
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Johnson's Corner used to be a deli they
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had beer lottery tickets cigarettes but
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does not look like it is a fuel station
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anymore
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is right over there on the corner on
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Johnson's
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Corner moving on next little town over
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is called
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Alma this was fascinating so I had to
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pull over and check this out it's an old
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video store called video
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Palace right
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there you also had prepaid cell phones
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or prepaid cell phone minutes right
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there there's a little walk up
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window and at first I thought maybe
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there were some of
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the movie posters in here but really
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it's just the ceiling falling
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hey here you go oh check it out there's
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even a place to eat right in
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there a
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table old
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TV not a flat screen still mounted up
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there probably where there a play had a
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VCR probably connected to it played
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movies there is no pay phone here
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anymore but the sign's still there it's
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a nice little relic of the past if the
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phone used to be maybe right there it's
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gone now though all right most unusual
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building most unusual Bank Pine Land
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Bank award goes to this
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place that is a bank look at that
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building looks like it's just a drive up
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like an ATM I don't even know if it's an
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actual indoor bank but one of the
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workers popped out the door and said oh
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there's some information here on this
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little placard so here it is former Alma
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Exchange Bank constructed this
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drive-through facility in the mid1
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1960s it was heavily influenced and
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known as Googy
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architecture futuristic architecture
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style influenced by car culture jet
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aircraft in the Space
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Age guess it was remodeled back in the
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early early
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2020 oh there is a
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little nod to the
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1964 Worlds Fair and the unique vision
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that there's a fountain behind
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me right here at the
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base pretty neat so there is an inside
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portion of the bank that's where the
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worker was she popped out and said oh
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check out the plaque
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so yeah people working inside
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neat okay this is interesting the county
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this is
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in it's bacon
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County and it's also the coffee
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District Two amazing
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things bacon and coffe coffee who
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doesn't I'm sure some people don't like
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bacon some people don't like coffee but
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yeah it is in
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fact bacon County and the coffee
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District look at
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that that reminds me I need some coffee
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there's the bacon County Sheriff van
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transport van and there is the bacon
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County
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courthouse and the City Hall all right
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their post office kind of is amazing
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also zip code
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31510 this is their post office here at
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Alma nice let's roll through
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town looks like there's an old theater
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up
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it's a cool architecture in this
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town got to be honest definitely some
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unique looking
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buildings the municip building
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there drove about another half hour over
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to Brockton that's the Brockton water
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tower in God we trust
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town pulled over and parked in their
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downtown
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area evidently used to be a building
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right here that was torn down you can
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see
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the bottom portion of it here either
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that or a grown over parking lot but
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looks like the base of a building there
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was a drivethru right here this is kind
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of interesting this
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drive-thru this building is no longer a
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food establishment is a church building
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now but there used to be a drive-thru
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the sign's still here you see the cross
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where the drive-thru used to be Vehicles
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can't pull through here anymore and it's
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now the Heritage Baptist
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Church there's their worship time so
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then up here is a sign
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has a sailboat on
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it logging truck pulled over to the
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light with the lot Hardware right there
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there's a better view of that sign where
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the sun's not shadowing it
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out there's also Heritage Baptist Church
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over there so evidently they got both
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sides of the
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street oh another video store ooh maybe
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there's something in there I could peek
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in the window and find or if there's any
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relics of the VHS world
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two video stores in one day course
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nothing inside the windows that I've
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seen but this one's probably a little
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bit better than the other one because
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this one Brockton
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video usually this means that something
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follows it up but the four dots there
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the four
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periods but this one still has the after
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hours video return
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spot that is freaking
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awesome now the weather has rusted that
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out and that will not open but
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that is great video store Shopper that
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was where you could order these from
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back in the day ah the80s the VHS
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generation the best times this is
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looking inside the dirty window here you
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can see there's an open door back there
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but this place is not structurally sound
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and don't see any
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VHS relics in there really looks like it
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was used for storage or maybe another
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store after it was the video store but
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the roof is caving
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in there's the water tower up there I
20:48
was just showing here's the lot
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Hardware little car wash across the
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street called hopes car wash right there
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got a mural right here with welcome to
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1904 it's like the Brockton lady bucks
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were the 1990 1A State basketball
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champs you can also get Snapper mowers
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tillers and tractors right here in this
21:19
building and over there looks like there
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be some classic cars tucked away
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underneath that awning
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a few of
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them all I'm noticing on the side of
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this
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building2 right here got some mud Dober
21:46
Nest up there but there are some
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interesting items in there got some old
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signage an old gas station sign an Old
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Johnson seahorse motor sign
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get the old store in
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here pretty cool this corner building on
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the corner of railroad
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AV got a little chicken stand over here
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got some Pepsi machines out
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front
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and little grocer grocery store over on
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this end yeah it doesn't get any more
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cute and quaint than this Smith's
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grocery Pizza Wings coffee peanuts Lotto
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Auto movies
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snacks even says movies up on the top of
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their sign too this might have been like
22:48
an old cigarette ad there's a drive-thru
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here for the country kitchen
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by this old satellite up
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here well satellite no it's not a
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satellite it would be a radio
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antenna TV antenna that's what I'm
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looking that's the word I'm looking
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for wonder how many channs you can get
23:28
with that this on the outskirts of town
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got to love
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this it's Andy griffi Show mural over
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here
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prominently featuring Don
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knots you got Andy and Opie over here
23:47
too walking to the fishing
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eyes playing Barney 5 Deputy Barney
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5 Sheriff Andy
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Taylor played by Mr Andy
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Griffith op course played by Ron
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Howard I don't know if there's a
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correlation on why this is
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here but it is and I like it there's
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also a lot of gnats around me they're
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not mosquitoes they're just gnats I
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think they might be biting gats so
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they're a little annoying
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like all around this fence line get out
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of here
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Nats that's pretty dang cool Dylan Ross
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that's who uh painted I can see the name
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right up
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there right here on the side of this
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little
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Farmhouse it's a really massive plant
24:49
here in the driveway too it's across the
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street from the Brockton Church of God
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which is right over
24:55
there I'm now pulling through
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Jacksonville
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Georgia very tiny Town here's their fire
25:03
and rescue building there's their water
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Georgia entering another small community
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here stuck behind that farm vehicle for
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a few miles just enjoying the nice slow
25:29
drive this is Pond
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Town judged by the signs I see on some
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of the
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businesses at least the ones that are
25:44
open here's a variety store here that's
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closed there was something here
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evidently burned down
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it's a cute little building that's the
26:07
pond Town Market right
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there the
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thermometer okay it no longer has the
26:17
thermometer piece on it but check out
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this Relic here a little antique Sprite
26:21
thermometer
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water
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tower here in pond
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odd and here's the market which I do not
26:45
believe is open
26:47
anymore Pond Town
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Market drugstore has a little mailbox
26:55
out front believe they're still open for
26:58
business but at this time of the day
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they're
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closed Pharmacy prescriptions Ry
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drugstore okay the name of the town is
27:11
Ry I don't know where I guess maybe the
27:11
nickname is Pond town
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Eastman and I am happy happy to say that
27:59
I am standing beside soon to be standing
28:02
in front of I'm going to walk over there
28:04
the very first
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stues
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anyone that travels the open road
28:13
across
28:14
America visiting roadside attractions
28:17
traveling from point A to point B if
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you've been doing it
28:21
for several years or
28:24
more you probably have heard of Stucky
28:27
they're starting to make a come
28:28
back back 20 30 years ago they were
28:31
everywhere and the first one is right
28:35
here pretty
28:37
cool in
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1937 ws and Ethel Stucky opened the
28:43
first peon shop at this
28:53
location today ackies can be found in
28:53
nearly every state of the union and has
28:55
become an important part of their lives
28:57
those who travel the highways of this
28:58
great country this spot has been
29:00
dedicated to the memory the first step
29:02
forward by Mr and Mrs Stucky and the
29:05
many employees that have been part of
29:07
their
29:08
Heritage yep that is definitely looks
29:11
like
29:21
open look like it's still in pretty good
29:21
shape it
29:23
could could be a current Stucky but it's
29:26
not
29:37
storage a furniture store of some sort
29:37
oh it's a all things flooring and tile I
29:40
can see the sign through
29:41
there where the planner was right
29:44
here good old
29:46
stues started here never knew
29:56
that yeah for a long time every time you
29:56
found an old Stucky was usually a burn
30:00
out or burn down especially on big
30:02
interstates but in the last four or five
30:04
years they've really made a Resurgence
30:06
and now you're starting to see a lot of
30:09
new stues popping up which I'm happy
30:16
about downtown
30:16
Eastman place called The Bug House a
30:19
pest control
30:26
Place Pentecostal Church The Livery area
30:26
of that
30:35
blinking traffic
30:35
light number eight Eastman fire
30:37
department truck it's like a kind of a
30:39
antique fire truck right
30:42
there engine number
30:53
eight oh nice some mile or two away from
30:53
where the original stues
30:55
is and they painted a mural here on the
30:57
side of the wall
30:58
downtown by Christopher Johnson in
31:02
2022 right over there he signed his name
31:05
and there it is right there the first
31:06
stues I was just at the classic cars in
31:09
front let me zoom in on
31:12
this got the gas pumps out front
31:15
architecture above the gas pumps the
31:17
fuel
31:18
pumps the first peon shop
31:22
stues there peon
31:25
logs that's where they that's what made
31:27
them famous
31:41
log been cruising along for about
31:41
another half
31:43
hour and I had to do a quick little
31:45
U-turn pull back over here because I
31:48
found something really freaking
31:51
awesome right over here off to the
31:56
side here
32:01
look at
32:01
this beautiful
32:03
thing it's an old
32:07
store with a relic of soda pop past a
32:13
pepsy freaking
32:15
machine in front of the saan
32:24
building no spray paint a
32:24
graffiti right here along the main road
32:32
perfectly
32:32
decayed stuck in stuck back in
32:36
time the Pepsi machine really adds to
32:49
awesome pull up just so I can get the
32:49
side of the building
32:50
too that is a that is
32:59
great there's even
32:59
an old neon sign here that's obviously
33:01
not working also look at
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the the light part up
33:12
here attached to the awning but then
33:19
this that say say
33:19
Bud says say
33:21
something the old neon behind the window
33:24
there all right stopped here got a
33:26
coffee going to fuel up
33:28
$334 a
33:30
gallon but problem is I cannot get this
33:34
open this is a Ford Escape
33:36
20120 this will not open and there is
33:39
no there is no switch by the door that
33:42
you can flip anymore cuz 20020 to
33:44
current day all you have to do is just
33:46
tap it and I've tried I've looked a
33:48
bunch of stuff up online they say you
33:50
could put like a credit card in there
33:52
and try to pry it open nothing's working
33:55
so I've got about 100 still empty so I'm
33:58
going to drive a little bit more and
34:00
then maybe try to find a place that has
34:01
a screwdriver if worse C to worse I'll
34:03
have to just pop this off but it's not
34:07
cooperating tapped it I've hit it
34:11
hard been messing with this for for
34:13
quite a
34:14
while but I definitely going to have to
34:16
have this open to put gas in it all
34:18
right I think there might be a solution
34:20
so I'm going to pull over to another gas
34:21
station see if it works there might be a
34:25
work around
34:31
over at another Circle K price of gas
34:31
$35 a gallon here so first Circle K I
34:34
couldn't get it open took me about 20
34:36
minutes I looked a bunch of stuff up
34:37
online again in the door there is no
34:39
switch prior to 2020 you just push
34:42
something next to the seat it would pop
34:44
this open a buddy of mine who is a
34:46
mechanic I got a hold of him he said
34:48
check in the trunk see if there's a
34:49
switch there isn't kept driving a little
34:52
bit he alerted me that maybe by the
34:54
tire there would be something so I
34:57
looked under
34:59
here and I know like I am definitely not
35:02
an expert on cars but I just want to put
35:04
this out there in case anybody has this
35:06
issue with this vehicle and this does
35:08
not open and if you try a credit card to
35:11
try to pry it open if that does not work
35:14
see now it's open so when it's closed
35:17
like that it's supposed to open but it's
35:19
definitely an issue so what I did was
35:23
thanks to my buddy is this pulls down
35:25
like this clamps up on there and then
35:28
you pull
35:30
this and magically that opens now
35:33
afterwards I'm going to have to put this
35:34
back up like this clamp this on hide it
35:38
right there but I'm going to have to
35:40
probably do this my whole road trip but
35:43
man I was pretty stressed that I wasn't
35:45
going to be able to fill it up so for
35:46
future reference anyone that's wondering
35:48
if it's if there's not a switch in the
35:50
trunk check above the tire on this
35:52
particular model again this is a this is
35:56
a Ford Escape type titanium
36:04
2020o at least a self puming gas nozzle
36:04
works I almost if if I didn't know about
36:07
the switch if I had pred that open done
36:08
the whole credit card trick which didn't
36:10
work I would have
36:13
uh that's got more than $6 in
36:30
self- pumping gas nozzle does not work I
36:30
guess I got to hold
36:31
it he just likes to hold
36:39
it I think this gas pump is not working
36:39
right
36:46
either there it goes or
36:46
not what the heck is going on with me
36:48
fueling up today or
36:51
tonight anyway I got it open