You ain't leaving this one horse town.....

Today's Miles: Supposed to be 3x1600s. Reality was more like 1x1600s at 5K pace on the Steady Tready.

Mental note.....NEVER try speedwork first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I nearly became one of those funny home videos where the treadmill sends a runner flying across the room. Maybe I'll retry this workout tonight......

One thing I’ve seen a lot of while traveling across this country are small towns. I mean small towns.

Call them Quaint. Cute. Old Fashioned. Charming. Historical. Sleepy. Forgotten.

You know those towns. They started out as one block on Main Street. Then grew to an intersection. Then maybe had a stop sign. If they hit the big time, then a flashing light or one stop light kind-of town.

But their hay-day was probably 40+ years ago. And if there was ever a time this town thrived, it was long, long ago. Now they are lucky if all but 2 buildings are boarded up.

I know people from these kind of towns. I see people still living in these towns. And it never fails, no matter where I see them, I always wonder……HOW and WHY do people live here?

Where do they get their groceries? What if they need something to fix stuff with? What if they just want a burger? Where do they work? Where did all the people go?

I passed through a small town in Kansas. It had 4 houses in it. And 2 churches. Really!?! I know that denominations split, but that’s a little extreme isn’t it?

I’ve been in ghost towns in Texas where every building was boarded up and there wasn’t a soul around. Not even a stray cat.

I passed through a little town in Eastern Colorado and queried the GPS to find the closest grocery store….48 miles. Seriously.

I’ve seen towns with population signs of less than 200. In these towns, there’s a scary looking Bates motel quaint little B&B, and I wonder does anyone ever stay there? Even the bed bugs and cockroaches are probably dead because they haven’t had a meal in a Really. Long. Time.

I truly believe that my Garmin (aka Lola - and yes, you have to say it with that kind of emphasis) has an internal, hidden crazy-out-of-the-way-off-the-beat-path Scenic Route setting. It doesn’t matter if you choose the ‘fastest’ route or the ‘shortest’ route, Lola doesn’t like interstates. 

Main highways. 

Main streets. 

Secondary roads. 

Paved roads. 

Roads with more than 1 lane. 

Roads with any houses.

This pain-in-the-ass quirky feature has proven to be somewhat nerve-racking when traveling through some counties. And if you grew up with me....you know exactly which counties I'm talking about.

But hey……I get to see the Real America. Even if it’s 2 hours out of my way. Glenn Beck would be so proud.

However, I need to figure out how to convince Lola to avoid some small towns. When I drive into a town that is the size of one square block, and the first landmark I see is a graveyard that’s at least 7 square blocks…I’m talking Population 900….

....50 live and 850 dead….

….it makes you wonder. 

I wonder if at the end of this sleepy town if I’m going to run into Clint Eastwood and his posse. He’ll spit a big wad from his chaw of to’baccy and inform me that “Nobody leaves this one horse town.”  So you turn around to go out the way you came in and you’re met by a posse of zombies that are going to eat you (Why they would then bury your bones and put up a gravestone I haven’t quite figured out yet)  and your instinct is to run…..run fast and run far, far away.

Which is where I suppose I should go for a track workout…..might be more motivating than the treadmill…

Gotta run……