(Mr. Claude Minnich, almost former owner of Clark’s Hardware on historic East Davis Street in downtown Culpeper. Photo courtesy Vincent Vala, Star-Exponent Staff Photographer).
OK- this is going to be a little disjointed, so forewarned is forearmed, you know?
The trip to New Orleans and Raymond, Mississippi put 2,335.6 miles on the odometer of the Panzer in a week and helped clear my head of the inside-the-Beltway static.
Here it was in a nutshell. There was a distressing amount of Spring roadwork on I-81 down where the dagger of Southwest Virginia spears the flanks of Tennessee and Kentucky. A lane was closed. Drivers of four and eighteen wheelers promptly got over as advised, when able, and for the last quarter mile there was a single lane of us courteously waiting to get through the construction zone. Not one person screamed up the empty lanes to the orange cones to barge in and cut off those motorists who had patiently waited.
When I approached the Capital on I-66, same deal, except the drivers in the lane that was closed increased speed to cut us all off. Everyone one up here is nuts, which I recognize includes me.
It was an amazing adventure in America, with nice people and amazing history. I visited the World War Two Museum near the French Quarter, talking to a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto on the 70th anniversary of VE Day, hanging on the Gulf Coast and later walking the battlefield in Northern Mississippi where Great Great Uncle Patrick Griffin had the experience that shaped his young life.
But there were things going on while I was listening to the satellite radio in a semi-hypnotic state as the new tires on the Panzer ate up the miles.
Attached is an experiment- as you know, I try to publish something daily- and that means sometimes the episodes get spread out across several days. In the case of the Raymond experience, it ran to five linked episodes. I cleaned them up a bit- don’t worry, many of your favorite typos have been lovingly preserved- and offer the collected set as the attached Portable Document File. Depending on what people think, I may start the process of collecting some of the more memorable past adventures in similar fashion so they are all contained in a single discrete and compact place.
We will see.
History continued to be made here. The redoubtable Alison Brophy Champion, longest-tenured local reporter for the Clarion-Bugle, wrote a dramatic article that appeared the morning after I got back to the farm from the road that got me quite agitated.
Well, I was agitated enough from the road, and one night’s rest at the farm wasn’t going to change that. But her story announced that today- the 16th of May- is it for Clark’s Hardware. When the doors close at 5:30 this afternoon, that’s it. The hundred -year tradition of having a quirky old store that has literally everything you could possibly want, maintained by people who know where everything is in the crazy assortment of merchandise, is done.
The Clarion-Bugle is a small town paper, and I know that Alison has to take an even hand with things, but Claude Minnich, the owner of Clark’s since 1980, is being pushed out by the organization that owns the building, the Masons.
Apparently they have plans to renovate the building and go upscale, in keeping with the gentrifying tone of the block that leads down to the Depot, and Claude and his store do not have a place in it. This is a huge bummer. That leaves the big-box Lowe’s the only alternative for stuff you need, and I suffer from Big Box disphoria. Every time I get inside the vastness of the superstore I forget why I came, or launch off on some project I have not thought through and then screw up.
When last I mentioned this sad business about Clarke’s to you, I visited the place to solve a deficiency at the farm: I needed a lid for my cast iron skillet, and when I first learned that a local institution was being tossed on the altar of progress, I hustled in. I am glad I did.
When Claude slapped a 30% sale price on everything, the Lodge cast iron collection was the first category of goods to go. When I got there Wednesday, the last piece of Lodge cast iron remaining was an 18-inch lid that fit nothing I own.
C’est la vie.
The last piece of Lodge is at the left. You can see the paint coming down from the pressed tin ceiling over a much-depleted inventory that used to run to 30,000 items. A copy of the going-out of business flier is at right. Things moved so quickly that the planned auction was called off.
In a separate story, Alison informed us that my favorite local winery is expanding. The Old House people do a great tasting and it is only about four miles from the farm as the crow flies. I have told you before about Belmont Farms, the distillery just to the south of Refuge Farm, and the marvelous moonshine and vodkas they produce in a real copper still.
Well, Alison broke the story that the winery is going to offer some competition. They are adding an Old House Distillery, a still that will produce brandy, vodka, agave and rum while providing distilling services for local wineries to create their own port-style wines.
The combined beverage-centric offerings on the 75-acre farm will make Old House one of the first winery-distilleries in Virginia.
So, with the loss of one institution we gain another. Life in the country.
And as to life in the city? It was good to be back at Willow in the evening again. Tracey O’Grady is adding some items to the menu for summer. I was talking to Old Jim at the apex of the bar last night, just like he was not about to flee to Las Vegas with Chanteuse Mary as soon as they can sell their condo. Former Willow sous chef Robert was just down the bar with his lovely girlfriend Kay.
Jasper and Sammie were working a pretty good crowd on the patio. Heather 2 was bustling around doing General Manager stuff, and Frankie the bar maid gave me the address to a place in Vienna, VA, that reportedly sells real Cornish pasties just like the ones back in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. JPeter was to my right with Gordon, the alternative energy consultant and Chairman of Lightsense Technology.
We talked enough to let me know that he knows the whole thing doesn’t make much sense, economically, and that a distributed network of thorium-fueled reactors is the way to reduce the use of fossil fuels. He knows where the money is, though, so he is playing along with where the money is. He used to be an EPA bureaucrat, so he knows. We should probably get around to doing something about it one of these decades.
Anyway, Tracey was experimenting with some ideas for next week, and very kindly brought out her latest creation for us to share: Irish Nachos.
It was an amazing creation of hand-cut thick deep-fried potato chips layered with Tillimook melted smoked cheddar cheese, chopped scallions and sour cream.
Robert summed up the reaction for the crowd, and as executive chef at the Tonic restaurant in Foggy Bottom, he is a recognized authority: “Damn,” he said. “Those are good.”
Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303