Throwback Thursday, On Aisle 4

Throwback Thursday.  I recently came across this picture that I took a few years ago across Hwy 400 in Dawsonville.

We had lunch there when on the way to Dahlonega.

The same spot the BBQ place is in was a service station/convenience store.

At the post office I worked at was a carrier who liked to talk about the mountains with me.   He and his girlfriend bought a large area of land, all wooded, near Dawsonville.  There were no buildings.  Just woods and a creek running through their property.

I have put this story up before, so just leap away If you remember it.

Gold was discovered within ten miles from there in the early 1830s.  Ken knew about that and tried gold mining in his creek.  He found a few little tiny pebbles of gold.  He made himself a gold mining machine.  It was a 2 cycle Bridge and Stratton type.  It was sort of like a Ferris Wheel.  It had a rotation system set up for scoops.  The machine would chugalug and go down and scoop up sand in the creek bottom and rotate upwards.  At a point, probably the highest peak the scoop would flip over and dump the contents into a metal pan with a tiny screened bottom that was always shifting back and forth.  It shits the sand out, and leaving heavier thicker items like hopefully gold nuggets… but  mostly tiny gold pebbles. 

He invited me, Anna, and our boys up one Saturday so Adam and Rocky could get the thrill of maybe finding some gold (which I think they did find a small amount).

He suggested we meet at the service station/convenience store and we could follow them down the dirt roads to his land.

We met him as suggested and his girlfriend/fellow church member was with him.

He suggested he and I go in the store and buy some hotdogs, charcoal, buns, Cokes, potato chips and have a little picnic too.

Great!  We said.

Ken and I went in the store and walked around and could found everything but the catsup and mustard.

He walked up to the counter and spoke to the lady behind it, She was a nice looking middle age woman.  He asked her, “Where is the condiments?”

She said, “Aisle four.”

We went to aisle four and there were no condiments.

We went to the counter, “Did you say, ‘aisle four?’”

“Yessir.”

“We looked and didn’t see them.”

“They are there, look again, I stocked it this morning.”

We went back and looked again.  Not there.

Back at the counter.  Ken said, “We looked from all over they are not on Aisle four!”

She came out from around the counter in a huff and almost ruefully said, “Come!  I’ll show you!”

We fell instep behind her.

In aisle four she jerked her hand and forefinger pointing, and said, “There!  The condiments!”

She was pointing at packs of condoms.

We all had an embarrassing laugh over that, and for a while every time Ken was  in there they had a good laugh.