MY LIFE: A Visit To Peculiar Missouri, Part 1: Drives And Responsibilities

I don't why, but this post is taking me forever to write. Just can't seem to find the time. So I'm dividing into 3 posts. - OlderMusicGeek

We hop off the Peculiar exit, looking forward to seeing what this town, that we had passed many times but never visited, had to offer to us.

We had seen the sign each time we went down to visit my mom in Arkansas. “Peculiar so-and-so many miles”. Okay, it didn't actually say “so-and-so many miles”, but I don't remember the exact figure!

But my daughter and I became fascinated by the idea of a town called “Peculiar”. And I determined that one day we would visit it.

Well, the years rolled by and we never did visit it. If we were coming from my mom's home in Arkansas, we just wanted to get home. And sometimes, I was meeting my mom and her husband at the halfway point between my home and theirs in Clinton, Missouri, to either to drop off or pick up my daughter who was visiting for a couple of weeks. And Peculiar was only an hour or so from Clinton, and we didn't feel like stopping our 8- to 9-hour drive again after so short a time.

So year after year, the town of Peculiar was noticed... but ignored.


Then finally one year, I took down my nephew as I was going down to pick up my daughter.

I have to say, though, he has no understanding of the responsibility of the passenger on a long trip – which, of course, is to talk to the driver and keep them awake. I tried talking to him, but all I got back were monosyllables.

Thank the god, I had a boom box hooked up to my iPod playing all my alternative rock, punk, Cajun, bluegrass, big band, as well as other music. I would have fallen asleep without that music and massive doses of Diet Coke. And unfortunately, all that Diet Coke, of course, meant a number of potty stops. I am in my mid-40s!


Well, we still passed the town of Peculiar on the way down and met my mom, her husband and my daughter in Clinton.

Usually, we just eat at the McDonald's there in Clinton. But my nephew has celiac disease and can't eat certain kinds of food, especially wheat-based products. Turns out there really wasn't anywhere in town where he could eat.

So we said our good-byes, and my nephew headed off with my mom and her husband, and my daughter obviously headed off with me.


And as we headed to the car, it hit me.

“Hey, are you that hungry? Or can you wait an hour?”

My daughter gives me a bit of a look. “I'm not really that hungry. Why?”

I smile. “Well.... I was thinking we could eat in Peculiar.”

“Oh, we're going to eat in Peculiar! I can wait!”

A Visit To Peculiar Missouri, Part 2