When you live in small town USA you have things like School Rd to look forward to every day...

But being cooped up sucks.

I've been gathering money like a squirrel would gather nuts to get out of here and go on another adventure. Problem is, while I'm doing my gathering I'm stuck at my dads.

I don't like the indoors and being in the same town for extended periods always gets me antsy.

A couple days ago one of the local kids stopped by and asked if I wanted to go "Poop Hunting." It's not a local tradition or anything but there's some real live dinosaur poop in the area and there are folks who hunt it.

Anyway, I needed to get out and that led to wandering around in the woods and then the town with my camera and that's how this story began building itself.

You see, there's not much to Vanleer Tennessee. If you stand at the north end of town it looks like this...

From under this tree...

Which was far enough off the roadway that I felt safe enough to take a picture of the north end of town because people don't slow down.

It's a 30mph zone and yes, there are a few sheriffs who patrol but people still speed through the entire 1 mile of main street Vanleer.

The Folks Who Keep Vanleer Spiritually Alive

There's not much for business here in this small American town. There's a bank of course (because every town with a booming population of 300 something folk should have one) and a Dollar General (same as banks I guess.)

However, before you roll into town you have places like this;

Because Tennessee, being part of the Bible Belt has churches on every corner. This was the old school I'm guessing and it was converted over to the saintly side of life.

Not too shabby huh...

But just to make sure your sins are washed away, there's the second house of worship just down the road. But first, we have to pass this place...

Those folks are into the forest industry (they turn trees into boards.)

We don't have far to go but if you're thirsty, need food or gas or even a lottery ticket we can stop in at Morgans and fill up on everything.

Don't expect to use coupons though because the folks at Morgans don't take them.

All gassed up, bellies full and thirst quenched...

Let's go get saved - again!

I always find this church odd.

There's a walkway and steps that lead no place out in front. Stairs just stop at the edge of the road. "Stairway to Heaven?" Maybe?

Since I don't know the history of the place I can't say.

But after we get ourselves saved we can walk around the crazy-assed curve at the north end of town and see the north end of town again from the roadside (not the safest place to be standing.)

The Business End Of Town

Off to our right, we see Tubby's. This is a little local artists shop. I actually have a few pieces of my own art in there :0)

And to our left...

I'm not sure what that place was or is or even what happened to it - but I like that it's yellow and open to the public.

Continuing on we see our lovely water department building. These folks are really into keeping things hydrated around here.

And now that you're unthirsty we can get you some new fabrics...

And keeping it simple, we here in Vanleer invite you to get your items reupholstered at Simply Inviting Artisan Shoppe and Upholstery

How could anyone not love a business with all those birdhouses out front?

Across the street is the bank I spoke of. I didn't take pictures of the bank though. People tend to look at me strange enough walking around taking pictures of not a whole heck of a lot and tend to get itchy trigger fingers here-bouts'. Especially when you’re taking pictures of their bank.

There is this place next door though...

This is one of those "You Gotta See It" places that seem to be everywhere in America. It's one of those little history museums filled with old (sorry - antique) stuff you can buy. Try purchasing something from the Smithsonian and see what that gets you!

I mean, look....

I'm thinking of getting the "Fred's Auto" sign for my dad. He'd be thrilled don't you think?

Now, not all of the places are as busy as all the other businesses around here. There's the auto repair shop for instance that doesn't repair autos.

However, you might be able to get a tooth pulled if you wait around long enough for someone to show up. They have the chair...

And you can even spit out the splinters of teeth when finished

And that's pretty much it for the main drag here in Vanleer

And this is just my own thoughts but with as little business as this town has you'd think they wouldn't be kicking businesses out but they do as you can see in the next photo...

Oh, and they keep making fun of the kids around here saying that the children are slow as shown in this picture

But if you stroll off the main drag there's some nice scenery

Of course, every town is going to have its own cemetery

Oh...

And let's not forget those suspicious looking characters that plague all of small-town America...

Well, that was the town. If we were to a little further you'd have seen a real school and get this... A fire station! There was even a healthy type food place that sold some great tasting bread here too but they've recently closed their doors. Shame, because it was really good bread.

But even with all of its greatness, there's still the problem of small-town drugs and alcohol galore. Prescription pills and meth seem to be the drugs of choice. There is no bar that I know of locally, but alcohol is the water of choice around here.

It goes without saying that both leave their mark and we end up with places like the one in the photo below being abandoned

I'd love to turn that place into a home :0)

We never did find the poop that fella was looking for that day. I did come across this

I have no idea what it is but it looked like something to snap a photo of at the time. And we stumbled across an old cemetery with some serious history I would like to know more about

I (sort of) met this fella there...

Looks like he survived the 1812 debacle only to get gunned down in the start of the civil war.

What a bummer.

I still thanked him for his service though. Because of fellas like Sergeant Walker, who served in both - the War of 1812 and the 1st Tenn Volunteers (civil war) I can sit here today and write this in a semi-sort-of freedom that the idiot politicians want to take away.

And of course, there's the scenery :0)