Downtime: Thomasville, GA

Sitting at a table in the truck stop, soaking up the air conditioning. If you wind up in Thomasville, the Jack Rabbit is a little sparse on standard truck-stop amenities--it's basically a BP convenience store with a bigger-than-average parking lot. No restaurant, no array of cutesy and/or "useful" items for truckers. But it's quiet, which counts for a lot. And it does have a table in the store to hide from the heat.

I spent the morning walking downtown and wandering around. (Another good point about the Jack Rabbit. Usually a trip like that is not an option. I've talked about truck-stop isolation before...) About a mile up there, I think, but I like to walk. Your mileage may vary. Hot and thirsty work, but several nice points.

Every other Saturday, the locals who are into such things hold a "Green Market."
It's easier out here than in some places--a lot of their "green stuff" is basically homemade jellies, jams, pickles, etc., and other things that are as easy for a farming family to figure out. Like the people who were selling a homemade insect repellent--citronella, cedar, and a couple of other herbs I don't remember offhand. Their "standard strength" product is your basic OFF-feeling liquid. "Farmer's strength" is the same thing in an olive-oil base (a little oily-feeling, but it doesn't wear off as quickly).

The main drag has gone all high-concept.
Antique stores, arts-and-crafts, specialty stores, deli's, pubs, natural-foods restaurants, you get the idea. It seems to have worked out better here than it often does. The town was big enough that they could actually get a fair bit of variety--I got lost for a few minutes, a couple of times. So you actually get to explore. And it's far enough from larger cities to be a destination still. Or maybe it's something else. All I know is, the ratio of cute shops to empty storefronts is pretty high. And it had several places I thought worth poking into.

If you want to eat, you have choices.
Most of them aren't fast or cheap, though. High concept downtowns tend to be like that. The Subway's credit-card machine was down, so I had to hunt hard.

I finally found a place called Izzo's that made a nice chicken-philly for a reasonable price.

Izzo's, of course, is your basic trendy-name something or other. Except it's not. It's been in in Thomasville for generations. It started out as a drugstore. The soda fountain survived.

Don't ask me how, but it still feels like a local institution. I have no trouble imagining bottles on the back wall and a pharmacy counter. The lady at the counter would be right at home there.

Friendly. Down to earth, after a fashion (a blatant "look at me, I'm a 50's soda fountain" fashion, but still...). And they make a good sandwich.

Broad Street, near the courthouse.

But of course the bookstore stole my attention.
I spent a fair part of the afternoon contentedly skimming. If I'd had any money at all, there was one book I would have bought. The Book Shelf was a pleasant diversion.

In fact, that's why I'm back at the Jack Rabbit. If I'd relaxed there for much longer, I would've started worrying about wearing out my welcome. Not in the sense of upsetting them--the lady seemed to take the Barnes & Noble attitude--but I'm Southern enough to feel bad about sitting around all day and not buying anything.

Scruples. Sigh.

All in all a pleasant afternoon. Now to wait until the truck is survivable.