Vanity on the road

What you see when your job involves a lot of driving...

In a small Indiana town yesterday I passed the Vanity Beauty Salon. While I suppose there is a certain justification for such a name I'm not sure I would have chosen it. How does one take that? Are they appealing to the Veronica Lodges of the world? Betty Cooper, just walk on by, maybe? Whatever.

Within a few minutes more I saw a sign for Franciscan Fireworks. For those who may not be familiar with Catholicism, Franciscans are an order of priests. The sign was adorned with a priest gazing peacefully towards Heaven. The store itself, which appeared on the roadside in the next five miles, had a picture of a Franciscan complete in his brown monk's robe holding two lit firecrackers, one in each hand, and looking quite content about it. This was before they went off of course.

Lastly, it seemed that every wide spot in the road I drove through had a Dollar General. I can just imagine corporate board meetings at Dollar General World Headquarters: "Hey, Townville has 8, maybe 10 people. Put up a store!" I think it's overkill but hey, rural folk like their Dollar Generals I guess.

What you see on the road...