Today we did not have a stifling schedule so we started the day slowly with much lounging around and some breakfast. Eventually, however, we decided to do something and started by driving to get diesel for Charlotte. We checked Gas Buddy for the lowest prices and were informed that the lowest price in the area was in a small village nearby called Onalaska. As it turned out, Onalaska was not really nearby and they did not have the lowest prices. Somebody lied to Gas Buddy about the price of diesel. By the time we got there, our dashboard info panel indicated we had 35 miles worth of fuel in the tank and it was just too far to go to a real town to get cheaper fuel, if any.
From Onalaska, we went west to I-5 and turned north to the city of Centralia where Peggy desired some time in the Centralia Antiques Mall In Historic Downtown Centralia. After leaving the freeway at Exit 79, we zigzagged through ordinary residential areas and finally arrived in Historic Downtown Centralia. Centralia is sort of run down and the only historic aspect we noted was that the buildings were old. Very little urban renewal here.
We did note that the building which used to house downtown’s old Fox theater had a faded painted sign on one wall that said the place was where you needed to go to see the latest in talking pictures entertainment. We stopped not far away and wandered into the Centralia Antiques Mall which appeared to be an old downtown hotel repurposed into the basement antiques store and an upstairs breakfast and lunch restaurant called Berry Fields Cafe. The antiques mall was not a mall in the usual sense. It was a large subterranean basement with steep stairs descending from the street. Upon entering, we encountered a Hobbit-sized owner/operator that looked a lot like Renfield in the movie, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He urged us to look around.
I’m not a big fan of antiques stores but Peggy is delighted to browse in such places. I always envisioned antiques stores as being mostly filled with antique furniture and appliances but this one was a bit different. It had all the stuff that folks have collected over their lives that they hope will gain value instead of being discarded. The store had lots of glass items, a few old crummy lamps, a small collection of functioning and broken illuminated tavern signs, a bit of china, many old grease and oil containers, broken watches and pocketknives and many old campaign buttons from mostly Republican candidates.
Peggy checked out quite a bit of the stuff but I was done pretty quickly because I was unable to find anything that interested me other than a pencil drawing and some stick art from Malaya. The treasures (according to Peggy) or junk (according to me) was pretty pricey so I lost interest quickly. The owner was selling old Zippo lighters for $65.
After a while, Peggy took pity on me and allowed us to depart. We did a bit of food shopping on the way home. We also stopped at a restaurant called Kit Carson. I ordered the chicken fried steak in accordance with my nationwide quest to locate the country’s best. It is not available here.
In Centralia, we shot a picture of a thing. We do not know what it is. You can see the thing if you click here