Small Town America - Vesuvius

Voting Day (actually yesterday) - Yep, this is the city - no, town - no, village - ?...whistle stop (not even that) where I vote.

Vesuvius is located about two miles down the road from Steeles Tavern, and about two miles 'as the crow flies' from our farm.  At our farm, we can hear the many daily trains passing through the Route 56 railroad crossing even though we cannot see them,  and we can hear the church bells ringing on Sundays.  But, the actual village is out of sight - beyond the woods, over a ridge, and down in the South River valley.

Our farm is located somewhere up behind that treeline in the background.

Vesuvius is booming with a U.S. Post Office (hours of operation 7 - 4:15, closes 11-12:15 for lunch) and a small gift shop, located on the west side of the railroad tracks; and an auto repair shop, car wash and community center (polling place) located on the east side of the tracks. 

Today, another gorgeous autumn day (how lucky are we) was perfect for our mini excursion to vote.  Two of the three potential county supervisors met us outside the center to foster one last attempt for our vote.  One guy, much too liberal for my tastes; and the other, a neighbor (his property actually adjoins part of our farm), one of his daughters played high school volleyball with Becky.  We started a conversation about neighborhood interests.  I guess you can tell who garnished my vote. (Note: I am glad to report that Ronnie Campbell was victorious - not all my votes cast went to winning candidates, though - boo!)

dirt road access to the VCC (Vesuvius Community Center)

Once inside, we presented ID and voted.  There were three voting officials present, more officiating than residents voting.   No lines, no waiting.  Why should there be?  We have two voting computers.  And yes, we do use computers (for two years now) even though our polling place sits just about in the middle of a cow pasture.  Previous,  we hid behind a thin curtain where we had little red metal tabs that had to be manually flipped next to a candidate's name - so charming!

As we left the polling place, two more voters arrived - a nice steady stream....

Before leaving Vesuvius, Glenn stopped in at the auto repair shop to check in with our mechanic.  We spent just enough time with Gwen to actually see one of those trains (the phantom train) that we normally only hear from our farm.

At first, a distant whistle could be heard.  As the train grew closer, so did the churning sound of the wheels.  I ran to the tracks and saw the lights as the train rounded the bend into view, slowly making its way toward my direction . 

Soon the ding, ding, ding of the crossing guard gate could be heard as the red and white bar began to lower.  I had to move so that I was not hit by the lowering bar - I was that close to the tracks.

My anticipation was building. 

 More train whistles, then...the roar of the train cars rolling past me - a mere ten feet, at most, away.

 I was excited!  I look forward to my next train encounter - I hope it will be soon and not another year from now, when voting for our next president.