The Visit

Joan told me she was watching Crook and Chase tonight on RFD-TV, and Garth Brooks was one of the guests. Well, that reminded me of an incident that happened early in our Babcock's Store career.

A fellow used to come through on his way to and from Carl Albert College in Poteau and he would stop and get him a malt or ice cream and we got to visiting. He told me that he was a coach, and had a daughter that lived in Oklahoma who was married to a guy who was trying to get started in country music.

He told me his name, but it didn't mean anything to me, so I didn't really remember it.

Well, after he'd been coming quite a lot, he stopped by one day with his family - wife, daughter, and son-in-law. They were on their way to Nashville where his son-in-law was going to try to get into country music in a big way. He told me he'd quit his job as coach and was going to be managing his son-in-law full time. Then he introduced his family to us, and BELIEVE IT OR NOT, his son-in-law was Garth Brooks. I don't remember if he had his big hat then yet or not. I actually think he just was wearing a baseball cap.

But, I'd never heard of Garth Brooks, so it was, like, OK. Good luck in Nashville. Joan barely remembers the visit as she was busy dishing up the malts and ice cream. I'm sure if he'd been "drop dead" gorgeous she'd remember, but-----

Anyway, now that I remember back on this little encounter, another thing comes to mind. We had a yellow legal pad at the front door that was our "guest book". We asked everyone who came in to sign the guest book. That was as much a part of our greeting as was "Y'all come in and make yourselves at home." Then we'd say, "Be sure and sign the guest book." So, we probably had Garth Brooks' signature in our little yellow pad guest book.

AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT????????? About 8 or 10 years after we first opened we had a BIG stack of these yellow pads, and one day I asked Joan, "What are we ever going to do with all these pads?" And since she couldn't come up with anything either, WE THREW THEM AWAY!!!! And Garth Brooks' signature right along with them. DO YOU BELIEVE IT??? Joan still hyperventilates when she thinks about it.

But, such was life in Babcock's Store. We won some and we lost some! Garth Brooks was a lost one.

You'll notice some additional pix on the right side. I'll have to tell you a story about some of them later on.

Till next time,
wb<<<>>>>