Our Wish for you...

Our wish to you is to have the merriest Christmas and the happiest New Year ever! A special thanks to our families, friends, neighbors and customers for helping us live a dream at the Bay City General Store and Lodging right here in our favorite place -- Bay City! The store is going into hibernation for the winter months -- look for us on Ebay at the Bay City General Country Store. We'll stay in touch with our daily ledger here in Blog-World and if you have a minute, leave us a comment so we'll know you stopped by. And if you are looking for a quiet getaway after all the holiday hustle and bustle just give us a jingle, we'll be glad to make that happen for you at the Bay City Lodging.

Warner Brothers pays a visit...

Several posts ago, I promised to tell you about the day that Warner Brothers discovered Bay City. It's a pretty incredible story, incredible defined as unbelievable. Bay City is an unincorporated spot on a county road overlooking the Ohio River. Bay City is located in a county of 4,000 people with one four way stop and no traffic lights and everyone wants to keep it that way. A great deal of our county is the Shawnee National Forest so the scenic beauty is quite remarkable and our claim to fame is the "Deer Capital of Illinois." So of all the places in the world to make a movie, Bay City seemed to be at the very bottom of any list. And then one Sunday afternoon a bus pulled into the Bay City General Store parking lot. The store was not open at the time and was owned by a lovely couple, The Butlers. All of these people piled out the bus with clipboards, cameras and swarmed the place. We owned the cabin next door, our weekend getaway. Now if you look up curious in the dictionary, you will see a picture of my husband. I should point out that on this particular day he was digging in a sewer line for our cabin so he was mud from head to toe, when normally he would be wearing a suit and tie. Off he went to introduce himself and to inquire as to what they were doing in Bay City. At this point, they already outnumbered us so we needed to know if they were friend or foe. We're going to make a movie here, the person in charge said. It's called U.S. Marshals and it stars Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey, Jr. Having heard many a tall tale in his life my husband thought this one moved right to the top of the list. A movie in Bay City - sure! Well as they say, the rest is history...............the airplane crash scene from U.S. Marshals was filmed at Bay City in the summer of 1997 and the make believe Roy Willie's Barbecue Restaurant was created. And the Hollywood created barbecue restaurant sold these T-shirts and Tommy Lee bought one in the movie. And we have created them again and they are for sale in the Bay City General Store.
This story would not be complete if I did not tell you the ending to the story of the day Warner Brothers discovered Bay City............while all these official Hollywood people are taking their notes and photos, our chocolate lab, Hannah, got on their bus and ate all their snacks!!!!!!!!!!!
There are more tales to tell about the movie but I'll save those for another day.

What a great morning...

What a great morning to visit the Bay City General Store. The air is crisp, the river is rolling by, smoke is curling up out of the chimney of the old pot bellied stove, the coffee is hot, not fancy, but hot and we're all gassed up and ready to show you around our little slice of paradise. Hop in and let us show you around and introduce to the fine folks of Bay City. They've gone out of their way to spiff up just for you, even Talvin! Don't worry, you'll meet him later. Thanks for stopping by -- you can sign our guest book just by leaving a comment.

If you are new to this blog, then you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Talvin. Here's his little place -- he may act like Scrooge or the Grinch but he sure gets decked out for Christmas. Let's just drive on by. If he sees us he'll want to go and that man has an opinion about everything.

Here, let's stop in and see if Mrs. Jenkins wants to go on our tour with us. Nevermind that Mrs. Jenkins is a busybody and tends to stick her nose in everyone else's business. She has lived in Bay City longer than anyone and she is the unofficial "historian." Oh, wait a minute, who is that in the window with Mrs. Jenkins? Omigosh, they are kissing....we better move on!

Isn't it nice to see kids enjoying the fresh air and getting some exercise? Exercising something other than their thumb on a Game Boy or their fingers on the keyboard. Don't get Talvin started on the Ipod, Peapod, LeapPod stuff. He'll plainly tell you that blackberries are for cobblers! He'll tell you that back in the day you went outside right after breakfast and you didn't come back inside until time for supper unless someone's hair was on fire or someone was losing a great deal of blood! There's one thing about Talvin -- he doesn't mind telling you what he thinks! Nope, nothing bashful about Talvin!

If you don't think it's too cold for ice cream, you can stop by the Frozen Swirl and Dot and Joe will fix you right up. Now if you want one of those frappa cappa mocha latta deals you'll have to go somewhere else. About as fancy as Joe gets is a hot cup of cocoa with a marshmallow floating in it and for Christmas he throws in a peppermint cane. You should hear Talvin and his rant on $5 coffee..........he says what's the world coming to?

Here's Gus inside his drive-in restaurant. His parents told him "Gus, you better go to college or you'll end up flipping burgers all your life." How is it parents are always right? But Talvin says Gus has done pretty good for himself flipping burgers! Of course Talvin is still amazed that he can drive his truck right up to the restaurant, Flo will come out and take his order and he can eat right in this truck. Talvin wonders what they will come up with next???????

Shhhhhhh...we better not disturb Johnny and Susie at the Stardust Drive-in Theater. But wait a minute, it doesn't look like they are even watching the movie.

That's the end of our little tour through Bay City. Looks like a great place to live and raise children, doesn't it? That's the one thing Talvin and I can agree on -- it is a great place to live. Next time you're in our neighborhood stop in the Bay City General Store -- the coffee is on us! Shoot, we might even throw in a Moon Pie if you say you met us in Cyber-space. Now this is where Talvin and I start to disagree -- he says there is no such place because if there was you could find it on the map. But like I told you before Talvin doesn't even have FM on his truck radio, so need I say more?
Thanks again for stopping by -- if you have a minute if you could leave us a comment maybe I can convince Talvin that there really is a place called Cyber-space. Merry Christmas!

A 1908 Christmas Photo

Around the world...

I have been travelling in the Blog-World for quite a few months now...stumbled onto it quite by accident but it has been a fascinating trip. It doesn't require luggage, a passport or taking your shoes off for some airport safety inspection. All it requires is a computer, internet access, your favorite beverage and a comfy chair and you can go around the world in a matter of minutes. I'm an early riser so with my coffee in hand, keeping an eye on the sunrise here at the Bay City General Store, I visit blogs around the world and never have to take off my bunny slippers. There are blogs on every subject imaginable - I visit arts and crafts blogs, home decorating, entrepreneurial type blogs and blogs of stores that inspire me to do bigger and better things at my own little slice of paradise here in Bay City, Illinois. One of the blogs I visit on a regular basis is called Notes on a Cottage Industry and Tracey ( I say that like I know her --never met, but I feel like I know her) is hosting a Holiday Tour of blogs around the world. The tour starts tomorrow, December 19th. The Bay City General Store is going to join in on the fun so come back tomorrow and see how we celebrate Christmas in Bay City (sounds like a soap opera city doesn't it). What a misnomer -- City -- all 9 of us that actually live here think that's pretty funny. And by the way, we DO celebrate CHRISTMAS in Bay City, not Happy Holidays!

Hope to see you tomorrow and in the meantime Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Bay City General Store, even Talvin sends his best!

Welcome to Bay City!

Hey, thanks for stopping by the Bay City General Store. Come on in, we're just getting caught up on our daily ledger. Don't mind the squeak in the door. Every good screen door has a squeak. Besides that's our version of a early warning signal that Talvin is coming. If you haven't met Talvin yet, you will. He's a regular around here but there isn't anything regular about Talvin. It's time we told you a little bit about Bay City. We are in Illinois but just barely. We are on the Ohio River with a view that will knock your socks off (if you're into that sort of thing). We own and operate the Bay City General Store and Lodging and once you've seen the store you've pretty much seen Bay City. The population of Bay City totals 11 and that's counting 3 folks that we consider living in the northern suburbs of Bay City. So with only 11 people we have to wear a lot of hats.........
Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you about the time Warner Brothers discovered Bay City!
Nice to see you!

Come on in...

And now for dessert...

Now this is what we call some "punkin' pie." Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at the Bay City General Store. Take time to enjoy your family and friends and to be thankful for all you have.

Ebay or Bust!

We're Packing our Bags...

We all got together here at the Bay City General Store, here in Bay City, Illinois. (We stayed up all night coming up with the name for the store --pretty clever, don't you think?) Well, anyway, we all decided maybe it was time to dabble our toes in this century just a little bit. Talvin (he's the one in the back with his hand on his hip) doesn't think much of our "dad-blamed" idea, but he still doesn't have FM on his truck radio so we didn't pay him any nevermind. So here's what we did... we loaded up some of our neatest stuff and we've headed straight for Ebay and we've gone and opened us up a store there. We hear that there are some right friendly folks over there and we're looking forward to meeting them. You can find us at http://stores.ebay.com/Bay-City-General-Country-Store Drop by and see us and let us know what you think -- Talvin sure did!

Next Door Neighbor

We thought we better introduce you to our next door neighbor before you arrive at the Bay City General Store Hotel or cabin. You might want to draw your curtains (what a quaint term -- draw your curtains, sure can't take everything literally with the English language) before you retire for the evening. It's our understanding he does have an eagle eye! We are always enchanted, not to mention awe-struck, when one of these soars over the river in front of our house. We practically wear binoculars around our necks here because you never know what you are going to see on the river. Like last year when we woke up to a huge flock of birds floating on the river in front of our house for as far as the eye could see -- PELICANS!! Lots of them and snow white! We thought we'd had a change in latitude during the night. They stayed with us for a couple of weeks and then moved on. Come see us and meet our neighbors!

Rush Hour

Just a word of caution to guests arriving at the Bay City General Store Hotel or Bay City Cabin --you might want to get an early start to avoid our rush hour traffic.

What are these gals smiling about?

What are these two gals smiling about? Well, for starters, they are smiling because they have taken up residence in the Bay City General Store on the banks of the Ohio River. Why does that make them smile you say? They are enjoying the slower pace, the peace and quiet and the nostalgia in the Bay City General Store makes everyone smile. ATTITUDES just melt at the door. Annnnnnnnd, they are smiling because it is raining in Bay City. At least I think it's rain. It has been so long since we have seen rain, but I'm pretty sure I'd still recognize it. Hope it settles in for the day........and so do these two gals. Although they are very content in the Bay City General Store they hope to one day very soon grace someone's glorious display of fall mums, gourds and pumpkins. Adoption papers for these two gals are available at the front counter in the Bay City General Store...stop by this weekend and let us put a smile on your face too.

This is your wake-up call!

This is the Bay City General Store and Lodging alarm clock -- no batteries required. No nasty BUZZZZZZZZZ! Just a gentle, warm nudge into the day! You must admit -- a much nicer wake-up call than a cold phone ringing in your ear with a computer voice telling you to wake up. This is just one of the many pleasures our guests experience when they stay at the Bay City General Store Hotel or cabin. More information is available at www.baycitystoreandlodgingohioriver.com Time to put on the complimentary pot of coffee. See you later!

Come on in...

Come on in...don't mind the squeak, every good screen door has a squeak. There is some speculation that these are the original screen doors back in the days when Bay City was a thriving little community, with not only one general store, but two. And an ice cream parlor, and a barber shop, and a church, and several houses. And back when the men sat around the pot belly stove swapping stories, the women were buying fabric and groceries and the kids were playing outside, without a cellphone and without any toys that required batteries or joysticks. But I digress...come on in! We're not open right now but we're putting on the coffee pot just for you to have a little peek into our world. Come on, a cup of coffee is always on the house at the Bay City General Store. It's pretty hot, maybe you'd rather reach into the old 7-Up cooler and grab an icy cold root beer or RC Cola. Come on in and take a look around -- looks are free at the Bay City General Store too. Now we're new to this blogging situation and it has just occurred to us that our photos are going to be out of order.........but you'll get the general idea. Come on in!

Introductions

We thought before we got too far down the road with our daily ledger entries we better introduce y'all to "The Boss." Sadie is 22 months old going on 18 years but she's nice enough to let us think we're running the show around here, although it's hard to tell from the grin on her face. She's optimistic --- she's ready for another St. Louis Cardinal World Series. She is the reward you get for having kids -- a granddaughter! You'll be seeing more of her around here

Store History and Location

The Bay City General Store was built in 1915 by our neighbor's grandfather and was operated as a general merchandise store until 1973 when the owner passed away. According to all of the ledgers from the store a wide variety of merchandise was sold, bartered and traded -- everything from fabric to nails, gas, penny candy, groceries, clothes, seeds, everything you could possibly want. But the store was famous for its bologna and cheese sandwiches. Anyone who ever visited the Bay City General Store remembers vividly and fondly Mr. Weeks' bologna and cheese sandwiches where he sliced the bologna oh so thick with his butcher knife and piled on the cheese, all for 10 cents. As we get comfortable with this blog concept (what would Mr. Weeks think about all this) we'll show you more of our little store and our slice of paradise.

Entries from the Bay City General Store Ledger

Welcome to the Bay City General Store Ledger where we plan to share some antiques, art and the antics of a 92 year old store and its cast of characters. Can you tell we are nervous? We've been peeping in the windows of many blogs over the last several months wishing we had one, wanting one really, really bad. We told the store we'd have one by the first of September but we didn't really know what we needed to be -- we wanted to be lots of things. We sell antiques, collectibles and fashionable junque, we sell gourmet coffees and teas, we sell candy and cold sodas and in our spare time we create a little art along the way. So I hope you will join us as we enter our activities into the Bay City General Store Ledger.