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...