It is 11:30 on Tuesday morning when anti-freeze sprays across the front of our Toyota truck while driving down I-64 in southern Indiana. My husband begins a tirade of choice words as he hits the hazards and pulls over and off of the next exit ramp. Staring at the Ferdinand/Jasper sign, we gather our thoughts and call for a tow. Too far away from our homeland of Illinois and 7 hours from our home in NC, we are taken to the local Toyota dealership in hopes that maybe it was just a hose that blew. After the initial diagnosis of a cracked radiator (exhale), we are told it would take a day to get one in, we begin to make plans to spend the night. Luckily, the dealership gave us a loaner van. We move the dogs, the baby, and some choice luggage and begin to make our way around town. Jasper,Indiana is a deeply German Catholic community boasting a low unemployment rate and a Top 10 Small Towns in America Award. It is time to make a margarita out of our bowl of lemons. We decide to go on the thrift store hunt----a common fallback strategy that seems to cut our stress levels immensely in times of near crisis. Three thrift stores serve the Jasper, Indiana community. The Salvation Army was our first stop. JACKPOT! I love these small town thrifts that seem to be virtually unpicked. Thirty minutes uncovers tons of finds--.30 here, .50 there, $1.99 for a University of Indiana t-shirt(Go Hoosiers!), you could not beat it. With a large box of goodies tucked away in the mini-van, we decide to call it a day (it is nearing 4pm by now and it has been a LONG day) and go check in at the local Days Inn. On our way there, we pass a St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store---megastore--similar to the one in downtown St.Louis. I had to catch my breath and asked my husband pull over to check the hours. 12-5 Tues-Saturday. They had a free bin out front ( this made my wheels turn)-- I knew this was a thrifters paradise inside those doors. We promised to return at noon Wednesday. The parking lot was packed this late in the afternoon, which affirmed my intuition. We settled into the Days Inn for a storm filled night in Jasper, featuring dinner at the local German restaurant, Schnitzelbank, as well as some local microbrew tastings. My husband enjoyed the Wurst Platter, which featured a bratwurst,bockwrust, and knackwurst(he wanted me to write this). I had the Gruner Spinat casserole, potato pancakes, and the spatzle. We felt the German blood run deep through our veins with this meal.
We checked out the Goodwill on Wednesday morning and it was nothing to write about, surprisingly. At 11:45 we passed the St. Vincent De Paul store and noticed that there was already a long line waiting to get in. This blew my mind, I thought, is everything in there free? what is going on? is it half price Wednesday? I could not wrap my brain around the idea that folks would line up to get into a thrift store that was open 5 days a week. Searching my memory, I could not pull out another example of this behavior--maybe a handful of folks lined up, but not a dozen or two-sheesh! A few minutes after noon, we got into the "Lord's Store"--reference picture. We were elbow to elbow with folks and then a huge load of Amish women showed up and the place was packed. At first, I thought those women were nuns dressed in semi-traditional habits until I saw the children dressed like that as well. Trying to navigate the aisles with a cart was virtually impossible and impassable. I was getting frustrated. It was hard to pick and sort and move through piles of stuff with all of those people in there. Luckily, after you got through the first aisle or two, the crowd started to thin out. I found an entire aisle of used mason jars--- we must have been in the canning capital of southern Indiana. The households section was full of mismatched plates:) The clothes were very functional and practical without a lot of form or flair--who needs form and flair? Think of Garrison Keilor's description of the good Lutherans in Lake Wobegon, I think that same could be said of the good Catholics in Jasper,IN. We did find a pack of swimmers diapers for $1, a set of Hoosier glasses, a ton of mismatched vintage plates, an innertube swimsuit for the baby Hank, and a bunch of stuffed animals for a project at work all for a grand total of $9.98. Wow! As I stood in the checkout lane, staring at the picture of the thorned crown head of Jesus and his mother Virgin Mary, I was filled with a tinge of homesickness for my midwest roots. You don't find places like this in the South, I thought silently to myself. Let's get real, you don't find homegrown Catholics in the South--they are all transplants. The cashier told us to "have a safe trip home and take care", in an odd,midwestern, with hints of German, accent that had been crafted over generations. This was not your typical town and we were blessed to have broken down there. Thanks for the great adventure Jasper, IN--I would give you two thumbs up on the thrift store scale.
Happy Hunting folks!
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