It's the end of Ben's spring semester, and that means one very important thing for our weekends: the return of local fun-ventures! (And, actually, we decided they're more like "Finn-ventures" in the new ride)
Today, we traveled north to one of America's "Best Small Towns," Culpeper.
Famous as the site for 1967 protests by the American Nazi party and Christopher Reeve's horse-riding accident, Culpeper was a logical stopping point for our weekend jaunt. Why? Well, because that's where the server farms for the usa.gov domain are held.
Seriously. You can't make stuff like that up. Ben read about it in Wired a few months ago and has been itching to go ever since. Unfortunately, from behind the gates, there's not a whole lot to see.
To convince me of the trip, Ben worked a soft spot by telling me the Library of Congress, my beloved DLC, also has audio visual storage facilities in the area. Turns out, it's much neater to look at their buildings, which at first appear to be eco earth-berms oddly reminiscent of our time with Tina on Pine Street. Upon further research, we've learned that the facility is radiation hardened, fitted with lead shutters, and once housed enough pallets of $2 bills to replenish currency east of the Mississippi in case of a crisis. Good information to have handy when the time comes... (Also, has to make you wonder what Tina's really up to over there on Pine Street...)
Onward we continued through a maze of Confederate flags and dirt bikes by some dilapidating church, where we stopped briefly until we saw a half-naked lady crouched in the bushes and decided to carry on. No comment.
On, of course, toward the moonshine distillery. A couple of weeks ago when we visited a state-run liquor store for vanilla-extract supplies, we happened into a conversation with the manager about the isopropylic properties of corn whiskey, noted for it's exceptionally high alcohol content coupled with little competitive flavoring. And that's when we walked out of the store carrying moonshine. Hey, we're part of the local eating movement! Why not take it a notch farther? Anyway, we thought people like Matt would be very pleased to learn we went to a moonshine distillery on a dirt road in the middle of dirt-farm country. Unfortunately, it seems like the proprietors are godly people who rest on the seventh day, but wacky hijinks still ensued and photos were arranged.
Finally, on our way home via Whole Foods (just the way all good bathtub-whiskey ventures end, right?), we passed by my illustrious place of employment and stopped so Ben could see his second train depot of the day, as well as the Gilmore farm across the street.
Ben eloquently summarizes, "It seems that we have covered much historical ground, from the Revolution, emancipation, and Jim Crow through Prohibition and the Cold War. Cyberspace looms now as a final frontier, though it remains to be seen (and heard!) to what extent it will serve as an Omega point for the human race. One world, one dream...one Finn-venture."
Amen.
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