it's all true
I'm in love with Pope county, Illinois, population 4,211, deep in the heart of Shawnee National Forest. Last weekend was nothing if not weird. I bonded with a stripper from Nebraska, met some serious hillbillies on horses from North Florida, became reaquinted with waterfalls and sandstone bluffs, and marveled at the redbuds and dog wood. I also hung out with some guy from the Department of Defense who had an honest to god bar code embedded at the top of his back. I asked "What if you switch jobs?" His response, "You can't." That is just creepy. On the way back we passed through Olney, home of the white squirrels. The town's claim to fame is a huge community of albino squirrels. They are so protective of the critters that there is a $1000 fine for killing a whitie but the cops shoot blacks and browns that might mess up the gene pool. That is the south through and through.