Gillespie, Illinois

VITAL STATISTICS:Gillespie, Illinois

Population: 3,500

County: Macoupin

Land: 1.5 Square Miles

Gillespie was the first town we explored in this little project. It's an odd choice, one that was dictated solely by the fact that we needed a Bank of America ATM, and this was the closest one to Springfield (WTF is that? Apparently, BoA takes a Sarah Palin-esque view of of what "Real America" is).

But it's a weird choice because, as a child, I spent a lot of time in Gillespie. My grandparents live there, and it's only 45 minutes away, so we were there every couple months or so.

But you know, when you only visit a town because your grandparents are there, you get a warped view of it. Growing up, I thought Gillespie was a town of nothing but grandparents, like a retirement home capsized in the middle of a cornfield. Because the only people I ever saw there were my grandparents and their friends, or the people they ran into at the early bird dinners and the Hardee's before 8 a.m. The first time I saw another kid my own age there, I was STUNNED (I think I was around 10. The girl I saw across the street had to be pretty close. I did not talk to her because girls are scary).

There is, of course, more to Gillespie than grandparents. But maybe not all that much more...

Here's some of the views as you approach Gillespie. They show that this is kind of a perfect town for this project, as it's in the MIDDLE OF FUCKING NOWHERE. Christ, they should feel fortunate that they've got power lines strung up out here.

And here is downtown Gillespie. I don't know how well the picture captures it, but it's nice enough. Wide streets and sidewalks, nice storefronts. I mean, it's only about a block long. But it's there.

But the question remains: what is there to DO in Gillespie? Well, the answer, it seems is, "Mine for coal".

Just about everything we saw in Gillespie was based on the coal mines in some way. I suppose I already knew this; my grandpa mined, and my great-grandpa actually organized sit-in strikes in the coal mines (he then ran for Governor as a Socialist in the '30s and organized the first Illinois Teacher's Union, because he is a Board Certified International Badass).

I wonder, though, if the mines are still open. I didn't ask because we ran into so few people (and, well, I'm a pussy about such things). But a lot of the coal mine related stuff seemed a little run down...

And of course, Gillespie's high school mascot IS the "Miners" (that's what the last sign is), so it's possible that the mining stuff everywhere is as much typical small-town pride in a high school as it is a reflection of the basic economy. But still, they DID name the high school teams after that particular occupation...

Anyway, the fact that there IS a high school supports my theory (hope?) that there's more to Gillespie than grandparents. There was also a fairly modern looking gym in the middle of the warehouse district, with a lot of young people milling about out front. I didn't get a picture of this because taking pictures of high schoolers in work out clothes and then uploading those pictures to the internet seems like something that would get me on Dateline. But it was there, I promise.

So we finished our banking pretty close to nightfall, and decided to get a bite to eat. Here's where I wanted to eat...

WHY IS SUCH AN AWESOME LOOKING CHINESE PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF GILLESPIE, ILLINOIS? It defies all rational explanations, so let's try an irrational one. My love of stereotypes informs me that Jews love Chinese food. And while I don't know that there's very many Jews in Gillespie, I CAN tell you that my grandmother is pretty much the cartoon cliche of a Jewish mother. She's actually just...jeez, I don't know what she is, one of the judgmental protestant faiths. But she's fussy and hovering and always has something wrong you're doing wrong to point out, just like the mothers in 85% of all jokes in the Catskills. So, I figure, that's close enough to Jewish, and Gillespie must have enough people like her to support a Chinese restaurant.

See, people? STEREOTYPES WORK. Also, I suppose this is a point AGAINST my contention that it isn't all grandparents in Gillespie.

That place was closed. There was also a decent looking Mexican place and a totally existent looking pizza place, so I guess Gillespie had the ethnic bases covered. I mean, Chinese, Mexican, and Italian are nothing special, but it's better than what it'd be without it, right?

Nonetheless, we settled on the most "local" place we could find.

Awww yeah. Miners Family Restaurant was just a typical diner. We didn't get any pictures inside because, again, pussies, but also because as soon as we walked in, everyone gave us the hairy eyeball. But here's what we ate.

LOOKS GREAT, RIGHT? I had fried catfish (or, as Caitlin calls it, "Sea Rodent") and Caitlin had Chicken Parmesean. What's up with all these small towns serving fried fish? We're gonna see that an awful lot, and I already have in my life before blogging. I know Gillespie has a lake nearby, but come on, one lake doesn't make you a seafood mecca. But the food was fine; I suppose it's hard to screw up deep fried fish, but it IS possible, and they avoided it.

Then dessert...

Pie! Oh my goodness, one of life's resplendent pleasures is a good piece of pie. This was an okay piece.

But the thing is, I asked for it a la mode. Clearly, it was not served that way. I'm not bitching about that, I'm bitching about the fact that I had to explain to the waitress (a high school girl- score one for my theory!) what "a la mode" meant. C'mon, that's not THAT Blue State, is it? I know it's french, but I thought that was just pretty standard at this point. It's not like I learned the phrase in college or in Chicago or something.

Whatever. I feel like we didn't really "nail" our excursion to Gillespie, but I did learn some things. The fact that it is a town that still identifies so much with coal mining doesn't really bode well for my theory that it must have something besides grandparents, but then, we DID see young people, we did see a few things for them to do. But I'm not sure I understand the town any better than I did before. So, I think I'll end with something I find on Wikipedia.

Gillespie is the...

"Current residence of underground rapper Braydon Rekart, who goes by the stagename Covington. His lyrics talk about deep emotions not commonly heard in rap, and his youtube channel can be found here."

That sums it up perfectly, I think.