I’m back, Clinton! I’m that “poor old man” on the northside throwing frisbees into the street and at disc golf baskets. I wrote an article back in September about my only visit to the Apple N’ Park Festival 50 years ago. I also came back home to Central Illinois after 34 years away, nearly two years ago. A series of events led to this migration, whose time had finally come.
I’d been living in Atlanta’s northern suburbs since settling there to raise a family in 1995. After the boys were raised, an uncontested divorce, and a recent breakup with Meryl, all signs pointed to me moving back to The Pride of The Prairie. After driving up and arriving in Decatur on Valentine’s Day 2024, I tried to find a place to live, but nothing worked. I had the same bad luck looking in Springfield, my birth city.
While looking for a place to live, I enjoyed reacquainting myself with Central Illinois’s climate, culture, and cuisine. It’s so nice to be back in the land of Monical’s Pizza and Casey’s. I picked up a nice long windshield ice scraper/broom before even leaving Georgia. Just like back in the day with Decatur’s Nelson Park Golf Course, Nelson Park Disc Golf Course is a workout with all those hills to climb and throw over. Back then, I mainly played the course in Forsyth because it is relatively flat with fewer bunkers/hazards, and I am much more familiar with the north side of Decatur.
One day in mid-June 2024, as I was getting ready to play disc golf in Forsyth, I overheard a father and son talking as they walked back to their car. They were going to see the Pixar movie Inside Out 2 that evening. I wanted to see that movie, so I asked the father which theater was showing it. He said the one in Clinton. After disc golf, I booked a room at the Wye Motel and saw the movie at the Eagle Theater that night.
Before the show, I had dinner at a busy Dairy Queen. It reminded me of times in Decatur years ago. Families were having fun, and everyone was interacting peacefully with everyone else. You don’t get much of that in restaurants in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. Unless something like Music Bingo is going on, patrons keep to themselves with very little eye contact. Watching, listening, and talking with the other people in the restaurant filled me with a warm feeling of belonging. I’ve been a resident of Clinton ever since.
Eating dinner at DQ on my first night in Clinton reminded me of when Decatur was declared “Blizzard Capital of the World” after 1985, its inaugural year, since we bought more Blizzards per capita than any other town in the country. We had a very fancy billboard announcing that fact, and I was proud to be a big part of that. Does anyone remember that billboard? I think it was up around Pershing and Water. I searched online and couldn’t find a picture of it, so maybe I dreamt the whole thing. lol
Joe Mellon attended Clinton High School and recently returned to live after his retirement and many years away.
If you have something to share you think might make a good topic for Joe, drop us a line at gordon.woods@theclintonjournal.com
