Picture of the day - June 11, 2007

"Coca-Cola"

When it comes to brand recognition, if Coca-Cola isn't the king it must surely be the crown prince. It is indeed one of America's most ubiquitous icons. In fact, there are probably very few people remaining anywhere on the planet who have never heard of or tasted the magic elixir we simply refer to as "Coke". Coca-Cola has been around for decades, and over the years countless country stores across the American heartland have proudly displayed those familiar round metal coke signs like the one featured in today's picture. Whenever I see one of these rusty old signs today, my mind always becomes flooded with a bunch of precious childhood memories... I often think about all those hot summer days when I would ride my bicycle down the gravel road from our house "up in the holler" to the little country store in Widener Valley, Virginia. As I made my way down the dusty lane, I would pretend that my bike was a roaring motorcycle. I was racing against a bunch of other kids, and I simply had to beat them at all costs. I would lean over the handlebars and straighten out the curves, trying my very best to squeeze just a little more speed out of that trusty old bike. All I could think about was being the first kid to cross that imaginary finish line, and nothing could stop me or slow me down... until I happened to spot the next pop bottle lying over in the ditch! At that point, the race was suspended while I stopped my bike and picked up that dirty pop bottle and placed it in the basket alongside the ones I had already picked up along the way. Then I would hop back on my bike and the race would resume where "we" had left off - with me still in the lead of course! When I finally got to the store, I would park my bike under the big walnut tree across the creek and carry my bag of pop bottles inside where the storekeeper would count them and tell me how much "money" I could spend. On some days the haul was better than usual and I would be able to buy some ice cream to enjoy while sitting outside under that massive walnut tree. Then, when the last "lick" of ice cream was gone from the stick, I would go back into the store and spend whatever was left in my "account" on loose candy, a cake and a 12 ounce bottle of Coca-Cola! Those memories are still just as fresh as they have ever been, and as time goes by they get sweeter and sweeter. There is something about an old country store that makes me feel right at home regardless of where I happen to be at the moment, and those old metal Coca-Cola signs have a lot to do with it. Many of the old country stores across the nation have been closed for quite some time now, but whenever I run across one somewhere out in the boonies it usually still has its rusty old coke sign hanging on the wall... a monument to a simpler time when a little boy could safely ride his bike to the store and "earn" a small fortune simply by helping clean out the ditches.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"