Name: Christy Hood

Date: April 26, 2013

Destination: Coulterville, IL

 

Latitude: 38˚ 11’ 3’’N

Longitude: 89˚ 36’ 20’’W

 

Round Trip Miles: 100.00 mi.

Total Miles: 3741.9 mi.

 

Ben Franklin and I left SIU-C on Monday, April 22, for the hour and fifteen minute drive home. Ben doesn’t like long car rides because he kept asking me, “Are we there yet, Christy?!”. To pacify him, I stopped and got us a soda in Murphysboro. Ben Franklin really likes Coke. When we got home, he of course was bouncing off the walls from all the caffeine. I stayed up late while Ben and my dog, Chance, slept on the couch while I stayed up late and did homework. This became a nightly ritual while Ben stayed at my house. They really became good friends!

On Friday, April 26, Ben went with me to work at the Coulterville Banking Center. I am a teller there. We had a busy day ahead of us because it was Customer Appreciation Day. At the bank once a year, we serve our customers a big meal in appreciation of their business. Ben was fascinated as he watched me work my teller window and he got to visit with a lot of our customers at the bank. He couldn’t believe all the money that a teller hands out and takes in in one day. Before we walked across the street to the community center where our appreciation dinner took place, some of my co-workers and I told been some of the history of Coulterville.

 

 In our bank, one of our customers painted a beautiful mural of old historic Coulterville as it was in the early 1800s. James Coulter, the founder of Coulterville (hence the name) settled in Coulterville in 1829. The people of Coulterville wanted to name the town after Coulter, however they were not able to do this until he left town because he wouldn’t allow it. From 1830 to 1833, James Coulter built the “rock house” that still stands in Coulterville today. In 1850, the first six blocks of town were laid out and became known as Grand Cote Prairie. Today, the classic car club in Coulterville is thusly named the Grand Cote Cruisers.

Customer Appreciation Day was a success! All the employees of the Coulterville Banking Center served 100 people more than they had anticipated! Ben couldn’t believe how much food we served! We were both very tired from a very long day, so we went home and went to bed.

The rest of the weekend, I did homework and the boys (Ben and Chance) played and hung out. Ben didn’t want to leave his new friend behind and Chance was really sad to see Ben go back to school with me. As we left town, we drove by Pistol City. I told Ben that my family and I eat at this restaurant quite a bit. I also told him that Pistol City wasn’t just a name. There was a story behind it. When Coulterville was still a young town, there were a lot of gun fights amongst people, so people from around the area gave Coulterville the nickname “Pistol City”.

On Monday, April 29, I brought Peter home to Carbondale. We had traveled a total of 100 miles! We were both exhausted from the long weekend of work and homework, but Ben was glad he came to stay with me.