Change Happens

Just when you think things are pretty great and you've finally found the place where you know you belong, along comes change. It's inevitable.

First a large supermarket was constructed on the edge of town just east of us on the mainland; the town you had to drive through to get to the island. It had been acres of farmland before, with a small mom and pop hamburger stand on the corner. But the supermarket was a welcome addition for most of us---as long as it wasn't on the island, which we wanted to keep as a rural haven. 

Two smaller markets that had been in town forever were so crowded on weekends the few checkout lines sometimes extended to the back of the store. On the island there were just a few convenience stores, so once we got to the mainland (about 5 miles from our house) we'd had to drive another 12 miles to get to a real supermarket. Now there's a second supermarket in town and the two smaller ones, local merchants who knew everyone by their first names, went out of business. Such is progress. 

There had been no stop lights or stop signs at all when we first drove through the area to look at property. None in the town and none on the island, but after the supermarket went in the first stop light was installed at that corner. Before we knew it there were 5 stop lights in town, another on the island with a second to go in sometime in late 2008. There goes the neighborhood!

We'd seen few cars on our first visit to look at property. Now it's bumper to bumper traffic most of the day. During rush hour it's impossible. Logging trucks became a ubiquitous sight as property was sold and logged off. Builders who bought large tracks of land for spec homes were the biggest offenders since it was cheaper just to make a clean sweep and clear cut everything. 

Soon we began to hear complaints from people who had lived here for years and were now having trouble with slides and drainage problems due to irresponsible new construction.

And two years ago another strip mall type supemarket went in as part of a plaza that contained lots of rental space as well as a gas station and a street was extended to accommodate it. Smaller gas stations in town began to close.