Welcome To Gnomeville, Illinois!

After we left Branson, MO (Point A), we drove to West Liberty, Illinois (Point B).  When my husband is in the car (whether he's driving or not), it's like pulling teeth to get him to agree to stop unless it's to fly through the drive-thru or use the bathroom.  He's particularly focused when we're headed to Illinois to see his family, so I didn't even bother to ask him if he minded stopping AT ONE OR TWO OF THE FIFTY GAZILLION YARD SALES/GARAGE SALES/FLEA MARKETS we passed.  I just let out a tiny moan as I drove by each one because I just knew there were cheap and wonderful junky treasures to be found.

He did finally ask me why I was making those noises but when I told him he just grunted and fell back asleep.  Since he's usually pretty much ok with what I bring home vintage-wise, I decided not to whack him over the head with one of the cast iron pans I'd just bought.  Plus I needed him to help me with the driving.

When we got to his folks' home in the teeny tiny (and I'm not kidding about that) town of West Liberty, Illinois, his mom asked me if I'd seen the gnomes on the side of the road there by the rez (the local reservoir).  Since every other home in southern Illinois has at least one concrete deer, squirrel or gnome in the front yard the temptation to say "duuuuh" was huge but since she's a wonderful mother-in-law I restrained myself.  

Turns out that wasn't what she was talking about.  THIS is what she was talking about:

A local woman started this display with a couple of gnome statues and over the last few years she's added more and more (even got written up in the local paper).  Amazingly, there has been NO vandalism!

Gnome residence #1.  From the looks of the place, this may be the gnome version of "trailer trash".  The Gnome Garden Club has regular fits about the yard.

All gnomes are welcoming and patriotic as evidenced by all the "Welcome" signs and little flags.  Looks like one of the gnomes got fed up with the goose's constant squawking and tried to shove one of her eggs down her throat.

Gnome residence #2 with guardian bluejay.  Seeing all those black pots, I now know why there are actually no pots of gold at the end of a rainbow.  They're all sitting, empty, in a little forest in southern Illinois.  

Gnome residence #3.  This area used to be a slum but Brad and Lance bought the tree cheap, moved in, fixed the place up, and adopted a baby white squirrel.  They throw some AWESOME dinner parties in their tri-level tree furnished in mid-century modern with just a few tasteful pops of gnome.  As all gnomes are welcoming (and don't forget patriotic), they offered to give me a tour of the place but I explained I was in a hurry to get to town for some antiquing.  You KNOW they knew all the best places to go!

This is just too goshdarn cute!

So, if you're ever on the road between West Liberty and Olney, Illinois, look for Gnomeville.  It is TOTALLY worth the trip!