Highway Exit Town: A small town where nothing ever happens and no one ever leaves. The only reasons there are any chain restaurants or gas stations is the highway runs right by the town. No one really knows the name and no one cares to stay, they just stop or drive right by.
I grew up in a town where there are hardly any people and even fewer things to do. Small Town, USA. It’s the same as every other small town. Two churches, one gas station, three bars, and a hair salon. Some of us even have to go to the next town over to get groceries.
The only reason there are even any chain restaurants or anything interesting is because the highway runs right by our little town and if you lived any place like me, you can see it from your bedroom window.
It’s amazing to think that we live in the typical small town. The ones you see in movies. The ones you hear about. Every town seems to be different, but they are all the same. We go to a small school where everyone knows everyone. Everyone can’t wait for graduation because they can’t wait to leave, but in the end, almost all of them end up coming back.
Everyday, countless amounts of people drive by our little town and don’t think twice. It’s just another stop on their drive to wherever they are going. To them it’s nothing, but to us it’s everything. It’s where we made some of our best friends, where we grew up, where we had our first kiss, drank our first beer, got in trouble, learned about the world, graduated, left, and for some of us, we came right back.
No one thinks twice when they stop to get gas at the little gas station. For you, it’s the only place you can stop and get a soda and a bag of chips in town. It’s where people stop every morning for coffee. It’s the place where you meet up with your friends when you’re too young to drive.
People drive right by our little small town and don’t think twice about the name on the sign. Don’t think twice about the little people in the little town in the middle of nowhere. Whenever there is traffic on the highway and people have to travel through our small town through another, they don’t think about the little town they are passing through. They’ll drive through and never think twice about it again. It’s amazing, this town for some of us is our entire lives, but for others, it’s hardly even a spot in their minds.
People can say whatever they want about Small Town, USA. One thing is for sure, though, there is no place better to grow up. You realize the value of everyone around you. You realize how amazing it is to grow up in a place like this.
No one really understands a small town until they live in it. No one really understands a Highway Exit Town until they experience it.
If you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“A lot of people called it prison when I was growin’ up. But these are my roots and this is what I love. ‘Cause everybody knows me and I know them and I believe that’s the way we were supposed to live. Wouldn’t trade one single day here in Small Town USA.” -Justin Moore “Small Town USA.”
