Road Trip: Going To Another Town’s Dollar Store

Another road trip we made when I was younger was across North Georgia’s Fort Mountain to the town of Dalton. Like the trip I described in an earlier post, we usually made this trek on a Sunday afternoon with my aunt and uncle.

This trip took over an hour to get to our destination. We usually drove down Highway 5 into Ellijay then turned onto Highway 76 at the Dairy Queen then drove into Chatsworth then on in to Dalton. Other times, we might travel down Boardtown Road into East Ellijay then drive the mountainous route into Chatsworth on Highway 2. Either way was okay with me. This trip would become, many years later, a well-worn path for me when I lived for a time in Dalton.

It was always interesting to revisit these places you knew by sight. You could see a new store being built or someone adding on to their house. In the fall, you could check out the leaves on the mountain and gauge their colors. My uncle was often interested in pointing out where local racing legend Jody Ridley lived. I guess he rooted some for Ridley now and then even though Ridley usually drove a Ford and my uncle, who worked for a Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge dealership, usually cheered for the Mopar racers.

Our destination on these trips was the town of Dalton. Dalton was one of the larger towns in North Georgia. It sat near Interstate 75 a good forty-five minute drive south of Chattanooga and about an hour and a half north of Atlanta. Because of it’s proximity to a major transportation thoroughfare, Dalton became an important player in manufacturing carpet. For years, Dalton proudly proclaimed itself as “the carpet capital of the world”. It is still a very important part of the economy there and the flooring industry worldwide.

For those of us from a smaller town, Dalton was like an older brother. It was just big enough to be a bit complicated finding where you needed to go but still small enough to eventually find your destination. It hadn’t outgrown you yet. You felt a bit out-of-your-depth going there but once you were you needed to be it was just like a bigger extension of back home.

While we may have visited several places while in Dalton, I vividly recall one place we seemed to gravitate to each time went there. As un-exotic as it sounds that place was the Family Dollar Store.

Seemingly, every small town, or wide spot in the road, has some type of dollar store today. Back then though, our hometown had yet to secure either a Dollar General Store or Family Dollar Store. Making that trip the 60 or so miles over the mountain opened us up to all the dollar store had to offer.

At that age I located the toy aisle. That was really all I needed to see when there. I am sure I was made to go through the aisles as my parents and my aunt and uncle looked over what they wished to view. I probably already had spied something I wished my parents would buy for me. If I felt they wouldn’t purchase what I wanted I just knew my aunt and uncle would probably come through for me.

As time moved on, those trips to Dalton stopped. Soon enough, our little town had both a Family Dollar Store and a Dollar General Store. I suppose also priorities changed some and the time a trip to Dalton could take could be better used by those who made that trip.

In the early-1990s, I moved to Dalton for three years. I enjoyed living there. I had a job that kept the bills paid. I had a nice quiet apartment about a mile away from Interstate 75. Many times while I lived there I traveled back to my hometown to be with family. Several times when returning from my hometown to my home in Dalton, I varied my route turning onto Morris Street. This way took me by that dollar store from my youth. Every time I drove by there I could not help but smile at the memories of the trips we had made in the past.

That store still stands there today. When I lived there, I don’t remember ever patronizing it although I may have once or twice. It would be hard for them to have anything to sell me that could match the value of the memories I have of visiting there on long ago Sundays with my family. 

Road Trip: Going To Another Town's Dollar Store playlist

JJ Cale "Head's In Georgia" 
Elvin Bishop "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" 
Trisha Yearwood "Georgia Rain" 
Climax Blues Band "Couldn't Get It Right" 
Citizen King "Better Days" 
Blackberry Smoke "The Good Life"
John Anderson "Red Georgia Clay" 
Paul Davis "Ride 'Em Cowboy" 
Elton John "Georgia" 
The Black Crowes "Seeing Things" 
Ray Charles "I Was On Georgia Time" 
Drivin' N' Cryin' "Fly Me Courageous"