A rainy, stormy Tuesday night in Buzzy’s Country Store had come down to Harry Wheatley and my sister Donna Jean. Much as I like the two of them and enjoy talking to them, I was in the process of initiating the Buzzy routine of locking the ice box, stocking up the beer case and turning off the lights. In other words, I was readying to kick them out and close up.
And then a lady named Ali popped in the door and asked how long I was going to be open. I told her “Not long.” She said “Well I’m coming right back with a dozen people.” I told her I’d hang around for a little while longer then.
The group that returned to the Store with the lady was part of Marine Geology Class being conducted by the Chincoteague Bay Field Station, The students were taking a 3 week class thru Kutztown University and this was part of field trip for them. They had been to Westmoreland State Park the night before and visited sites in Virginia earlier in the day before coming to Pt. Lookout to camp for the evening. The next day they would receive a lecture from a paleontologist at Calvert Marine Museum before heading over to the Eastern Shore and ultimately return back to Chincoteague.
They had been to the Ridge Market and picked up something to eat but due to the storm at the campsite weren’t able to sit around and eat it. Once in Buzzy’s they bought drinks and asked if they could eat their Chinese food there in the Store which I agreed to. As they ate and drank I overheard one of them remark “This is awesome, we bought Chinese food at a gas station and now we’re eating it in a country store and drinking rum and cokes. This is great.”
They then purchased several souvenirs, hats and shirts. I took this photo of them as they left:
Ali Redman (seated right front with brochure) sent me this photo in an email saying “Thanks for being a port in the storm.” I started to reply with something along the lines “No problem. Buzzy’s has always been a port for a lot of folks’ storms.”