Oddities in my Indiana hometown

Every time we travel, we find odd regulations and laws that just make us shake our heads.

Last weekend we drove to my hometown of Peru, Ind., to take my 88-year-old mother to visit her 90-year-old brother and his wife at their family farm dating back to the 1800s.

Peru, a town of about 11,500, is the county seat of Miami County and the longtime site of an annual circus performed by local youth, trained by professional circus performers who have ties to Peru due to it once being the winter headquarters of many circus performers and circus operators.

While I was born in Peru, my parents moved from there when I was younger than 2 years old, but over the decades we have visited family there hundreds of times and always found it enjoyable and a much slower lifestyle.

This time, though, I found some real oddities.

About 8:10 p.m. Thursday my wife and I stopped at a favorite local root beer stand to get her a root beer float, only to be told by the high school-aged carhop that the business was closed. Odd for a summer business to close so early, we thought.

We went to a nearby chain grocery store only to learn in Indiana grocery stores, gas stations, etc. can only sell warm beer. Cold beer is sold in liquor stores, which interestingly aren't allowed to sell snacks or cold soft drinks, we were told. Again, very odd.

It should be noted the local liquor store also was locked up by 8:30 p.m. Another odd circumstance.

And as for the national chain motel in which we stayed: the telephone repeatedly rang during the middle of the night, the shower head repeatedly fell off, the shower had nearly no pressure, the Internet connection was at a very slow speed, each Internet device had a separate, excessively long user name and password to be entered each time used and the breakfast was a nightmare for any Type 2 diabetic with nothing but high-calorie, high-carb food, all of which the motel operators couldn't have cared less to correct. An odd reaction, we thought.

I wondered if my hometown rolls up the sidewalks and locks them in the city garage by 8:45 p.m. so residents can all go home and watch "Matlock" reruns.

All kidding aside, I had a wonderful time in Peru but hope the state changes some of its odd laws ... and we will never again stay in that same motel.