Originally Posted by
RADIOACTIVE MAN
Alright , just felt the need to share this story incase there's a midwesterner of color here who might travel through that area.
Around this time around here, it get super cold and white, basically snow falls in epic proportions so getting around ain't too easy. A friend of mine in Milwakee extended and invitation for me to come kick it with some other old buddies. Usually, i would book a flight there but it was damn near 50 degrees out here and its roughly about 3 hours away so i said fuck it, why not drive. Besides if you have ever driven on that 94 highway all the way to OHio, It is truly magnificent, beautiful hills, vegetation, scenes, you name it, its worth the drive sometimes.
So here i am, decide to leave late afternoon, bags packed up and grabbed my Usb drives with all my beats on them, I usually connect a drive reader in the cigarette lighter section and let the beats go for most part, while thinking of concepts flows ,etc, you know the whole track making creative process so basically i hit the road and its a pretty straight forward drive until suddenly a signal hijacks my Usb reader signal, which is 98.9 and my music slowly fades away to nothingness.
at this point, some evengelical christian radio station comes on and first, starts with these really old old christmas carols, almost as if they were sang by a choir in the 20's, after every song, they would play testimonials from people which were borderline creepy, i mean these guys were talking about the world ending, satan lurking around and how Trump was christ and he was gonna save the world from jews and illegal immigrants. i wanted to turn off the station but the absurdity of what i was listening to was captivating so i kept listening and thinking to myself in awe "wow, there are people like this in this country??" then, ofcourse, some guy comes on and is telling everyone to vote for trump and save the world from eternal damnation so i'm just like,OK, this is one of those places.
i kept driving and while all the madness was playing in my car when i saw a huge sign, Tomah, wisconsin so now i had confirmation of where i was.
Anyways drove for about another 15 minutes when my car tells me, my gas is on reserve so now i knew i had to fill up again. Now usually i'd stop at an Oasis or more gas stations at exists that were very populated but the dire need for gas meant i needed to stop at the nearest exit and fill up and so driving a bit more with luck on my side, i see an exit, it tells me, food, lodging and gas at the next exit. i take the exit.
Usually, Gas exits would lead you to a gas station in about 5 minutes tops. that is usually the layout in these highways. Intentional for these kinda situations but for some reason, i found myself driving longer than usual in a wooded , tree heavy area, eerie and quiet and just the whole feeling of wrong. of course i chucked it up to paranoia and drove on. found a gas station that looked old and beat down, like it had been there for hundreds of years without any sort of care or renovations. But im thinking, who cares what it looks like, if they have gas , thats all that matters to me so i park by pump 2.
walk into this old dirty smelly gas station and im perusing some of their wares. basically what looked like old stale food and untouched candy on the shelves. i grab a milky way bar and head to the empty counter. stood there for about 2 minutes wondering why no one was coming out then some blonde white girl walked out of the other room across from the counter. Upon seeing me, she went paler than she already was. Almost as if she had seen a ghost or i had just murdered someone. To ease her tension i try to make a corny joke like "sleep back there?", she responded seriously like "no, i was about to grab lunch..but i need to ask you, are you from around these parts?" then peeks out the window, see's my car plates and says "ok you aren't from here, that's why you dont know"
so at this point, i'm confused so i ask her, " whats wrong?", she responds "do you need gas badly? do u have enough gas to get in your car and get out of here and find a different gas station?". I'm like "No, i'm basically running on fumes right now , something wrong?". She responded "you seen any truck or cars outside?" , im like "Not really, plus its dark so i wasn't paying attention". She tells says with urgency, "put your hoody on, fill your tank as quickly as possible, get in your Car and step on it as hard as you can back to the freeway, once you get on there...you're good". So at this point, i realize she isn't joking around so as i'm paying for the gas i ask her "whats wrong? something i need to know? why are u rushing me outta here?" and she responds "dude, no offense, people like you aren't supposed to be here after dark, you aint from here so i dont blame you for not knowing.". i asked "people like me?", she responded emphasizing "yes black people, have you heard of a sundown town? because if you have, you are in one, if you haven't take my advice, fill up and get out quick. So at this point, i knew what needed to be done. wore the hoody and went out to pump as quick as possible.
as I'm pumping the gas with my hoody on, about a few minutes later, right by the station, a truck engine comes on and the light are beamed right at me, i keep my head down pump as the light go from dim to bright, almost as if they were trying to make sure of who i am. As soon as the tank was full, i hopped in the car, and hauled as..behind me the truck paced following as i stepped on it. (thank god for german ingenuity) because it flew the fuck outta there until i hit the highway and slowly they backed up and went back.
never ever had an experience like this and was the first time i had ever heard of a sundown town. so basically i am saying , if you get to the Tomah wisconsin area... and you a POC. be very very careful
