We traveled to this trip’s farthest point south on Wednesday, down a beautiful Mississippi highway 45, then south on interstate 20 toward our destination of Hattiesburg. In addition to biking, our other purpose was to visit Laurel – the town featured in the HGTV show ‘Home Town’ – which is a favorite of ours. In the show Ben and Erin, a couple from Laurel, remodel homes in the area, and they are both as engaging and wonderful as can be.
We found a place for our trailer, unloaded our bicycles, and rode four miles around the city to see the sights of Laurel. Many colorful murals can be found in this charming town.
Our next stop was to visit Erin’s ‘Laurel Mercantile’ store. It was very homey and ‘Erin-like’, true to the ideals and style of the show. Sue found a lovely candle to buy, as well as a new sticker for her computer – which shows many of the places where we’ve been on our travels.
The Scotsman General Store is Ben’s domain, with it’s woodworking tools and handy gadgets, and of course was more to Ted’s liking. He even got a new coffee mug with one of Ben’s woodworking slogans on it: “Measure Once, Cuss Twice.”
Our time in Laurel concluded by meandering through the downtown area and side streets to try to see if we could recognize homes that Ben and Erin remodeled on their show. It was a lovely afternoon!