On a recent day trip to check out places close to home that we’ve never visited, hubs and I stepped into a small-town tavern to grab a quick bite to eat.

A fellow sitting at the next table (6 ft away, of course), ordered the burger special. Our eyes widened in disbelief as we saw how much was on his plate. We decided to get one order of the same and split it. It was delicious and it was plenty.

While our burger was cooking, I took some photos of the interior of the tavern. The owner approached me and said I might see some interesting things to photograph in the adjoining garage.

He was certainly correct. He had quite a collection of curios and folk art out there. Despite many photos of interesting things in that collection, I liked this one I caught of the alleyway with the tumbleweed in the foreground. This was the photo that gave the feel for the place.

There were a few distracting items in the original photo that I edited out, because I wanted the tumbleweed and the tree framed by the buildings to be the main focus.

“A tumbleweed went rolling by in the street. I’m not even kidding. An actual, literal tumbleweed …”

Jim Butcher