Yesterday, Saturday, my wife and daughter went to the Huntington Mall to do some dress shopping. I was invited but I declined. While they were away I grabbed my camera and got in to my 454 packing’, ‘95 Chevy extended cab, Long Bed, pickup truck, and went for a short (13 MPG) ride. Along the way I spotted this old barn on Rt. 60, which bought back memories of how life used to be in and around Hurricane, WV. In the 1960’s and 70’s Hurricane was just a small town with one Policeman, one stoplight, and a volunteer fire department that had a huge fire (AIR RAID) siren that you could hear for miles. Teays Valley was a road, not a community. Before Play Station’s and iPod’s, my friends and I would play in barns around the area, pretending they were forts, or just climbing around looking for snakes. If your family raised Tobacco you could be excused from school in the spring for planting. If the Mail Pouch Tobacco Company would buy your Tobacco they would offer to paint your barn showing that your Tobacco was chosen as “the best” and a source of pride for the farmer. Today, Tobacco farmers are disappearing and so are the old tobacco barns. Grab the kid’s and/or grandkids and take a drive down memory lane; it might just have an old “Mail Pouch” barn.