If any of you find a small town that bears your last name, I highly encourage that you make plans to visit. A family snapshot under the welcome sign makes a great photo Christmas card.

Several years ago, we found out about Peebles, a small town in southern Ohio. We had heard rumors that more alien UFO’s were spotted in Peebles Ohio than any other place in the U.S. Cool! This gave us even more reason to vacation there, except that I had nightmares about a town full of alien clones that were carbon copies of my husband.

I think this UFO business got started in the 60’s and 70’s when someone under the influence of hallucinogenics assumed that aliens created Serpent Mound (a landmark near Peebles). According to actual history, Native American mound builders of the 13th century should really get the credit. This snake-like mound is a beautiful sight, especially from an aerial view. I’m sure aliens from miles around gather there in fancy little UFOs just to get good pictures. In fact, they may meet there every year, sort of like the Harley-Davidson gathering at Sturgis, South Dakota. Peebles Ohio may actually be a National UFO Convention site.

Speaking of aliens, we were the only people named Peebles in that whole darn town! (Well, of the living that is!) We quickly realized that we could get by with almost anything. In restaurants we were seated immediately and treated like royalty. The local police let us disrupt the residents on a quiet Sunday afternoon so that we could take family pictures by each and every Peebles sign. ( Peebles Pool Hall, Peebles Library, Peebles Car Wash, Peebles Laundromat, Peebles Residential Home, Peebles Bank, and a freshly painted sign that said: “Peebles Go Home!”)

At the camping and lake resort where we stayed, they let us break all the rules; namely staying up late at night making noise and swimming during time-out. Actually, the swimming episode was innocent; we arrived after the lifeguard blew her whistle to declare time out. We loved having the mineral water swimming hole to ourselves, thinking those people who were glaring at us from the shore were just too tired, too hot, or too bored. I can just imagine a conversation between a couple who was watching us make fools of ourselves splashing around in the water. Husband: “Would you look at those people?” “First they keep us up all night with their loud partying and now they think they can just waltz out here and swim anytime they please!” Wife: “Honey, Shhh!” “I heard their name was Peebles!”

As you might have guessed, we are planning another trip to Peebles just as soon as Bill changes the oil in our spaceship, finishes building the huge “P” shaped mound in our backyard and puts the final touches on the geometric design in the cornfield.