While I like this series, I always thought it hard to believe a hotel would EVER have been built where the only access to it was via a train. Even in the 1800s a hotel would be located on a road where people traveling by some sort of horse-drawn carriage/cart could get to the place.
Nevertheless, in this episode, veteran character actor Jonathan Hole appears as Hank Thackery, operator of the Pixley House, a competitor or sorts to the Shady Rest. Without any explanation, he now thinks he can operate a jitney from Hooterville to Pixley that will be faster than the Cannonball. The reason it has always been slower is because the only road between the two requires a much longer trip.
Thackery winds up betting Uncle Joe that his car can win a race against the train, with the loser serving a month as bellhop for the other. Of course, the rarely visited Shady Rest really has no need of a bellhop, but that's not the point.
Joe gets frustrated on a test ride when Wendell keeps stopping needlessly and takes two hours for the trip. He spends the next few days "training" Wendell, almost like he's going into a boxing match. Then Joe comes up with the notion of putting oil on the wood to be used to help the Cannonball go faster. Thackery discovers this ploy and he sabotages it by half-filling the wood tender with green wood--that won't burn well, thus slowing the train.
As the race commences, Joe has to slap Wendell lightly as he freezes right at the start. Then he keeps stopping--first for a cow. Wendell doesn't want to scare the cow, so he talks gently to it, but Joe leads it off the tracks. Wendell still won't get back in the cab until he apologizes to the cow. Later he infuriates us viewers by casually stopping to chat with a lady who waves her handkerchief and just wants to thank him for a recipe he gave her, and to help a moonshiner move his still to keep away from the government men. Andy Griffith fans will enjoy seeing that Otis Campbell is totally sober in this show, but now makes his own liquor.
I hate to give away something near the end, but I just have to. If you don't want to know, stop reading here. Thackery next shows up running up to the closed Drucker's Store with a gas can in hand because he has run out of gas.
Now Pixley is supposed to be the county seat, so it is impossible to figure it is any more than 60 miles from Hooterville--likely no more than 30. When cars got much poorer gas mileage than today, they used to have much larger gas tanks. Going back decades before this show was made, it would be hard to find a car that couldn't get close to 200 miles on a tank of gas.
Thus, it is impossible to figure any way Thackery, all ready for his big race to, effectively put the Shady Rest out of business, would not have enough gas in his car to run the entire race. To me, this was just too stupid to accept, not even in the silly plot of a show such as this.
There were a few laughs but this was below average for this series.
Nevertheless, in this episode, veteran character actor Jonathan Hole appears as Hank Thackery, operator of the Pixley House, a competitor or sorts to the Shady Rest. Without any explanation, he now thinks he can operate a jitney from Hooterville to Pixley that will be faster than the Cannonball. The reason it has always been slower is because the only road between the two requires a much longer trip.
Thackery winds up betting Uncle Joe that his car can win a race against the train, with the loser serving a month as bellhop for the other. Of course, the rarely visited Shady Rest really has no need of a bellhop, but that's not the point.
Joe gets frustrated on a test ride when Wendell keeps stopping needlessly and takes two hours for the trip. He spends the next few days "training" Wendell, almost like he's going into a boxing match. Then Joe comes up with the notion of putting oil on the wood to be used to help the Cannonball go faster. Thackery discovers this ploy and he sabotages it by half-filling the wood tender with green wood--that won't burn well, thus slowing the train.
As the race commences, Joe has to slap Wendell lightly as he freezes right at the start. Then he keeps stopping--first for a cow. Wendell doesn't want to scare the cow, so he talks gently to it, but Joe leads it off the tracks. Wendell still won't get back in the cab until he apologizes to the cow. Later he infuriates us viewers by casually stopping to chat with a lady who waves her handkerchief and just wants to thank him for a recipe he gave her, and to help a moonshiner move his still to keep away from the government men. Andy Griffith fans will enjoy seeing that Otis Campbell is totally sober in this show, but now makes his own liquor.
I hate to give away something near the end, but I just have to. If you don't want to know, stop reading here. Thackery next shows up running up to the closed Drucker's Store with a gas can in hand because he has run out of gas.
Now Pixley is supposed to be the county seat, so it is impossible to figure it is any more than 60 miles from Hooterville--likely no more than 30. When cars got much poorer gas mileage than today, they used to have much larger gas tanks. Going back decades before this show was made, it would be hard to find a car that couldn't get close to 200 miles on a tank of gas.
Thus, it is impossible to figure any way Thackery, all ready for his big race to, effectively put the Shady Rest out of business, would not have enough gas in his car to run the entire race. To me, this was just too stupid to accept, not even in the silly plot of a show such as this.
There were a few laughs but this was below average for this series.
