MovieChat Forums > Petticoat Junction (1963) Discussion > 25 Miles

25 Miles

posted 10 years ago by Joannakathryn
3 replies | jump to latest

According to the show, at least in the first 3 seasons, the Shady Rest was 25 miles from Hooterville.

So how was the dog able to carry messages between the hotel and Sam Drucker, back and forth, sometimes several times a day?

In one episode, Bobbie Jo and the beatnik (a young Dennis Hopper) walk to the hotel, and he says something about it taking 4 hours. Most people walk a mile in 15 minutes. Even if they did 5 miles an hour, they'd still only cover 20 miles. They were strolling, not walking fast.

And Uncle Joe claimed to have used the handcart 6 times one day, going back and forth. I don't know how fast a hand cart can go, but I doubt anybody could cover 25 miles (50 round trip) 6 times in a few hours.

The funniest thing, to me, was when Uncle Joe shot off an antique cannon in the front yard of the hotel, and it hit a jeep window by Sam's store.

Oh well, only on TV.....

Roland, that's a lilac bush!

[–] FlushingCaps 10 years ago

In yesterday's ME-TV episode, they did indeed state flatly that the hotel was 25 miles from Drucker's (and thus Hooterville).

I began watching this series in the middle of its run and none of the later seasons ever seemed to present it as being nearly that far from town. It always seemed to me that it was no more than five miles from Drucker's to the Shady Rest.

Of course, it never made sense, in any era, that a hotel would open so far away from the nearest town, with virtually no access except for the local railroad. I appreciated the notion of this hotel with few guests, as the stories mostly dealt with the Bradley family, including Uncle Joe. But when they establish the hotel's location, it just doesn't seem realistic unless they had gone on to establish it being some sort of vacation resort with all sorts of fishing or boating or some nearby attraction--which they didn't.

The Shady Rest guests usually seemed to be traveling salesmen. Why they would take an out-of-the-way train ride of 50 miles, round-trip, when there were surely more convenient locations, at least in Pixley, is a mystery to me.

[–] Joannakathryn 10 years ago

Have you seen the one where they actually move the hotel by attaching a rope to the lattice around the foundation and pulling it a few feet with the train?

Then an episode or two later, they talk about going to the basement. (Don't think they could have moved the basement, hehe.)

We really can't get TOO literal with the show, that's for sure!

I was watching something a day or so ago and some big gun/cannon was said to have a 2.5 mile range. I thought, heck, they should get the one from the Shady Rest that could shoot an old cannonball for 25 miles.

Right now, I'd LOVE to be able to go someplace like the Shady Rest and just recharge for a few days.

Roland, that's a lilac bush!

[–] starwarsnut2000 10 years ago

They were very inconsistent with how far it was. In earlier years (what I've seen) they always say 20 or 25 miles, but they turn around and everyones going back and forth several times a day. And one of the first eps they say the Cannonball is going 40 mph, but later they always say 13 mph is basically top speed, which would put a Hooterville to Pixley and back trip at a minimum of 8 hours, yet they were doing runs several times a day. The only time I ever saw them actually say less than 20 miles was in the last season they said 6 miles once, which sure makes a lot more sense.

And of course there's the fact that the Bradleys only went to hooterville by Cannonball, yet one of them could be at Druckers and then the Cannonball would pull up bringing the rest of them.

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