Oran Food Mart serves up hospitality and good food
I took a road trip to Oran, Missouri, recently. I had never visited before and was following up on a food lead. The drive to Oran was breathtaking. Wild hyacinths were blooming in the ditches, immense white flowers rarely sprinkled with the odd pink specimen. Mingled in was the tall and willowy swamp milkweed, full of delicate pink blossoms. I saw plenty of tiger swallowtail butterflies along with their less showy relatives, the black swallowtail. I spotted two Monarchs along the way and counted myself lucky. I saw an enormous free-standing boulder next to a railroad, a tiny ecosystem complete with its own little tree perched stubbornly on top. The whole thing was backed by a rocky cliff and looked like a scene from a fantasy movie.