Headin' South

For just the second time since I began this journey, I turned my shoes south, past Main Street and down toward my ancestral home at 1232 S. Seminary St. It was the home of my grandparents. I had a lot of good times there: overnights when the folks were away on vacation, mowing the lawn with Grandpa, learning some cooking skills from Grandma (she was my cooking merit badge instructor), eating lunch there with my dad and grandparents (everything from leftover meatloaf to pancakes to corned beef hash and eggs -- and always plenty of cookies), ogling the rifles and shotguns in the handmade gun cabinet in their bedroom, Christmases, Thanksgiving dinners with the whole extended family, spending the first four months of my married there.

But the memory lode was not my destination, nor my desire today. I was simply looking for another route, something different, something that might bring inspiration -- inspiration for anything. I'm not sure I found it, but I enjoyed the change of scenery and saw some new sights. The first of note was a city crew and a private firm truck preparing to take down a tall, bare tree on East Fifth Street. I had to laugh when I first passed and the whole bunch were lounging on the backs of their trucks. It wasn't even 8 yet and they were taking a break. Maybe they were waiting for someone or some other piece of equipment. They still hadn't started cutting when I made my return pass, but at least they were moving about.

It was ironic, then, that as a crew of men prepared to cut down the towering terror, presumably before it tottered onto some poor soul's abode, I should come upon a line of tiny trees planted on the east side of H.T. Custer Park with a sign identifying the "power line friendly tree plot." I immediately wondered why we don't make a greater effort to plant tree-friendly power lines. I am sure there are grand expenses and plenty of potential pitfalls in that strategy, but even so...

I jogged along Davis Street at the south edge of town, between fallow fields and residences, before circling back to Fifth Street and Seminary and on toward home. As I approached the tree crew I looked north and spotted the coolest little playhouse. It sits back behind an unimposing little home in the 500 block of East Fifth. It's facade is fancier than the adult home before it. The playhouse dates back at least three decades but it has been well-kept. Children of the neighborhood surely have many fond memories of the playhouse, whether they actually enjoyed adventures inside its walls or they simply saw it as they passed by on family walks. It would make a nice newspaper feature if the owner will talk.

 Fortunately our heat wave is supposed to break Thursday. The temperature had risen nearly 10 degrees in the 40 minutes I was on the streets. Wednesday was on its way to becoming another one for the record books.

Today's Stats
Temp: 75 degrees F
Distance: 3.9 miles
Weekly Total: 7.25 miles
Treasure: 19 cans; 1 cigarette box.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)
Union of the Snake - Duran Duran
Join Together - The Who
Choctaw Bingo (live) - James McMurtry
Truth Hits Everybody - The Police
That Thing You Do (live) - The Wonders
Pause - Duke Ellington
In The Dark - Billy Squier
I Am The Walrus (from Love) - The Beatles
Hotel California - The Eagles
The Long Riders - Ry Cooder
Seven Bridges Road - The Eagles