Ken Steinhoff, Author at Cape Girardeau History and Photos

April 4, 2014

915 Broadway

Mother and I did a quick loop around Cape on Wednesday. I was surprised at how many changes had occurred since I was here last fall. The economy must be picking up because there we spotted construction trucks parked all around town.

This small building at 915 Broadway, west of Pacific and next door to Burrito-Ville, was one being worked over. I thought the orange stripe around it might have indicated that it was a Gulf station at one time. Click on the photos to make them larger.

Brennecke’s 66 Service

A 2011 Fred Lynch blog shows the station when it was the Brennecke’s 66 Service. Like in this photo, the Medical Arts Building is shown in the background.

Building had many owners

The 915 address was mentioned is several business and crime reports over the years.

A 2004 review of 2003 business stories noted that the Mr. Tire opened at that address on September 29, 2003. It was next to the Dairy Queen and was owned by David McCormick.
In 1988, Orville and Jay Grim, a father-son team opened the Phillips 66 Service Station and Garage at 915 Broadway.
American Motors appeared frequently in The Missourian’s police report column: February 22, 2013, a theft from American Motors; October 12, 2012, currency was reported stolen; May 2, 2013, two suspects were charged with tampering with a vehicle and trespassing; January 4, 2006, and a license plate was reported stolen May 13, 2011.
Renaissance Auto reported a CD player stolen, a vehicle fender damaged and damaged vehicle doors on January 4, 2006.

Shooting What You See

The rain was just slacking off when I got out of a meeting Wednesday night, so I decided to take a run downtown to see if there was any wet street art to be made. I saw something promising on Main Street, but couldn’t find a parking spot nearby. I decided to go down Water Street and make another pass at it.

When I got to the intersection with Independence, the stop sign glared back at me. Nothing unusual about that, it’s supposed to reflect light when your headlights hit it at night.

That’s when I saw the reflection of the street sign and the stop sign in the water on the wet street. Fortunately, nobody was behind me, so I put it in back-up and angled into a parking space.

I got out of the car and slogged through the water until I thought I had the right angle.

The picture was gone

I’ve talked before about how you have to shoot as soon as you see a picture: if you don’t the magic might leak out. I figured that’s what had happened here: that in the 30 seconds it took for me to get out of the car, grab the camera and find the angle, maybe enough water had drained from the street to lose the reflection.

That’s when it dawned on me: REFLECTION. What had changed was that my headights were no longer hitting the signs, hence, there was no light to be reflected.

I got back in the car and changed from angle parking to aiming my lights down the street. I didn’t want to block the street, so I was still well off to the side. It was close, but not what I saw the first time.

There are no cars out

That’s when I realized that this is CAPE. There ARE no cars out on a rainy Wednesday night. I positioned my car in the travel lane and fired away. NOW I was seeing what I had seen behind the wheel.

This was one of the situations where the photo probably would have been better if I had gone the HDR route, which takes multiple exposures, then combines them into one frame. There were several reasons why I didn’t do that:

So, why didn’t I use HDR?

I don’t use HDR enough to be comfortable to setting the camera in the dark.
It required me to drag my tripod out.
My tummy was growling.
It was still sprinkling. Those last three things violate my Retirement Contract where I don’t (A) Go hungry; (B) Get wet or (C) Lift heavy objects.

Other night weather photos

I’m a child of the night. I loved roaming the streets and alleys of towns after dark. After every cop in town had stopped my at least once, they tended to leave me alone.

Want to know why most car ads are shot with streets that have been sprayed with water? It makes them look cool. Here are a some of collections of night weather pictures.

April 2, 2014

Is Winter Over?

I rolled into Cape Girardeau not long after dark-thirty, got the van unloaded and the computer gear set up.

On the way up, I stopped for a 17-minute nap in the first Kentucky rest area on I-24. When I got out to stretch my legs, I noticed that the trees were blooming and some flowers were popping out. Birds were chirping and some bees were making their rounds. Does that mean I dodged winter?

Kentucky photo gallery

Boaters and fisherfolks were taking advantage of the super weather in the Land Between the Lakes area. All of us who hold our breath going over this bridge will be happy to see this construction projection finished. And, finally, I just had to pull off the road near Wickliffe to capture the sun setting over the Mississippi River bridge near Cairo. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery.

April 1, 2014April 1, 2014

Odds and Ends Day

I forgot I had taken this shot of my loaded van just before I pulled out of the driveway. Not everything in there is mine: two-thirds of it is taken up with some old computer equipment I’m donating to the museums in Altenburg and Athens.

Morning started off great

I mentioned how I had gotten a good rate on a small, but clean room in Lake City. When I checked out, I had a nice chat with the desk clerk. I asked if he knew of anyplace close where they could replace a nosepiece on my eyeglasses. He suggested Eyeglass Express, just up the road.

Kristina (“With a ‘K'”) McFarland replaced both nosepieces at no charge. They even grind their own lenses there. I’m tempted to get my next set of glasses in Lake City just so I can watch them being made.

Even cheaper rooms

I might have been able to get even cheaper rooms here on 231 outside Troy, Alabama, but I think the sign may have been all that was left.

It reminds me of the place Friend Shari and I ran across last year.

A squirrely encounter

Yesterday’s rest stop photo involved horsin’ around. Today’s photo was a little squirrely. I couldn’t figure out what a young couple was doing. They were running around trying to take low-angle photos with their cell phones and tablets.

Finally, I saw what intrigued them: there was a squirrel running around on the sidewalk. The woman got some potato chips out of her car and tried to entice the little rodent into eating from her hand, but it wasn’t biting, so to speak.

I should have checked out their car tag to see where they had come from that didn’t have squirrels. (Like yesterday, I didn’t even have to get out of the car to shoot the rest stop photo.

Where’s my peanut brittle?

The Oaks Restaurant in Marianna, Florida, has the best peanut brittle I’ve ever eaten. I picked my route specifically so I could snag some for family and friends who also love it. I even called ahead of Friday to have them set aside seven slabs of it for pickup on Monday or Tuesday.

When I got to the place, I was sure glad I had called ahead because the basket where the crunchy nectar lives was empty. The cashier called the owner – Eddie, I think his name was.

Eddie said, “I thought you were coming Tuesday.”

“I said Monday or Tuesday. I’m usually late, but I’m actually either on time or early, depending on how you look at it.”

Eddie broke the news to me: he hadn’t been able to get the word to the woman who makes the brittle. He’s leaving her a voicemail message in the photo. “Could you not smile so much?” I asked him. “I need a sad photo to show all the people I’m going to disappoint.”

No tailgating this guy

As soon as I saw the “Explosives” placard on the back of this 18-wheeler, I decided to pass him and put some distance between us. Maybe I should stop at a truck stop to buy one of those signs to put on the back of my bike.

I should roll into Cape late Tuesday afternoon.

Author: Ken Steinhoff