Jessica Cyders Archives

October 28, 2013

“There’s a Train!”

Curator Jessica and I decided to take the old two-lane U.S. 50 from Athens west so she could see what it was like to make the drive in the old days. We saw lots of great old buildings that had been lovingly restored in a lot of towns a shadow of the size of Cape.

I thought I had to do a lot of U-turns when Friend Shari spotted antique shops. I think Jessica and I averaged about 12 miles per hour during the first 75 miles because of stops, meanders and backtracks. Actually, I like that kind of traveling.

World’s greatest cheesecakes

I especially liked it when she made me turn around to visit the Cheesecakes at Mystical Retreat (“Possibly the world’s greatest cheesecake” said the sign). Co-owner and “Maker, Baker and Taker” Rod Thompson gave us a choice of flavors to sample. I had the Coconut Cream Cheesecake. I thought the $5 per slice price was a bit high until I felt the heft of it and found I could hardly eat half a piece when I got to the motel.

If you go by 107 West Main Street on U.S. 50 in Bainbridge, OH, do a U-turn. It’s worth it.

“There’s a train!”

Despite our slow start, we made pretty good time to LaGrange, KY, just east of Louisville. I stayed there on my trip to Ohio last week. We elected to get something to eat and stop early where the rooms are cheaper than going on to Louisville.

She thought she saw a listing for something on Main Street that sounded good. It had changed hands and was closed, so I pulled sort of close to the curb while we both pecked away at keyboards for alternate eating establishments.

Suddenly, Jessica exclaimed, “There’s a train right there.”

Indeed, she was right. A freight train was passing uncomfortably close to my side of the car. Neither one of us had heard it sound a warning. I guess the engineer saw he had plenty of room (by his standards) and didn’t bother. While we were waiting, we saw the flashing lights of some emergency vehicles delayed by the train. I hope somebody’s house didn’t burn down because of the wait.

It made me think of a recent Facebook thread about the Missouri Pacific (previously Houck) railroad tracks that ran down Independence in the old days. It was quite a shock to new drivers to look up and see a train coming at them.

Fred Lynch had a photo of that in his blog last year.

October 25, 2013

What’s the White Stuff?

When I heard someone say, “It’s snowing outside,” I thought they might have meant that some tiny frozen pellets might be falling from the sky Thursday afternoon. No, this was the Real Deal looking down Court Street in Athens, Ohio.

Jessica captures flakes

Curator Jessica was wearing dark clothes that snagged a few of the fluffy flakes. You’ll see more of her over the next 10 days or so. For some reason, she doesn’t believe everything I’ve written about Cape, so she wants to see it for herself.

I’ve already warned her not to stare at Mother’s arm. I am not prone to exaggerate. (I can do it standing up, too.)

A view up Court Street

Jessica and Friend Carol don’t waste any time when they hear the lunch bell ring. They didn’t even look back to see if I had slipped and broken a shank or something.

Didn’t accumulate

The snow turned the ground white in a few places, but it didn’t last long. October is too early for much of a snow in Athens. It was all gone by the time we finished lunch.

Tom Hodson and Carol

After lunch, it was off to the WOUB studios for a radio show with our former OU Post buddy, Tom Hodson. He’s the director and general manager of WOUB Public Media and an excellent interviewer. The show will air online Sunday. When I get a link, I’ll post it. You are not obligated to listen.

Rapt attention or pizza?

After our dog and pony show co-sponsored by the Ohio University History Association and the Athens County Historical Society and Museum, we were mobbed by students with questions about what it was like in college when women’s curfews were enforced to the second.

It was either that, or they were attracted to the pizza a student brought in.

October 21, 2013

Moon and Temperatures Rising

I left Cape late, but I had good intentions of making Athens, Ohio, in a straight run. What I hadn’t counted on was a one-hour traffic jam between Nowhere, Illinois, and Not Quite to the State Line, Indiana.

Except for putting me behind schedule, it wasn’t that bad: I just munched on junk food and cranked up the audio book on World War II history I was listening to.

When I looked in the rearview mirror, though, it was apparent the young couple behind me was having a lot more fun than I was. They smooched through the whole moving parking lot. I kept waiting for their windows to fog up.

(I cropped out their license tag for the same reason I’d stand on a table in some cowboy bar and say, “I’m fixin’ to take some pictures for the paper. If you aren’t supposed to be here or you aren’t supposed to be here with the person you’re with, stay over in that corner of the room.”)

That’s SOME moon

A couple hours later, I pulled into a rest area for a 22-minute nap. When I got on the entrance ramp to get back on the Interstate, I thought I was looking at a big Gulf Oil sign. There was this huge orange ball hanging in the sky like a gas station logo.

I was already committed to getting on the road, so I resisted temptation to shoot the moon (so to speak), but I finally had to pull off on the shoulder to bang off half a dozen frames through the windshield. It was one of those times I wished I was a passenger: that silly moon kept teasing me with great photo ops for the next 45 minutes.

Scads of deer

Friend Jessica’s husband and a buddy went deer hunting last night and each bagged one for the freezer. I told her it would have been easier for them to drive along the road and pick up the dozen or so I saw on the shoulder after getting into Ohio. I hope the occupants of whatever vehicle hit them came out better than the deer.

Jessica lives on 40 acres so far out in the wilds of Athens County that the Lady in Sky who talks to me through my GPS kept asking, “Are you SURE?” Just as we pulled onto her driveway, a deer came running across the road in front of us.

October 8, 2013October 8, 2013

Roadtripper Shari

Before I started this blog, I had PalmBeachBikeTours.com. Kid Matt said, “You’re always picking up strays along the road, why don’t you do bike tours?” Well, that lasted until the first time half a dozen riders of various abilities and attitudes showed up (and they weren’t strangers, they were friends and family). I decided I wasn’t cut out to herd cats, so I concentrated on writing about rides and reviewing products.

Jan got to feel cold

It looks like THIS blog is turning into a touring group. I got to introduce Jan Norris to cold weather and Old Man’s Cave in February.

Anne got to sing with Elvis

I hauled Anne Rodgers from Florida to Cape this summer. (Jan and Anne were both newspaper colleagues and bike partners).

Now it’s Shari’s turn

My first high school girlfriend, Shari Stiver, flew into town Tuesday afternoon to spend a few days in Florida before heading back to Cape with me. Wife Lila shot the photo at the top of the page of the two of us listening to Friend Jacqie Jackson perform at the Tides in South Palm Beach. The ocean and a huge lighting storm way out at sea are in the blackness behind us.

I’m not sure, but that may be closer than Shari ever got to me when we were dating.

Jessica is next victim

My next victim after Shari will be Jessica, the curator at the Athens Historical Society and Museum in Athens. She’s riding from Athens to Cape with me. She says she can’t believe half the stories I tell her about SE Missouri, so she wants to see the place for herself.

I told her Bill Hopkins will vouch for me. (I’ve already cautioned her not to stare at Mother’s arm. She’s sensitive about it since that riverboat mishap.)

I don’t have many pictures of Jessica yet. The best I could come up with is this shot of her trying to convince the cat in the window of the Athens County Board of Elections that the museum would be a better home because it provides catnip breaks twice a day.