Mary Welch Steinhoff Archives

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.

September 1, 2013

My Flirtation with Crime

This is Charlie’s Cut-Rate-Store in Advance, more commonly known to townsfolk as Charlie’s Drug Store.

The building with the barber pole is where my grandfather, Roy E. Welch, had his liquor store. Dad had a small office between the barber shop and the liquor store. I’m sure Mother had something to do with seeing the town’s teenagers had a hangout in the basement. I mentioned that I still have some wooden “funeral home” chairs from there that I use today.

Crime spree was short-lived

Once day when I was about four or five, I sauntered down to Charlie’s for an ice cream cone.

The ice cream was probably still dripping off my chin when Charlie paid my grandfather a visit. He handed over a counter check filled with my crayon scribbles that I had used for payment.

My excuse was that I had seen customers scribble on the checks, then Grandfather would hand over a bottle of whiskey. I figured if it worked for booze, then it should be OK for ice cream cones, too.

My grandfather made restitution and Charlie agreed not to call the town constable to haul me off to whatever passed as a hoosegow in Advance in those days.

I came by my lawlessness naturally. Check out Mother’s escapade with slot machines when she was barely a teenager. It’s at the bottom of the page.

August 25, 2013

Steve Mosley on His Throne

You might know Steve Mosley several different ways.

His mother, Jean Bell Mosley, was a local author. He showed up in the background of a photo I took of her in 1967.
He was a member of Central High School Class of 1962.
He retired from teaching high school social studies in 2010.
In 2004, The Missourian ran a story where Steve proclaimed himself the “King of Speakout,” because he said he had more than 18,000 Speakout comments published in the last 20 years.
If you are one of his 4,719 Facebook friends, you’ll know him for his daily poll of current events designed to whip his fans on the left and right into a name-calling frenzy.

The lime green throne

He makes frequent reference to the “lime green throne” he occupies on a daily basis at Cape’s Public Library. He was distressed one day to see it occupied by a non-Mosley. On another, he posted a picture of his wife sitting on the throne and claimed he had been “overthrown.”

I took Mother into the library when I was back home so she could get some real help learning how to load library books onto her iPad. That’s when I spotted Steve on The Throne.

Steve counted on his trusty bodyguard in the background and a strong force field generator in the foreground to protect him and his throne, but he never realized just how vulnerable he was.

Had this been a real coup instead of a drill, there would have been a new seat on the throne.

August 24, 2013

Matt’s Midwestern Meanderings

Son Matt, Sarah and Malcolm made a pilgrimage to Cape to help Mother kick off an early Birthday Season (the real one isn’t until October, but school is out in the summer). He knew I was going to be busy packing and truckin’ on down the road, so he loaned me some pictures he shot while driving between Cape and St. Louis. I figured it was time to dust them off since a Facebook friend was looking for barn photos.

This barn was taken near Oak Ridge. Click on the photos to make them larger.

We’re in Illinois?

Sarah was surprised to find herself in Illinois without crossing the Mississippi River when they went over on Kaskaskia Island from St. Mary. (OK, I cheated. this is my photo taken last fall.)

On the road

I thought this looked like the bottomlands on the way to Kaskaskia, but Matt swears it was near Chester.

Immaculate Conception Church

They got to see the Liberty Bell of the West and the Immaculate Conception Church, founded in 1675. The church has had a tough time with floods over the years, but it always comes back.