The remnants of Hurricane Dolly hit us as the blacktops of Bollinger County rolled under our wheels. Fat raindrops distorted my view. I avoided turning on my wipers for as long as I could, because the driver’s side wiper blade … Read More
Chicken with a Freight Train
Beyond the vanishing point over the horizon, the wind blew a faint train whistle up the tracks. The train was saying hello to the Houston House–the best place for fried chicken when I was a kid. As the engine rolled … Read More
Crossroads
It was 10:00 p.m. My car, thirsty for petrol, urged me to exit the interstate and find fuel. Just ahead, Kingdom City waited with the tools to fill my tank. And my stomach. Kingdom City isn’t really a city. … Read More
Greed, Pride, and the Lake of the Ozarks
Much of the development at the Lake of the Ozarks can be traced back to one event. Flash back to the late 1960s. In a move that forever changed the face and fortune of the lake, then-Governor Warren Hearnes entered … Read More
Hope and Change
Canton lured me back for an overnight, where I went to a free show at the college. A young comedian mesmerized the crowd with juggling and jokes, then the juggler asked the young lady sitting next to me to assist … Read More
Erifnus Likes My Bike
Hopped on my ’67 Schwinn Continental–taxicab yellow from the factory–and rode to the grocery store. We’ve made this trip for years now, almost daily, bringing back cargo in cloth bags hanging from the handlebars. Erifnus sits at the curb with … Read More
Rafting the Mississippi
It isn’t a big raft. In terms of cubits, it’s a two-by-four. But it has a big back yard, a mile wide and 1800 miles long. And it became the summer palace for a big thinker who has no … Read More