Panhandling

Cheryl wasn’t too keen on my motel choice. But water pressure was good. Route 66.

It was a close call on Route 66, one that made us shudder. We had escaped Texas and crossed into the Land of Enchantment at the spot where New Mexico’s vista opens up like a Georgia O’Keefe flower. As we … Read More

More Cowgirl

We heard about the cowgirl who stands beside her headless cowboy. Did she decapitate him? Or does she stand beside her man in his time of need? We set out to solve the mystery. Along the way we discovered more … Read More

The Woman Who Toppled Madmen

I left grad school to take a job with Gardner Advertising, Saint Louis’ second-largest ad agency. Clients ranged from Busch Beer and the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals to Puppy Chow and Chuck Wagon dog food, to Jack Daniels whiskey. Even … Read More

Fender Bender

Early Spring. Jacks Fork running full. Don’t get caught sideways.

Who still owns a superball?

Not since Elvis left the building has Vegas laid a table so heavy with hyperbole. But it was a party. The show opened with gridiron visuals glued to Paul Anka’s lyrics My Way sung by Old Blue Eyes to the … Read More

The Day The Capitol Burned

Sunday evening, February 5, 1911. Unusually warm. A thunderstorm approached the state capitol from the west and lightning struck the dome around suppertime. Monsignor Joseph Selinger remembers, “I was standing on the front steps of the hospital [Saint Mary’s] about … Read More

My hero

He made it a lifelong practice to demonstrate creative uses for things people normally throw in the garbage. He believed that nothing around the house should be discarded if it could be used.As such, George Washington Carver became America’s foremost … Read More

Tour Guide on the Rio Grande

In 1818, Boonslick, Missouri resident Lindsay Carson was killed by a falling tree. His widow, Rebecca Robinson, raised 15 children by herself. Their 11th child, a kid named Kit, was sent to work in a saddle shop in Franklin, Missouri, … Read More