Cape Girardeau History and Photos

November 12, 2014

Welcome to Florida

Well, I’m back home after leaving the first part of July for Missouri and Ohio. I had enough energy to empty most of the van, but not enough to set up my desktop computer equipment. Don’t expect much from me.

I-95 rest area welcome

A workman saw me taking the photo and explained the area was infested with water moccasins. “Another guy was doing some trimming with a weedeater the other day and got into a nest of three of them about as thick as your wrist. They came up striking.”

“That sign’s not quite as scary as the one at the Welcome to Florida rest area when you cross the border,” I noted.

“Really? What does it say?” he asked.

“Rick Scott – Governor.”

He gave me a smile and went off to wrestle with water moccasins or something.

November 12, 2014

A 14-Minute Nap

I rolled out of Athens, Ohio, in late middle afternoon on Monday and made it through the mountains in West Virginia in the dark. I ran out of steam around Jonesville, NC, and decided to call it a night after having a big piece of country ham and some scrambled eggs at the Waffle House next to the motel.

After a breakfast of waffles and bacon at the – surprise, surprise – Waffle House, I pedaled on south. I stopped for a 9-minute nap in North Carolina at a rest area that was loaded with big pine cones. Mother would have gone crazy picking them up.

Late in the afternoon, I pulled into the shade at rest area in South Carolina for a 14-minute nap. When the alarm went off, the first thing I saw were these plants, some kind of grass, I suppose.

Great place to eat

My low fuel light came on near the Darien, Georgia, exit, so I took that as a sign I should get gas and stop for the night. On the way to my cheap motel, I spotted a restaurant that advertised a seafood buffet. I’m a little hinky about seafood buffets, but the front desk clerk said the food at The Seafood Cabin was good.

I was going to write about them tonight, but I’m going to wait until I get back home to a real computer monitor and keyboard. Short version: good food, super nice people, and brand-new – only open since Saturday.

You can click on the photos to make them larger. If they don’t look right, it’s because it’s hard to judge subtle colors and tones on a laptop screen.

November 11, 2014

WW II Vet Bob Fiehler

One of the first people I met at the Altenburg Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum was volunteer Bob Fielher. At the time, I just thought he was a nice guy who knew a lot about area history.

I wish I had recorded some of this stories. Unfortunately, Bob died of cancer in 2009, and I missed the opportunity. Over the years, I have gotten to know his son Gerard, and Gerard has done a great job of keeping his memories alive.

Gerard tells about a boy who had never been further than St. Louis, who was drafted at 18; drove a tank in the Battle of the Bulge at 19; won a Purple Heart; stayed in Germany as a translator during the Occupation, and then returned to Altenburg to work in the family garage.

“He had lived a whole lifetime …”

“He had lived a whole lifetime by the time he was 20 years old,” Gerard observed.

This is a video worth watching on Veterans Day.

November 10, 2014

Burr Oak Lodge

As you’ve read before, my lodging needs are pretty simple: I look for a clean, cheap room with a decent bed, fast internet connection and a good shower. Even some of those things are negotiable.

I usually stay in the second-cheapest motel in Athens, Ohio. So far as I know, they haven’t let a body go undiscovered for long periods of time, like the CHEAPEST place, which carries the local nickname of The Meth Motel.

No room at the Inn

This trip, however, everything for 30 miles around Athens had been booked because it was Fathers Weekend at Ohio University. Curator Jessica, as a last resort, called the Burr Oak Lodge , a place I thought would be too expensive. It turned out they had ONE room left, and it qualified for “Savvy Senior” pricing for the weeknights.

The only catch is that it is north of Glouster, about 30 minutes out of Athens over some of the hilliest, curviest roads (when they say 15 mph, they mean it) you’ll ever see. By the time I got to the Burr Oak Lodge because of circumstances I may write about later, it was well after midnight and all I wanted to do was collapse. I DID snap this shot of the front of the building, however,

Wow, this is NICE

Since I usually spend all my time sleeping, editing or roaming around, I hardly ever check out the surroundings of the places I stay. I don’t use their gyms, swimming pools or business centers.

Sunday morning, though, I thought I’d stroll through the lounge area of the lodge. I HAD noticed that the large fireplace had openings on both sides and that people were sitting in a sunken area chatting in front of the blaze.

Great view of Burr Oak Lake

There is an outdoor walkway off the lounge that puts you into the treetops where you can commune with birds and look out over Burr Oak Lake.

Overlooking the overlook

There is a balcony overlooking the lounge area that has its own fireplace, game tables and lots of comfortable seating. As you can see, the lounge is comfortable enough that a guest is napping on a couch.

If I can convince Wife Lila to come to Athens with me, this would be a perfect place for her to sit and quilt while I’m roaming around the countryside.

The lodge has a restaurant, but I discovered a diner about five minutes away that has good home cooking, big portions and small prices. It’s friendly enough that the second time I came in, the waitress brought my iced tea the way I like it without being asked.

“Mommy, what is Bambi doing?”

Cabins are also available. They’re full of deer hunters right now. In fact, one of them had two deer hanging on the front porch. That might be hard to explain to your kids: “Mommy, what is Bambi doing hanging from a rope on that porch?”

This odyssey is coming to a close. After a lunch meeting on Monday, I’m pointing the van south to head to family and warm weather.