Sizzlin' Sevens for Ol' Simmons

I've been trying to think of something to write about for quite some time, obviously with little success. I find it hard to get interested in writing when I get involved in reading a good book. I'd much rather go read about an interesting subject by a good author and I'm not sure why you're all not doing the same.

We had to evacuate Harrah's Casino in St. Louis this past Sunday because of a fire. A lot of casinos advertise hot slots, but these were smoking. Nah, not really, but the casino was on fire. On the ride home, I heard a lot of suggestions about heroic deeds being performed during this brief episode, like Bob Clark repelling out of a hotel window with Kathy Shertzer on his back and various other funny stuff that he and Jerry were dreaming up, but don't believe a word of it.

One of the funniest things that I heard though was Bob's response to my suggestion that we should go look for Jerry and Kathy after the alarm had sounded and we were outside and safe. With 5 different fire stations responding to this little fire, paramedics running around everywhere and fire trucks backed up bumper to bumper, it was obvious to me that everything was under control. Bob just looked at me and said, "I guess if they need any help they'll probably pick some able-bodied men anyway." Or something to that effect.

On the ride home we were also discussing the Interstate Highways and we talked about President Eisenhower getting the Interstate Highway Act passed back in the mid-fifties. It amazes me how our conversations can go from the ridiculous to the quasi-intelligent in seemingly short periods of time.

Eisenhower was definitely impressed with the speed of troop movement through Germany during the Second World War, but the seeds of his interest in a highway system were sown way back in 1919. The Army Motor Transportation Corps had scheduled a Transcontinental Convoy of military vehicles to begin on 13 July 1919, which would be just 89 years ago next week or about the time my Grandpa Curt was 19 years old. Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower volunteered to be a part of this convoy. His report to the Chief of the Motor Transportation Corps can be seen at this link: http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/dl/19...

The 3,251 mile, coast to coast trip that started in the sweltering heat of July 1919, took 62 days. No air conditioning and vehicles were breaking down constantly. When you read the reports of this trip, it is amazing that they even completed half of this epic journey. Nowadays, it is an easy 5-6 day trip from coast to coast and could be done much faster, if needed. Heck, I once picked my car up in Seattle and was back in Jasonville 52 hours later (I was so much younger then). I drove from Jasonville to Anchorage in the middle of winter in 11 days. We drive to the east coast from here in 14 hours now. The first leg of this trip by the military convoy was from DC to Frederick, Maryland, which took 7 hours. If you don't try it in rush hour traffic, you can make that drive today in less than an hour. (You'll go through Germantown, home of the all-time high school basketball single game scoring champ, Danny Heater…Danny scored 135 points in a game back in 1960 when he was playing for Burnsville High in West Virginia. I was introduced to him at an airport by a mutual friend about 20 years ago and he is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.)

Our trip back from St. Louis this past weekend was a little over 4 hours, but that was because we stopped at the Blue Springs Café in Highland, Illinois, home of the foot-high pies (see http://www.foothipies.com/BSC_Main.htm ).

If you haven't ever stopped there, I highly recommend it, especially if you are fond of chicken and dumplings. The way I put away them dumplings, there's no doubt that my fire fighting days are way behind me.