Pink Elephant Antiques

Part of the joy and dare I say the intrigue of the Mother Road, has always been the kitsch that has adhered along its shoulders, much like plaque does along an artery’s walls. I offer here two examples of prime Americana, a pink elephant and a yellow dog. They certainly are a colorful pair and if you spend too much time with one of them, you may end up seeing the other one in your dreams, or at least in your DTs. Anne and I did Trailnet’s Route 66 bicycle ride today. My wife has become a women possessed, she demands that more and more bicycle miles be ridden. We have a big bike tour next month and we are both woefully short on our training for it. She set the alarm for five, on a Saturday I might add and we arrived in Edwardsville a half-hour before registration began. Typically, we are racing to the start line, just to make the end of the registration window. Our going in position was to do the long ride (58 miles), but the 4Hs had other ideas. No, I’m not speaking of children who raise farm animals, but the four horsemen of the bicycling apocalypse, Heat, Humidity, Hills and Headwinds. Anne wanted to also add chip and seal, but I told her that that just did not scan well. We soon both decided that the long route was too long and it went without saying that the short route was way too short. So, we both settled upon the medium route (41 miles), which was just right. It is hard to argue with such Goldilocks like logic. I’ve made a Faustian bargain though, part of our agreement to do the middle route hinged upon our agreement to do this all over again on Sunday, only earlier.

Yellow Dog Tavern