In between visiting with Ron at bridges and bringing him extra food, Sheila and I have had some interesting encounters this weekend. We wanted to show Ron the Saturday edition of the Scottsbluff Star Herald, with the great picture of him on the front cover and the story by Roger Holsinger - the same reporter who came out and interviewed us on the 1000-mile walk. (Roger sprang his daughter, Claire, from 3rd grade for an hour and brought her along to watch the launching of the Plattepus I.) While running other errands in Scottsbluff we forgot to pick up a paper, so we drove into Melbeta (population 116) to get one - but we were 1 quarter short of the dollar needed for the paper machine, which led us to Al's Cafe and Ruth Neal, the 89-year-old owner who we now consider family. Ruth bakes 15 pies a week, and is the cook, waitress, and dishwasher at the cafe named for her late husband. She's been operating this cafe since 1952 - or, as one of her customers, Mike, told us, ever since he was 1 year old. An upcoming column I'm working on will contain the results of fun math calculations regarding how far all of the pies Ruth has baked would stretch if you lined them up. That's Ruth with Sheila.
Sheila and I visited the zoo in Scottsbluff at feeding time, and came across a friendly lady getting ready to feed the tigers. She gestured to us, laughing, encouraging us to peak through a wooden gate and see Desh the white tiger in one of his favorite poses - hiding behind the warning sign. As she talked to him, he would peak over the top, then duck his head back behind the sign.
When we arrived in Bridgeport - Sheila spotted a business, "Las Amigas," and started wondering if there was a fun story behind the change in the sign. We don't know if Raquel somehow aggravated Annie... but that's our current hypothesis.
On Friday night Sheila and I had the good fortune to be invited to stay with Steve and Amy Hodges' house, where we enjoyed catching up on happenings in each others' lives. The first time I ever spoke with Steve it was about faxing him Ron's resume for the job as the Director of Lincoln County Community Services. Thanks for everything, Steve and Amy!
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