CANCEL THAT TRIP TO DISNEY WORLD

Missouri museum unveils world's longest shoelace

(Thanks to John Lobert and pharmaross)

Comments

[Rod]

In a related story, the lace was bought by Nike to use in a shoe for Victor Wembanyama.

[Al Tydup]

Missouri, the shoe me state.

[Arkan Saw]

Is it located next to the bootheel of Missouri?

[GJ]

However the Missouri legislature just determined that fun is illegal.

[cfjk]

Finally, a vacation designed for Americans on a shoestring budget.

[man tom]

The Eads bridge, a child's story of terror.

Back when I was a young boy living in MO, my father worked in Illinois and had to cross the Eads bridge on a daily basis. I crossed the bridge with him on many occasions. These are my terrifying memories of those days of my youth and memories of the Eads bridge.

There was a guard at each end where you paid the toll to cross. It was like .20 cents, perhaps a quarter. My dad would usually toss the coins in the auto collection machine and go across. Sometimes He would have to hand the attendant a bill and get change back. Sometimes when he didn't have exact change he would just toss what he had in the basket, then drive away.

First terrifying memory: There was a railroad track running down the center of the lanes. Also a heavy metal black reinforced railroad type guard rail on each side of the lanes making the actual driving area barely wide enough to fit a car through. Depending on the time of day, the lane with the railroad tracks was available. My Dad didn't seem to notice He was inches from the guard rail as we crossed. I just prayed as we flew across inches from the guard rails hoping we didn't meet a train.

Ultimate terrifying moment: One morning on his way to work while crossing the bridge my dad hit a patch of black ice spinning out and crashing into the guard rail overlooking the Mississippi river maybe a hundred feet below. The entire front end of his car was dangling off the bridge. He later showed me where his car busted through the rail and hung out over the mighty Mississippi. My Dad was like that. He wanted to share his experiences firsthand with his son no matter how terrifying they may be.

I am left to this day in a state of shock and fright thinking about my Dad dangling over the side of the bridge, a foot from disaster.

Can I say this on the blog? Your Dad is not like my Dad.

Another story of fright worth mention. As a young boy, we were T-boned one evening as I sat in the back seat. My head slammed against the back door side window and shattered the window. There was concern. Not about the busted window, about my hard head. We were on the way to the Dr.s' office at the time because I was sick. I had my head x-rayed and to this day think twice before I ride in the back seat.

If you have a story of your Dad and fun times being terrified, please share.

[man tom]

I wanted to correct my prior story. The bridge in question I referred to was the McKinley bridge, close to the Eads bridge near downtown St. Louis.

If you look carefully at the picture you see the train, rail tracks going down the middle. The cars used the two narrow lanes on either side to travel across the bridge. The center lanes with the rails were available at certain times of the day for cars traveling one direction or the other.

The McKinley bridge has since been torn down, but this is what the bridge looked like when my Dad ran through the guard rail and dangled over the Mississippi river below. This was a long bridge, a journey to remember, crossing the river near downtown when I was a kid. Sheer terror when crossing.