Bob Piper's Corner - May 4, 1986

May 4, 1986 

George Dunshee and myself went to Margaret Holmes’ birthday party. Very nice. We then picked up Charles Prior. I took them on the old Capitol Trail from Chariton to Norwood. It was the main road from Chariton to Des Moines. That is, it was the Chariton/Norwood section. We started at the water tower by the armory, went one block west and turned north to Curtis one block, then west to Johnson Machine Works, then by the County Home to the first intersection. Take the middle road (now marked “Low Maintenance” to the Oakley Road, go north one mile to the intersection, and turn west into Swede Hollow. Go over the Wheeler Bridge (the only big iron bridge over White Breast), turn north and to Oakley/Norwood Road. This was known as the Capitol Trail. Telephone poles were marked with a black band in center and yellow bands above and below. Sometimes no poles were there so the mark was on fence posts. A man named Junkin painted these poles every other year, through there. My father was acquainted with him and he stayed at our house for one night. He pushed a wheelbarrow from town to town. People fed and lodged him to get the news from down the road. Paint was shipped to towns along the way where he picked it up. I have traveled the trail many times.

In 1919 I drove our neighbors to the state fair over this road. I was twelve. The car was a T-Model Ford with a Puxtel axle. Left here at three a.m. and got there at nine a.m. Got home at midnight. It rained and we drove through mud with chains on after leaving Indianola. The first pavement we reached was on Auburn over in front of the C. B. & Q. freight house.

Saw quite a few birds and flowers. Did find a patch of Jacob’s ladder or Greek valerian. Lots of larkspur, sweet William and Virginia water leaf. Visited Jencho Hills north of Lucas.

An update on the robin/wren war at my house. As you know, the robin built a nest on top of the wren house. The wren came back and took the nest about half down. Now both are gone. My three birdbaths are fed by a pipe turned on inside the house. George thinks this is a Rube Goldberg invention. (Rube Goldberg was “way back when” in a comic strip.” Monday evening George and myself walked the Red Haw dam and along the east side. The beautiful well-care-for path goes clear around the lake. Benches every so often, path about twelve feet wide. Half a mile was enough for me.