2012 Fourteen: Missouri
One of the things I like ventering into an area I have never been is that sometimes you are pleasantly surprised and that was the case when I got off Interstate 55 in Hayti, Missouri. Except to change planes at the St. Louis airport, I had never been to Missouri, so it was an unknown quantity. A professor in my master's program lives there, as do some good friends of mine, but I haven't managed to visit with any of them yet. I also have an old high school classmate, who emerged from the shell she wore in Massachusetts three decades ago to take a place in pantheon of far-right Missouri politicians. Other than that, and Harry Truman, the state is an unknown quantity. In otherwords, just the kind of place I wanted to go.
The one downside to venturing into the great unknown is that its sometimes hard to figure out where to go. From the highway, I could see some freight cars parked on a siding, so I figured there might be something railroad related happening. I got off at the next exit and this took me into the city of Hayti, Missouri.
I didn't hear any of the natives say the name of the place, but Wikipedia tells me that it is pronounced ``Hay-Tie.'' A teacher I had in First Grade told us that people in the South liked to put "eye" at the end of words that ended in "y" or "i." It was part of her lesson on accents. The example she used to use was "birdy," which she said southerners would pronouce "bird-eye" while we would say it "bird-ee." All these years I have been searching for someone who said "bird-eye." I still haven't found one, but now that I have been to "Hay-Tie" I feel I got close. And people think their tax dollars are ill spent by government sometimes. Look at what the people of Canton, Massachusetts got for their money in 1966? A kid who grew up to be a man obsessed with finding someone who says "bird-eye."
Well, let's get back from that tangent and head back down the road to Hayti.
I saw tracks on my map and set out to find them. My first go round didn't turn up much. A few grade crossings that obviously had seen some recent traffic but nothing promising in terms of getting a shot. I noticed that two branches seemed to come together in the north of town, so I figured I'd go there in the hope that something interesting would turn up and that is where I got the shot accompanying this post.
There was a small yard, a string of cars and this Peoria & Western GP-20. I just love it when a guess turns into a photo. I stopped to take a few shots there and got some strange looks from the folks on West Cleveland Street. But I am used to getting strange looks. And to be honest, I didn't care, I got another shot in another state. The search goes on...
The one downside to venturing into the great unknown is that its sometimes hard to figure out where to go. From the highway, I could see some freight cars parked on a siding, so I figured there might be something railroad related happening. I got off at the next exit and this took me into the city of Hayti, Missouri.
I didn't hear any of the natives say the name of the place, but Wikipedia tells me that it is pronounced ``Hay-Tie.'' A teacher I had in First Grade told us that people in the South liked to put "eye" at the end of words that ended in "y" or "i." It was part of her lesson on accents. The example she used to use was "birdy," which she said southerners would pronouce "bird-eye" while we would say it "bird-ee." All these years I have been searching for someone who said "bird-eye." I still haven't found one, but now that I have been to "Hay-Tie" I feel I got close. And people think their tax dollars are ill spent by government sometimes. Look at what the people of Canton, Massachusetts got for their money in 1966? A kid who grew up to be a man obsessed with finding someone who says "bird-eye."
Well, let's get back from that tangent and head back down the road to Hayti.
I saw tracks on my map and set out to find them. My first go round didn't turn up much. A few grade crossings that obviously had seen some recent traffic but nothing promising in terms of getting a shot. I noticed that two branches seemed to come together in the north of town, so I figured I'd go there in the hope that something interesting would turn up and that is where I got the shot accompanying this post.
There was a small yard, a string of cars and this Peoria & Western GP-20. I just love it when a guess turns into a photo. I stopped to take a few shots there and got some strange looks from the folks on West Cleveland Street. But I am used to getting strange looks. And to be honest, I didn't care, I got another shot in another state. The search goes on...
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